Diamond Chains Quilt Along: Fabric Talk

Okay, so depending on which design you pick (or if you have your own design) you will need to have some idea as to how much fabric to purchase. I used my quilting software to come up with some general guidelines for the quilts I showed you previously. Hopefully this will give you some ideas as to approximate yardage needed for your individual quilt. I will say that I purchase on the upward side of the given yardage. For example, if it says 3/8 of a yard, I bought 1/2 a yard. I wanted to have a little left over for mistakes and for piecing the back.

The quilts are lap quilts that will be about 48" x 60" with no border so you will need to figure in more fabric if you plan on making your quilt larger. Also, we will be creating 12 inch blocks; something else to keep in mind.

General supplies for all quilts

Binding: .5 yard



Yardage
Original quilt
Fabric A (diamond)	1 1/8
Fabric B (center)	3/8
Fabric C (chain)	3/8
Solid	2 ¾
Backing fabric	3 yards
Batting	Minimum of 52 x 64 inches

Quilt with 3 rows, 2 columns of diamonds
Fabric A (diamond)	2
Fabric B (center)	5/8
Fabric C (chain)	¾
Solid (white)	1 ¾
Backing fabric	3 yards
Batting	Minimum of 52 x 64 inches

Green solid quilt
Fabric A (diamond)	¾
Fabric B (center & chain)	1 3/8
Solid	2 ¾
Backing fabric	3 yards
Batting	Minimum of 52 x 64 inches

Choosing Fabrics:

Either solids or prints would be viable options for this quilt. My original design used prints that were tone on tone. In this way, they mimicked solids while providing some texture to the quilt. The original design also dealt with very distinct colors that did not necessarily blend together, but worked together because they were all in the same hue or shade.

Since I already have a quilt going in the fabrics I used in the sample block, I have decided to create my own version out of a completely different fabric line. I had picked up a few pieces of Anna Marie Horner's Innocent Crush way back and hadn't done anything with it. So I added to it and came up with this.

I am using Kona Crimson as my solid. I played around with the coordination of the prints to find the best combination. I decided to use the multi-colored floral as my block center, the blue as my diamond and maintain the orange as my chain. I had originally planned on using the large scale rose print as my centers but decided against it since I would lose so much of the pattern. This will now be my backing fabric. I wanted there to be a crisp division between the center of the block and the darkness of the solid Crimson in order to emphasize the lines of the pattern. I used my Quilt Design Wizard to come up with a close approximation to how my finished quilt will look.

I love the way the colors provide richness and warmness that will be lovely in the fall. I can't wait to see what fabrics you guys choose. Don't forget to add yours to the Diamond Chains Flickr pool so we can be inspired by each other!
The next post for the quilt along will be a block tutorial and we will discuss cutting your fabric. Stay tuned!