Plaid and checkered fabric - what to do with?
 

I just love plaid and checkered fabrics - also striped - but don't know the best way to use them in a quilt. Borders are a simple enough solution but I would like to use them interestingly in a pattern for a block. Does anyone have any suggestions or samples I could look at? I still consider myself a beginner quilter but am willing to be challenged. Thanks for any help.

McCallsQuilting.com
has a nice free e-book "nine-patch-quilts" (Dressed to the Nines). <There are very pretty checker and stripe 9-patch block quilts. Try Googling their page or send me PM, I can e-mail you a copy as it's a free leaflet.

www.mccallsquilting.com/nine-patch-quilts.html

Here's one I did with a plaid and a gingham check. I love the way they work with florals. The main thing is to not obsess about the pattern on the plaid or the gingham being perfectly straight or matching up.

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So pretty scissor Queen.

Me too. I have quite a few on my list with the scraps and the "didn't look good together after I bought them" pieces. There are the traditional: 9 patch with alternating solid white/cream, Glorified 9 patch, Goose Tracks, Bear Paws, etc. Also saw a French Braid shown on this board made out of plaid. I am making a quilt for my son out of plaids and stripes from the Quaint Quilts To Love, Leisure Arts. It has four squares cut into diamonds alternating with cream solid. Also made Kansas Troubles out of brownish plaids for other son. Don't have pictures yet.

Check out Bonnie Hunter's quilts and patterns at quiltville.com. She make scrap quilts and uses LOTS of plaids. Her book Scraps and Shirttails is full of plaids.

I have made some interlocking block designs using only plaids. They all seemed to play nicely together. If you pick any of the colors IN the plaid and use a small geometric or solid of it, that works well too. Any rustic design (woodlands, trees, maple leaf, etc) seems to have a place for plaids. One thing I don't like is stripes in directional patterns. Those tend to get wonky on me.

Thanks Hevemi, for the tute. Looks great.

They make great logs for a Log Cabin Quilt. I love the primitive looking quilts and use lots of plaids for them. If you have a star pattern, where the center of the star is a square. I have made them with the square a plaid and the eight points of the star a solid color. Piece of cake designs use to use alot of plaids in their BOMS including the appliqued ones. Don't limit yourself to specific patterns. I wish I knew how to put pictures on here, I would show some of mine using Plaids. Just experiment and have fun. I know what ever you do it will be great and would love to see it.

Thanks for the suggestions and web sites. The photo from scissor queen is wonderful. Love to try this.

Perhaps you could find a traditional block that has a lot of squares and a few HSTs that are shown in white. Then turn around and use the checks/plaids for the easier to cut "background" pieces and then do the design in solids or tonals.

Very pretty and great use of the plaid and checks.

I wish I'd had a camera at the antique store today. There was a quilt done in very coarse homespun plaids and stripes with solids. I think it was an Ohio Star. Each block used its own fabric, but the blocks were not the same plaid. All hand done and no damaged areas for $48. Too bad it's not to my taste. It looked like it wanted a home.

I do like plaids and checks in stars like the Ohio Star.

Looking at the pink plaid quilt again! It's just soooooooooooo comfy looking. So inviting.

That quilt is gorgeous, pillow too.

Linda Rotz Miller did a madras plaid and muslin top that I love--see it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/5279424...57624668394514 She also has hundreds of photos of her other tops; just Google her name.

Great for crazy quilts. I made a quilt with just plaid blocks. BUT I am sure some of the more knowledgeable ladies here can give you ideas that will really inspire.

I am on Craftsy and taking the BOM club there. I decided to make the quilt in plaids and the solids in the bundles. I have 34 fat quarters (my ex-husband wanted something made out of the fabric and kept buying the bundles). I have make a couple of the blocks, keeping in the same color range, even though they are different plaids, and surprisingly, they don't look bad at all using muslin as the background. Dunno... maybe I won't like it when I am done, but right now, I think I like...

Never thought of using a plaid, your is so pretty. I never see plaids in all cotton. Guess I need to start looking.

My GD made up plaids into the Kalidascope pattern. Used a multi-color Sulkey thread to quilt it. Really nice quilt.

Why not try Chicken Scratch?

Thanks ladies for all the suggestions. I'll certainly use them and I'm sure others will too. It makes me realize how much I love this board. :)

one of the first quilts I made is plaid homespun fabric. I used a turning twenty pattern. I am looking for pastel plaids to make a quilt called plaid pigs. It is an applique pattern fro With Needle and Thread.

Here's a quilt I made my daughter using the Quilt As You Go method. I cut the batting and the block the same size. The back was cut 1" larger on all 4 sides, in other words: 2" larger. Make your quilt sandwich with the batting in the middle and sew an "X" to stabilize. When you sew 2 of the sandwiched blocks together you take a 1" seam of the backing only, right sides together, so your raw edges are visible from the front. From the front, you finger press the seam open and double fold over the raw seams of the block. Top stitch along the folded edge as you would if you were binding it. Continue until an entire row is completed. Eventually you will sew the rows together and have one long seam to double fold and top stitch. Since I have a small domestic machine with just a 7" throat, this made quilting a large top very manageable. Hope this was clearer than mud, ha, ha.

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Here is one that I did with plaids called twist and shout, I cant remember which quilt mag I saw it in

I haven't done it yet, but I have made several appliqued heart quilts with narrow sashing and corner squares. I thought plaids would make nice appliqued hearts, or for that matter other shapes of applique as well.

Here's my plaid and stripe quilts. I love working with these fabrics.

Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/moosequilts/ & you can look at how Konda has used her plaids in our BOM for the quilt we are finishing up...it's going to be very nice looking. Hope this helps.

I'm planning a kaleidoscope with stripes and boarder fabrics. I'm thingking I could use bigger pieces and less angles and still come out with a cool kaleidscope. I just need to do some fooling around with different fabrics and see what I come up with. I'll share it when I get there.

LOVE checks and stripes as bias binding !

Great samples! These will make beautiful quilts. Thanks for all the ideas.

Your quilt and pillow are awesome.

Emilias nana, that quilt is beautiful!

Here's one if my own design...kind of designed as I went...using stripes. I sewed triangles into squares for the diamond look. Got tired of making so many so made the zigzag borders at top and bottom. But them made more for the outside borders. It's just a twin size.

This quilt is fabulous! I never thought of plaids with florals but it's beautiful!

I personally adore homespuns. Here are a couple of examples I found in my "quilt ideas" file. I'm not sure where they're from but I think maybe from Quiltille & Quilter's Cache. Hope these help.

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It may take me two yrs or more due to limited funds but I'm collecting plaids (homespuns) to make a french braid. I have the pattern and love it. I'll include the link. http://keepyouinstitches.blogspot.co...-tutorial.html