And Sew On… Fabric Choices

 Hard to believe, that after all that crazy sewing and preparation Christmas is done for another year! Hope that you and yours had a wonderful time! We sure did!

Have you noticed the end of year fabric sales that are starting to pop up? Very very tempting! Might be a good time to pick out some fabrics for the And Sew On BoM next year! After all, we’re getting started with the first pattern in just a few days!



So I thought I’d do a bit of a search for some sewing themed prints that might work in nicely with the BoM! I will admit – I’m a bit of a sucker for novelty fabrics. They are so perfect for fussy cutting in paper piecing! I’m starting to build up a bit of a collection of sewing themed ones. Hard to resist.
Here are a few I found at our sponsors’ shops! Some of which have some great sales on right now!

Some perfect for fussy cutting, and some I can’t resist for paper piecing. Like really, how cute would pearl bracelets look as wallpaper for some of the blocks?!











 Christa also has a wooden seam roller that would be very helpful for paper piecing – save you having to finger press/iron each seam as you go.


From Fabricworm: Aneela Hoey’s Sew Stitchy line is perfect for this! Oh and dots. I use dots a lot in paper piecing.


Fat Quarter Shop has a number of sewing novelty fabrics – loving the tape measures!


Mama Said Sew is another great line for sewing fabrics – and on sale at Pink Chalk Fabrics.
 
So there are just a few I found while having a look around. A couple of tips – check out the “Novelty Prints” sections of shops. That’s usually where you find these ones.

I often use the search feature of the shop too. For the above fabrics, I used words like: spools, pins, scissors, sewing machines, tape measure etc. Fairly obvious search words – but when you get your result, have a look if the shop suggests other fabrics from the range, or what other people purchased when they bought a particular print. That can help you find other perfect fabrics!

I’d also suggest keeping an eye out for texture type prints. Woodgrain (for the sewing desk), pebbles (for flooring), even batiks (and I'm not a fan of batiks) work nicely in paper piecing and give that extra bit of dimension to your block!



One thing I’d caution you about – stripes. They can look great, but they are a pain in the bum to get them all lined up when paper piecing! They work great for small sections of a block, but I wouldn’t recommend them for wallpaper or flooring (like in my above picture – that added some extra time and frustration to line up those stripes!).

Plus you’ll definitely be able to use up scraps for the BoM (so keep an eye for scrap packs too!), but you might want to consider using similar colours/prints throughout all your blocks to make them look a bit more unified – or go crazy and make them all completely different and bring them altogether with some great sashing fabric. It all depends on your style!

While we’re talking fabric – now’s a good time to point out that the gorgeous Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts has started a Japanese Bundle Club. A fat eighth or fat quarter bundle of Japanese fabrics on a particular theme each month. And guess what February’s theme is? Oh yes – sewing! Perfect!


So! Getting excited?! I am! First block will be posted on 1st January in my Craftsy shop and I’ll pop up a blog post too. Looking forward to seeing some fab sewing themed blocks popping up around the place! Let me know if you have any questions!