Patchworkers - how do you plan a project and buy your materials?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

Am interested in how people go about this - do you follow patterns? Copy existing quilts? And do you go into one shop and get all your fabrics in one go or do you gradually build up, thinking 'Hmm, I need some green to go with this pink bit I've just done' etc?

plan in advance. Nothing worse than running out of a key fabric and not being able to get more.

Work it all out in advance, and then find all the nice coordinating fabric - its nice to be able to layer the fabics and look at how they will mix together.

There are a number of websites that include fabric quantity calculators.

Also, for planning, you can get blank patterns and colour them in to play with the pattern.
www.quilt.com/ColoringBook/QuiltColoringBook.html

Depends. I have been following patterns and buying precuts (jelly rolls or layer cakes) plus any extra plain fabric. Then the binding and backing I buy later.

But am now freestyling, and either using patterns as a starter for technical clues or just using things I find online as a starting point. Am doing an appliqué flower quilt using scraps and random fat quarters on white muslin (which I bought) but will need sashing later. I am pretty much making this up.

Also doing a string quilt which is very much from scraps - foundation pieced on paper from an online tutorial but no need to buy anything, and will stop when I have made enough blocks.

Next up is a rocket quilt for ds. Think it will be appliqué rockets on plain blocks, with patterned fabric for the other blocks. I saw some lovely space themed fabric on a US online store so may order some of that.

Also want to make a paintbox quilt, but that will require some careful planning fabric-wise. .

I tend to buy fabric I love with a view to using it one day, rather than see a pattern and buy the fabric. But am determined to avoid becoming too comfortable - the good thing about patterns is they encourage you to try something different in a fairly controlled environment.

I didn't actually answer your question properly. At the start of a project I make sure I have enough of the key fabrics (plus some extra which can be used for string blocks or appliqué) for the top. But I will often buy sashing later when I can see the blocks in their finished state, and I always buy binding and backing later unless I have enough from leftovers or in my stash.

I use scraps. My patchwork is like a diary, with items of fabric from friends/family in it. My dad's jeans, DD's sleepsuit, dress I wore on my 18th etc.
I will buy/keep scraps just because I like them too.
Would love to have a go at some of that stuff in shongololo's link though.

I use stash pieces and supplement with additional purchases as needed (and it's always needed!!!) but Tend to change my mind about choices as i go. As to design i normally start with a particular block and play with positioning until i like whist I've got. I've also got a copy of EQ6 so I sometimes design them on that especially if i need to make sure a border fits properly. I'm useless at following patterns except for quilting designs.

It depends what sort of look you want. I think some of the nicest looking quilts are 'scrappy' ones - ie. quilts made from a random variety of scraps that you might already have - think old clothes you can't throw out, pretty sheeting or cushion covers, maybe the odd thing from a boot sale or charity shop. (My mother regularly buys plaid shirts from charity shops, as she's very fond of making plaid quilts, and they look very scrappy.) If you don't have a stash of scraps already though, it can take a long time to build up. But you could look on ebay for patchwork 'scrap packs' that people are selling from their own stashes, maybe.

If you have a more ordered design in mind (maybe buy a patchwork magazine - WHSmiths stock a few, as do good newsagents) that needs fewer fabrics but in greater quantities, you will need to plan what you'll need, and buy enough to finish it. Nothing worse than running out of fabric and finding that you can't get any more like that! But for what it's worth, I'd recommend starting with scraps (unless you really, really hate that sort of shabby chic look) and see how you go. Really simple pattern, like cutting out same-sized squares in loads of different fabrics. You can buy stacks of pre-cut squares in fabric shops, BTW, but it's an expensive (and addictive) way of going about it.

Have fun!

In theory I make sure I have enough of a fabric before I start a project, but usually sometimes I have to buy more as I've woefully miscalculated. Or I start something as a small project then decide to make it bigger. this quilt of mine started out as an exercise in handstitching and has turned into a kingsize quilt, so i've been back for fabric twice - luckily they hadn't run out!

I don't really use patterns, but if I did I'd just buy the amount suggested.

I also buy a lot of fabric that i just really like, especially useful basics like polka dots and stripes in single colourways.

On the whole, I like scrappy quilts the best, so having the perfect amount of a particular fabric isn't usually crucial for me.

thanks for all these posts! sorry I didn't reply before - have been away camping (and pining for the patchwork I was about to start....) This has been really helpful in helping me understand the relationship between the planning you have to do and the sort of quilt you are making.

I was inspired to start patchwork by Lucy Boston's quilts and I think what I love about them (and some other historical ones) is the way they take a quite scrappy collection of fabrics and bring them into a unified whole through colour and pattern and careful arrangement. The one I'm starting is based on Lucy Boston's 'Kate's Stars' quilt, ie it is 1 1/2" 60 degree diamonds making 6 pointed stars, with white in between. I have bought my white fabric and am basically just going to keep making stars until I have enough to arrange and assemble them.

I have bought a couple of charm packs and a jelly roll to kick-start my stash, together with scraps from old sewing projects. I'm doing paper piecing so it's going to be a long project!

I'm loving paper piecing - it's slow, but I've sewn something like (and i'm guesstimating totally here) 400 1.5" hexagons in a month, and that's been alongside knitting a jacket and sewing pyjamas for DS and machine sewing another quilt, among other things. So it's not totally slow! I find the portability means I can do it in a lot of places where I'd otherwise be twiddling my thumbs.

I love your yellow quilt Hopefully!
I like your line about how the good thing about paper piecing is that when you're bored with one task you can do a different one for a while. I'm finding it fits in around childcare well because of that - different tasks require different amounts of concentration so I can cut paper templates at moments when I wouldn't be able to sew.
Progress is glacially slow though.... Also when I have a large number of prepared pieces I get distracted by spending ages arranging them into pretty patterns.