Starting a quilt?
 

I was just wondering, being a newbie how each of you begin a new quilt. Do you first pick out material then pattern or pattern first than material ?

I pick out the pattern first and then shop for the material.

For me it depends, but I usually start with a fabric or fabrics I love, and find a pattern to use them in. Just a note though...I have accumulated quite a stash of fabrics this way!

I usually have fabrics in mind but purchase a pattern first, so I'll know how much fabric I need to buy, whether I need small, med. or large prints, tone on tones ect.

It depends. If I find fabric I really love, especially if it's perfect for someone in particular, I'll buy it and then look for a pattern. Other times if I fall in love with a pattern, I'll buy it and put it at the bottom of my to-do list. There are sooo many quilts I want to make. :D

Both ways - sometimes I see fabric I love and then search for a pattern that suits, and sometimes I see a color combination in a quilt on Google that I absolutely have to make. I'm really bad at color and usually end up with a muddy look if I don't stick with ideas from others.

most of the time, i start with the pattern and look for the fabric. but some fabrics are special and i find a pattern to go with it.

I pick out the fabric first...I change me mind all the time on what I will do with them....patterns...the fabric will speak to you...Have fun. never stress over it...

This is my approach too - and like Wendy - it leads to an enormous stash

I almost always start with the pattern. Otherwise, how would you know how much fabric you need. I've heard about people starting a quilt and running out of fabric with only a few blocks to go. I usually buy extra and now I have a pretty good stash.... for scrapy quilts and baby quilts they work fine.

For a beginner, start with a pattern so you know how much fabric you need and the colors and patterns of the fabrics that go togather.
Also go with a Quilt In A Day pattern. Eleanor Burns is the perfect teacher for beginners. She pays attention to the details like which way to iron the seams.

I've done it both ways. I have collections of fabrics that'll go into one quilt when I find the right pattern for them. I don't worry about running out of fabric though. The amount of fabric in the collection determines how big the quilt will be. The fabric first approach tends to require math though.

It's also nice to have somebody else figure out how much fabric a pattern is going to take and just be able to go to my stash and pull fabrics.

For me, I pick pattern first and then fabrics. Then again, I don't maintain a stash either. I purchase for projects. I do over-buy a bit and will keep the left overs for 'stash' but that's it. Just don't have the room to do anything different.

When I was a newbie I would pick out the pattern before the fabric. I didn't want to build a stash so I only got enough fabric to complete each project. Now it can go either way since I do stash a little. Usually its pattern before fabric, but I've had a couple times where the fabric had dictated the pattern. Sometimes I'll have an idea like "I want to create something with a lot of blue in it" or "I want a lot of Asian prints", but not know what kind of quilt it will turn into. I had green strips that were left over pieces from a quilt and they were going to border that quilt, but I never finished the quilt and one day while organizing the stash I happened to lay some pink batiks I had near the strips...now I'm collecting pink fabrics to one day make a green and pink Railroad quilt. So it can go either way, but I would say the majority of my ideas have been pattern first then fabrics.

If I am making a quilt to give to someone I don't know, I start with the fabric, usually from my stash. Never use patterns (except ones I make, as for a landscape quilt, or the dragon I'm doing now). I start most of my quilts by thinking about the person to whom it will go. I buy fabric because I really like it, because it makes me think of someone for whom a quilt is due, because I need it (as in little boy fabric with neat pictures for a new baby), or because it will be good to fill out a quilt I've begun. Right now I am amassing fabrics for a wedding quilt which will be, somehow, an ocean scene. I always start with my stash because these are fabrics that I really like (well, a few because they were on sale and are tones I "know" I will use). Yes, I do have a lot of smaller pieces in my stash because I overbuy (to be sure I have enough) but as time goes by they tend to get used. I have to bring myself to do a scrap quilt!

I have a wonderful stash. Often the fabric will jump out and speak to me.

Sometimes pattern first-----------sometimes fabric first. I'm a sucker for fabric----------sometimes it just follows me home.

Sometimes I start with a pattern, sometimes with the fabric. Sometimes I buy fabric, for a specific pattern, then change my mind and use it for something different. That gives me an "excuse" to go get more fabric! :)

For the Storm at Sea, which has never been started, I decided I needed a SAS and then looked for fabric. Since I love paisley I found a blue with black paisley, then a white on white paisley and searched for a medium blue paisley. Lost cause. Can't find anything I really love. So the dark is going to be black with blue and white (you have to look closely to see it's black), the blue/black will be the medium and the white tonal the white of course.

I LOVE paisley, but to me the paisley also looks like waves swelling and foam swirling. I can't think of any other pattern I'd HUNT that hard for. Well, maybe the Carpenter's Wheel---------I want bricky red, woody golden tan, and then a beige tonal. I've not put a lot of work into finding these pieces yet.

Usually the pattern first, but like everyone else if I see fabric that I like then I buy at least 1/2 to 1 yard. If I just absolutely LOVE it and might use it as the focal fabric in a quilt then I might buy up to 5 yards. If you are really struggling, then opt to buy a kit that already has the coordinating fabric and in the correct amounts. I made a wall quilt from a kit when I was a new quilter and it was so nice to not fret over the fabric...I just put all of my energy into making it! :-)

First I design the pattern, then I buy the fabric.

I learned something w/ my current project - buy fabrics locally so that I can try out fabrics in the blocks, then go buy the full yardage. I went thru about 10 revisions before I came on the final combination....sigh!

Yes because if you don't have a pattern you may not buy enough of a fabric you may want to use

I feel like I was a beginner only a short while ago so I can remember! I started with a pattern, then looked for the fabric. After 3 years now I am finally at the point where I have stash that I can start with and then find the pattern. So now that's what I do, I collect fat quarters and work from there.

Sometimes the pattern first, but usually the fabric, and then follow up with a pattern.

Whichever lets me have a good reason to buy the Most fabric!! LOL

I am a pattern first girl too. BUT I also buy fabrics that call to me with no pattern in mind.

I do it both ways, depends on which I see first, the fabric or the pattern.

I pick out the pattern first..then the material

Pattern first, then material.

Most of the time I choose the pattern first. Occasionally, because I make a lot of QFK quilts, I have fabric that I have to find a pattern for. For example, I have a scrap of great fabric with monkeys on it that someone donated - but there is only about 16 inches. There isn't enough of it to do any of the "standard" QFK's patterns so I to find something that will work or, if I can't find a pattern that will work, I make something up!

I buy fabric because I like it, and have built a nice stash over the years. Very handy now that fabric prices have shot up so high. I shop from my stash first, then fill in if I need to.

I like to design my quilt first, then go to my stash to see what fits. Since I make a lot of scrappy quilts, value and color are more important than yardage. The only time I worry about yardage is when doing borders.

Sometimes when I see that I have 3+ yards of fabrics that go together, them I may plan a quilt around those fabrics.

So to answer your question, I would have to say, "It depends,"

As a relatively new quilter, made my first quilt last January, I usually pick the person who it will be going to. Then it is a toss up, if I see a pattern or fabric for them. My current quilt is Happy Daisies for a granddaughter from out of state, we do not have much contact with them. My next quilt is for a young nephew who is VERY smart and his quilt will be based on a fabric of books. So it really depends on the person.

Most of the time pattern then fabric.

Like all the rest it just depends. I did find when I began quilting I found the pattern first then the fabric. Of course like many of us once you start this wonderful life of quilting you will come across fabric you really love and start building your own personal stash.

I need to get better about picking a quilt pattern and fabric for a person... being a Newbie, I have only made two quilts but without a person in mind... now I have to decide who to give them to.

jmoore, why not keep them for yourself? After all, you must have liked the fabrics and patterns or you wouldn't have made them. Sometime down the road, you may decide they are perfect for a certain person and you can gift them then.

The first quilt(s) are also great for comparing with ones you make in a year or two. You can see how far you've come and can pat yourself on the back for the improvement.

I'd suggest pattern firstm, be sure if you go to a quilt shop to mention this will be your first quilt.
Perhaps w/some samples on display it will help you to see the construction process also.
Happy quilting

I have to have a project in mind before shopping for material. I think it all depends on how your creative mind works. There's no right or wrong.