Colorful Pale Star Quilt
04-06-2011, 08:12 AM
#1
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Ogden, Utah
Posts: 545
Someone asked me if my Avatar pic was a purchased pattern, or one I made up myself. It is one that I designed myself, and so here's the tutorial of how I made it.
First I started with the block design, which, oddly enough, is called the Pale Star. It can be found here- http://www.quilt.com/BlockOfTheMonth.../PaleStar.html
It also has a coloring book to print out and experiment with colors.
Then I found a fabric that I liked- it was a pattern that I found at JoAnn fabrics on sale- bright colors with dragonflies. It was a family of colors, and I bought several of those. At the time, it could be found online and in the store. (The 5 background colors I bought were pink, purple, blue, green and yellow.) The fabric line comes in butterflies or dragonflies- we liked the dragonflies better. Here's a pic of the butterfly in this line- it is a glittery fabric, and yes, after 4 or 5 years and several washings, it still has glitter!
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...en=22647690134
Then I found background fabrics- a bundle of fat quarters in watercolor in the same color family, and bought several of those (blues, greens, red/pinks, purples, and an orange collection.) I cherry picked which colors looked best with the center stars- some clashed, others looked good and I only kept those that looked good. The rest I saved for other projects.
Next came the backing fabric which is also the outside border, and then I realized that it would be cute as 4 points of the star. Last I checked, my JoAnn still had this fabric- it's a flannel in a blue/green tie dye look. Every fabric was bought at JoAnn fabrics.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...RODID=prd29104
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/z...m&itemType=sku
I decided the stars looked best offset. I found a trick for choosing colors when you have a lot to choose from (the fat quarters came in a color family, but not every color looked good with my focus fabric of the dragonflies!) Here's a little trick that someone told me: cover the printed coloring book pattern with double-stick tape, and then cut out little fabric scraps in the shape of the pattern, and lay it out as the quilt will appear. The pieces of fabric will be tiny! Your are wasting just 1/2 inch of the fabric to be able to see what the quilt will look like before you ruin any fabric- this process really helped me eliminate colors that didn't go well with my dragonflies in the centers.
The rest is just sewing half square triangles and squares, and assembling 12 inch blocks. It was really a simple star that goes together easily, but ends up looking stunning when used with the right colors and fabric. I pinned up my finished fabric "pattern" up to tell me which finished squares went next to one another for the final rows, and to help me get the rows in the order I had planned them. The flannel backing was used for the binding, and my binding was another complimentary darker blue/green fabric. I quilted it on my regular sewing machine- it's just SID in squares over the full width of the quilt. (This quilt predated my LA sewing machine, so I had no choice but to do straight lines.) Pictures to follow of the quilt close-ups of some of the fabrics. They really are bright, but my DD loves this quilt to death, and so I wouldn't change a thing.
First I started with the block design, which, oddly enough, is called the Pale Star. It can be found here- http://www.quilt.com/BlockOfTheMonth.../PaleStar.html
It also has a coloring book to print out and experiment with colors.
Then I found a fabric that I liked- it was a pattern that I found at JoAnn fabrics on sale- bright colors with dragonflies. It was a family of colors, and I bought several of those. At the time, it could be found online and in the store. (The 5 background colors I bought were pink, purple, blue, green and yellow.) The fabric line comes in butterflies or dragonflies- we liked the dragonflies better. Here's a pic of the butterfly in this line- it is a glittery fabric, and yes, after 4 or 5 years and several washings, it still has glitter!
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...en=22647690134
Then I found background fabrics- a bundle of fat quarters in watercolor in the same color family, and bought several of those (blues, greens, red/pinks, purples, and an orange collection.) I cherry picked which colors looked best with the center stars- some clashed, others looked good and I only kept those that looked good. The rest I saved for other projects.
Next came the backing fabric which is also the outside border, and then I realized that it would be cute as 4 points of the star. Last I checked, my JoAnn still had this fabric- it's a flannel in a blue/green tie dye look. Every fabric was bought at JoAnn fabrics.
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...RODID=prd29104
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/z...m&itemType=sku
I decided the stars looked best offset. I found a trick for choosing colors when you have a lot to choose from (the fat quarters came in a color family, but not every color looked good with my focus fabric of the dragonflies!) Here's a little trick that someone told me: cover the printed coloring book pattern with double-stick tape, and then cut out little fabric scraps in the shape of the pattern, and lay it out as the quilt will appear. The pieces of fabric will be tiny! Your are wasting just 1/2 inch of the fabric to be able to see what the quilt will look like before you ruin any fabric- this process really helped me eliminate colors that didn't go well with my dragonflies in the centers.
The rest is just sewing half square triangles and squares, and assembling 12 inch blocks. It was really a simple star that goes together easily, but ends up looking stunning when used with the right colors and fabric. I pinned up my finished fabric "pattern" up to tell me which finished squares went next to one another for the final rows, and to help me get the rows in the order I had planned them. The flannel backing was used for the binding, and my binding was another complimentary darker blue/green fabric. I quilted it on my regular sewing machine- it's just SID in squares over the full width of the quilt. (This quilt predated my LA sewing machine, so I had no choice but to do straight lines.) Pictures to follow of the quilt close-ups of some of the fabrics. They really are bright, but my DD loves this quilt to death, and so I wouldn't change a thing.
Printed "coloring book" with double-stick tape and fabric in pattern I want
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180398[/ATTACH]
Close-up of the sample fabric on the test pattern
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180399[/ATTACH]
Close up of the glittery dragonfly fabric, and what colors are echoed in the background of the stars
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180400[/ATTACH]
Purple dragonflies- this one shows a little bit of the glitter.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180401[/ATTACH]
Binding fabric is a teal with lighter teal vines in a tiny pattern
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180406[/ATTACH]
Quilting was simple lines to product squares, Done on a regular sewing machine.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]180409[/ATTACH]
04-06-2011, 09:21 AM
#3
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: North Ogden, Utah
Posts: 545
The first picture is a little dusty (sorry!); it's a pink trial of this same pattern. It will be a 2nd quilt that will have a white background. DD #2 will have a pink version that will have a pink backing fabric that matches that binding color.
04-07-2011, 09:13 AM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern Minnesota
Posts: 321
Think spring! I love your quilt. I have a thing for dragonflies.I just love them with the mix of springy colors. Did I miss it, did you give total amounts of fabric needed? The pattern gave amounts for "a block" thanks for sharing.
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