Young ‘men’ charity quilts
 

Our quilting group wanted to collect our CASA quilts last Thursday to have a count of how many we had for girls, boys, and different age groups. We need more for boys and especially the older boys. My question is what fabrics do you use for the teen boys? Most of mine are flowers or pink girly so do you use solid colors for guys? I offered to make a teen boy before the organization collects in December but kinda lost as to fabric …I appreciate your thoughts, thanks in advance.

Black and white quilts with an accent color (red or blue) seem to be very popular.

I’ve made some for teen boys that are rag quilts out of homespuns. I’ve also made the fleece quilts that are tied around the outer edge for a couple of my nephews. Those go together really quickly. Made one out of fishing fabric and strips in the warm wishes layout.

Just about anything that isn’t flowers or pink. Boys like colors too

Made a special order quilt for my DS last year. He wanted it black white and hot pink. By the way he's almost 50.

Earth tones. Blues.
the pattern is what makes it - go for geometrics

What about all those sports fabric. Like football, soccer, hockey, and their teams.

Blue and grey or brown mixes are striking combinations that don’t look too feminine

I just saw the video of the skateboard by MSQC and told my hubby that’s the pattern, now dig for the fabrics-lol- I know I have some flame fabric not sure what else

R/W/B, black,/white/red, cameo, nature fabrics, panels and sports fabrics are popular with teen boys. you can use a nature/hunting fishing fabriclike a panel, too. Just add borders.

Marshall Dry Good has a sports cheater fabric, 90 " wide. I bought some about 2 weeks ago for $ 5.99 a yard.great price and the fabric is nice.

Have fun and thank you for your kindness.

There are lots of fabrics out there that are not floral prints - think Grunge, etc. Instead of focusing on fabric prints, focus on quilt pattern and color combos, such as:
blue and green
blue and tan
blue and white
green and white
red and blue
orange and black
black and blue
and so on.
Just FYI - my 27 year old son picked, as his favorite quilt I've ever made, a zigzag quilt made from pastel batiks that included soft green, pale blue, pale pink, coral, yellow. He said it looked summery.

I've done several boys and young mens quilts. I use wildlife and fishing themed fabrics. Plaids and batiks with colors accordingly. My dad, husband and son all said no pink! haha. When I've sewn for younger boys I stay with blues, greens, browns, red etc but shy away from pinks and purples.

Thank you for sewing for the guys!

My son loves a quilt made out of denim. You can go to a thrift store and get the largest size denim pants to get the most yardage.

I’ve used batiks…there are a lot of batiks that are not gender specific. I am currently working on one for a young man using a pattern from Amanda Nyberg’s book “No Scrap Left Behind”

I make what I call "adolescent" quilts for PL. I often use greens just because I have a pretty deep stash of that color. But I use RWB or Blue with another color or a selection of what might be considered civil war shirting colors. I guess, I just avoid prints that are obviously pastel floral or baby. Let you heart lead you.

Last minute thought, consider animals or movie characters or sports. These could easily be used with solids or small prints to make good options for your group.

They’ll not outgrow plaids mixed with solids.

My advice would be to just stay away from pink - that seems to be a no-no for guys.

Cars come to mind first. I'm in Texas and I have a boys quilt for CASA planned. The focus fabric is boots. I just looked at an I Spy quilt in progress on the wall and saw horses, wildlife, bowties and fish that would all work for a boy. I'd stay away from pink, orchid and other pastels. Other than that, anything goes.


I made a Texas quilt for my late husband. My two teenage male friends both want the quilt. I made it with a panel that I cut apart.


CASA here doesn't take the fleece blankets that are tied around the edge. They suggest a crocheted edge. I have one that's tied I've had for years, and every time I wash it, I have to retied several of the ties. If my sister hadn't made it, I would toss it.


bkay

I tend to go more for the novelty prints of Star Wars or Super Heroes. Then solid colors or the black and whites.

I have used sport team colors. You can purchase licensed team fabrics (Chicago Blackhawk quilt) or just go with the team colors like the orange, navy and white (Chicago Bears). The advantages of going with team colors rather than the licensed fabrics are the plain fabrics are easier to find, usually cost less, and may or may not represent a sport team, depending on the recipient's view point.

Good for you at making things for boys/young men. There are more boys in foster care and NICUs than girls, but too few quilters think of them. I concentrate on male quilts too (something about having three sons …). I use batiks in browns, greens, golds, blues, grays, etc, just not pink or flowers. I use a lot of “read as solid” prints - grunge is a particular favorite. Paired with a novelty print of some type it works well. Any any pattern other than things like Sunbonnet Sue or Flower Basket will work in the right colors.

How about going to thrift stores and collecting men's shirts to cut up and make a patchwork quilts from. Even a simple pattern turns out beautiful. There is a lot of fabric in these shirts that have been washed and softened already for you. Bloggist Jo Kramer makes beautiful quilts from shirts like these.
And just a note...not every teenage boy skateboards!

You can never go wrong with stars and Americana.

So many masculine designs come to mind. It's all in the fabric that's selected. Some ideas:

A mix of different plaid fabrics cut into simple squares. (I LOVE this look and definitely prefer masculine to feminine designs.)

Hunter's Star, Carpenter's Star or similar pattern.

Brick or block pattern in any medium to dark colors/prints.

Pixel designs of whatever is currently hot with that age group. (Computer game characters?)

A simple jelly roll race.

Stack & flip.

Half square triangles arranged as pinwheels, chevron or other layouts.

Strip tubes give a lot of design options.

A simple background with one medium- to large-size applique of something sports related (baseketball, football, baseball and bat, hockey sticks, etc.).

A simple background with a few appliques of something outdoorsy/woodsy (howling wolf, fox (non-cutesy version), owl in a tree, fish swimming or jumping, deer (head with nice antlers or side view of whole deer), etc.).

Rail fence.

Just simple horizontal strips of various colors or prints. I really like the "Quick Strippie" from Mary's Quilts blog.

Even something like 9 or 16 patch in bright, happy colors sashed in black would be nice for a young man that likes colorful things.

Scrappy quilt of simple squares or rectangles.