Note: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you click a link and make a purchase.
Welcome to Fabric Refresh Week here at Pieced Just Sew! There are so many great fabric collections coming out lately and I've been spending a lot of time playing around in my Electric Quilt software refreshing my patterns with these fabrics. I have so many to share that I decided to feature a new fabric collection every day this week.
To make the week even more fun, there will be a special coupon code to my Etsy shop somewhere in each day's blog post. Each day's code will be different, will only be valid for a couple of days, and will only apply to the patterns featured in that day's blog post. Some patterns will show up on multiple days, but some will not, so if you see something you like, don't wait! (The discount amount will be the same each day).
Let's kick things off with Tula Pink's Everglow collection for Free Spirit Fabrics. I'm not sure I've ever sewn with Tula Pink fabric myself, but I keep hearing about this collection, so I decided to check it out. I like how it's bright and colorful, but yet has a bit of a pastel feel to it. Maybe it's bright pastels? Is that a thing? Or an oxymoron?
Either way, I had a lot of fun playing with this collection in EQ8. The main prints are large scale and may not be fabrics that you want to cut into little pieces so I stuck with patterns that use bigger pieces.
Before I jump into the mock-ups, there is one thing I want to mention about this collection. Like I said, I haven't really sewn with Tula Pink and I'm not very familiar with her fabric collections. When I went to the Free Spirit website to look for the digital fabric swatches, there were only eight prints listed under Everglow. However, when I look for the fabric in shops online, such as Fat Quarter Shop or Etsy, many of the bundles include a lot more than eight fabrics. It appears that the Everglow bundles also include what Free Spirit is showing separately as Neon True Colors.
I'm not sure if that's normal for Tula Pink or Free Spirit. Maybe that makes perfect sense to you if you're a Tula fan. I'm using both in these mock-ups. The main Everglow prints seem to be the busiest fabrics with the largest scale designs on them. The Neon True Colors are the stripes, polka dots, and the fabrics that have a lot of solid background showing with hearts, suns, and birds on them in a single color.
All right, let's get to what you're really here for! The first pattern that I refreshed was Town Hall. This is probably my best pattern for showcasing large scale fabrics due to the large squares. This pattern was made to be layer cake friendly but there are instructions for fat quarters as well.
I couldn't decide what fabric I wanted to use for the accent (the little triangles on the corners of the blocks). I started with a simple dark gray solid as shown above. Then I decided to get out of my comfort zone and try one of the stripes from the collection.
I started with the purple stripe and liked it better than I thought I would. So I tried out the orange and blue stripes too. What do you think?
Then I decided to go really crazy (for me, anyway) and use a stripe for the background fabric. I think it looks really cool! If someone actually makes this version of Town Hall, please tag me if you post it on social media. I would love to see how this looks as a real quilt!
Next up is Stay Square. This is another pattern that works well for large scale fabrics. The largest portion of the block is smaller than Town Hall, but not by much. This is another layer cake pattern but it also has fat quarter instructions.
I used a dark gray solid for the accent in the first version. Then I created a second Stay Square mock-up using a dark jade green solid. I know Tula Pink has some solids but I don't know much about them. I just chose solids that come with the EQ8 software. They don't represent any specific solid fabrics. If you like the way they look, try to find something that looks similar. (This is where a color card can come in handy if you buy fabric online and have a favorite brand of solids since computer screens can vary a lot from reality, especially when it comes to solids).
The next quilt pattern that I refreshed with Everglow is Wanderlust. There are two options in this pattern and I'm using the fat quarter version for this mock-up. These blocks are big at 16 inches and you'll be able to have a fairly large intact section of fabric in the center of each block to showcase those prints!
While working on these mock-ups I stumbled across Tula Pink's Fairy Dust print. I decided to try out the white version in place of the solid white in Wanderlust and I think that's a great option if you prefer to have a quilt without solids. It creates a little extra interest without blending in with the other prints too much and obscuring the design of the pattern.
Okay, before I move on to the next quilt, it's time to share that coupon code I mentioned at the beginning of the post. For the next two days, you can use code TULA20 at checkout to save 20% on any of the patterns featured in this post. Don’t wait because this code expires tomorrow at midnight (evening of Tuesday, June 6th at midnight Central time).
Now we're going to have to move on to some patterns that have smaller pieces, but not too small. Tumble for example involves rectangles. I'm not going to give specifics, but they are wider than a jelly roll strip. Tumble is a fat quarter pattern and you will get three blocks from each fat quarter.
I really liked the look of that green solid so I used it again as the accent in this Tumble mock-up. I stuck with my usual white solid for the background in the first mock-up. Then I decided to try that Fairy Dust print again and that made it even better!
While playing around with this mock-up, I decided to see what this pattern would look like if I left out that inner solid ring from each block and just used a larger background square. It would make the piecing faster and more simple. It completely changes the look of the quilt. For some reason, that center accent ring makes the blocks stand out more while leaving them out makes it look like a lattice pattern. I still like it though! If you decide to do this, you'll need more background fabric, at least an extra 3/4 yard but maybe an extra yard to be safe and you can cut the accent fabric requirement in half.
Next up is Flutter. This is one of my older patterns and only has layer cake instructions. My more recent patterns have fat quarter options in addition to precuts but I haven't had a chance to update the older ones yet. If you want to make this quilt in Everglow, you can get all the pieces you need from 11 fat quarters. I think you'll be able to figure out what to cut if you have the pattern. I stuck with that dark green for the butterfly bodies and the Fairy Dust print for the background. This might be one of my favorite Everglow mock-ups!
The last pattern that I refreshed with Everglow is Besotted. This is another older pattern so it does not have fat quarter instructions but you can make it with 12 fat quarters and just like Flutter, I don't think you'll have any trouble figuring out how to cut your fat quarters.
I made three different refreshed versions of Besotted. Two with the Fairy Dust print as the background but with two different colors for the chain. Then I swapped the green and the Fairy Dust print for a dark background. They all look great!
That's all for today! If you want to grab any of these patterns to use with Everglow or another fabric, make sure to use the coupon code I mentioned earlier as soon as possible before it expires. It will be good until tomorrow night, Tuesday June 6th at midnight Central time.
If you're seeing this post several days or longer after it was originally posted, be sure to sign up for my newsletter HERE so that you never miss out on a sale!
Be sure to check back here tomorrow for Day 2 of Fabric Refresh Week!
Until next time,
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment