I have always wanted to do a scrappy quilt. Just how do you decide how to start it? I have seen some gorgeous quilts and want to use half triangles. Do you start with a theme of color or just sew it up until it's done and see what you get? I don't know why i am having such trouble getting started with this. I have the scraps but no pattern ideas. Any advise?

Try this site for inspiration: http://quiltville.com/

Bonnie has tons of free patterns on the right hand side.

Get some graph paper and some colored pencils and experiment until you are happy with what you want.

I would pair a random light with a random dark and make a ton of HSTs. Then play with a design to use them!! Before you know it you will have enough to make something.

My first scrappy quilt was a chunky churn dash. You can see it in one of my picture postings.

I start with the pattern, then pull ALL my bins of scraps out, ( I think I love looking at the bins as much as the finished quilt) each block is made from how ever many monochromatic fabrics required to complete it. Then I end up with blocks from the whole palette... So I guess I like a planned scrappy.

Ive been cutting up scraps and making HST to someday make a quilt with them.
They did one on Fons and Porter and it was beautiful.
It takes alot of different fabrics and they did it as a swap with others,looked like a lot of fun.

It's up to you really, some people want a "controlled" scrappy and others do "every color" scrappy. You don't have to do a certain block though.

I like the controlled scrappy look, like the one in my avatar. It's got all whites and blacks in the pinwheels and brighter mediums everywhere else. (Bonnie Hunter's Patches and Pinwheels pattern, free from her www.quiltville.com website.)

I usually start by finding a pattern that I like. Then I decide on what sort of feel I want the quilt to have. Do I want a bright happy kid quilt? Or a dark masculine quilt? Or a vibrant autumnal quilt?

When I decide on that, then I can go and choose scraps and FQs and strips that fit the theme. (I have some precut strips --2 inch and 2 1/2 and 3 inch strips--, so I have a good start on cutting. That helps move the process along.)

I pull a lot of different prints. Like a couple hundred. Most of my quilts have more than 200 different fabrics in them. I just like seeing how the fabrics play nicely together. My avatar quilt has modern Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabrics, reproduction prints, kid novelty prints, Asian fabric, food fabrics like cherries and berries, batiks, you name it--it's in there.

To me, more is more. And it's so much easier if you have many different prints, because it's less likely that you'll end up with patches of the same fabric in blocks right next to each other!


Good luck. Please post when you finish. I love to see scrappy quilts!

I just start sewing and see what I have when it done. I make 8x8 blocks of strips and them cut into triangles and sew back together again. love it most of the time.