Pieced Just Sew: Ophelia Quilt in Spooky 'n Witchy by Art Gallery Fabrics

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I'm back to share the second of three Halloween quilts that I made this year. I really shouldn't be spending time remaking my existing quilt patterns when I have so many unpublished designs waiting to be written and so many other things I want to do to expand Pieced Just Sew. But sometimes I find a fabric and pattern combination that really calls to me and I just can't help myself!

This Ophelia quilt made with Art Gallery Fabrics' Spooky 'n Witchy collection was one of those times. I featured this fabric/pattern combo in a Fabric Refresh blog post a few months ago and I just couldn't stop looking at it. I really, really loved how it looked, especially with the dark background. I don't use dark backgrounds very often and I definitely don't use a dark print very often. There was just something about this one and I couldn't resist seeing if it looked as great in real life.

Turns out, it looks amazing! I could not be happier with how this quilt turned out!

And as a bonus, it seems to photograph really well. I usually have to edit the lighting on my pictures and even then they don't always look great, in my opinion (I'm definitely not a photographer!) With this quilt, I did brighten them slightly but they actually looked really great from the start!

I was a little nervous about the black candy print for the background. I liked the way it looked in the EQ8 mockups that I shared in my Fabric Refresh post, but sometimes fabrics don't always look the same in real life as they do in a digital quilt image. Part of the reason I wanted to make this quilt was to see if that print looked as awesome in a real quilt as it did digitally. I think it's safe to say it does! It definitely adds a lot of texture and interest to this quilt that you wouldn't have with a solid black. Sometimes stepping out of my comfort zone pays off!

There are a lot of really cute prints in this Spooky 'n Witchy collection. I shared close-ups below of a few of them. There are pumpkins, tiny bats, black cats, plus more that you can see in other photos like ghosts and bottles of potions.

Some of this fabric is getting hard to find. Even Fat Quarter Shop is out of fat quarter bundles (although they do currently still have the black candy print, called Trick or Treat). You can find a few on Etsy, though some that come up at the link have other fabrics mixed in as well and some don't have all the prints.

I quilted this quilt using the Gossamer pantograph. I'm not sure if it's supposed to look like spiderwebs, but it does to me so this is one of my go-to designs when quilting a Halloween quilt. I tend to use white thread if there are any white fabrics in the quilt because I don't like the way a darker thread looks on a light fabric (personal preference; if you do, go for it!) I was a little worried about how the white thread would look on the black background, but I think it looks great and really helps the quilting stand out without being overwhelming. I also use a thinner 50wt thread so I think that helps too. I always use Superior So Fine polyester thread when quilting.

For the backing, I went with a bright orange print with skulls. It might normally be a little too bright for my taste, but I feel like this quilt has a bright feel to it overall with the neon green and bright purple fabrics, plus it helps to balance out all that black on the front. Fat Quarter Shop is out of this print too but you might find it HERE.

I went with orange for the binding too, although I'm actually not sure I meant to have orange for both backing and binding. Normally I don't use the same color for both. But that's what I bought, so that's what I used. It looks fine. It is a Halloween quilt after all!

Even though I probably shouldn't have spent time making this quilt, I love it so much that I can't really regret it. Here are several more photos for you to enjoy!