Tone It Down Quilt: Choosing Fabrics

Tone It Down by Lissa Alexander

It’s December 23 and I’m counting down the days to 2014! Think I can get in a couple more quilts before the New Year? I should probably focus on ones that are already in progress but coming off the organizational high of my destash sale, I am in the mood for playing with fabric and starting something new. There’s a beautiful quilt by Lissa Alexander called Tone It Down in the February 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. It uses traditional piecing and a “modern” low-volume background. Read about Lissa’s inspiration for the quilt {here}. APQ is hosting a quilt-along for this project and I decided it would be a good sewing project for the holidays (chain piecing friendly = lots of audiobooks + mugs of cocoa).

I pulled fabrics for the quilt yesterday, using this retro-inspired Alice Apple felt applique art as my color palette:

VMQ-palette-crushing-on-kitschHere are my fabric picks:

Tone It Down | Fabric Stacks

A variety of pinks for the main blocks across the quilt (pink, orange, and red in the original)

Tone It Down | Fabric Stacks

Mustard + aqua + orange + grass green for the secondary pattern of circles

Tone It Down | Fabric Stacks

And a big variety of low volume prints for the background.

VMQ-palette-templateThis quilt pattern is very scrap friendly so I’ve pulled lots of things from my scrap basket to mix in with fat quarters and yardage from my stash. I want to make the mustard color more prominent so I’ll probably find a print or solid in that range to use for binding.

Are you going to quilt along with us? You can find the magazine at most craft stores or purchase a digital copy {here}.

4 thoughts on “Tone It Down Quilt: Choosing Fabrics

  1. Alia Ghulam

    Hi. I really like your fabrics. They are so different for me on what I get here in the Middle East and what I manage to find when I’m home in the States! I will start following you and watch these lovely fabs turn into a really cool quilt!!! Thanks!

    Reply
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  3. Mary Card

    Lisa,
    Did you finish the Tone It Down quilt? I loved your choice of fabrics and would love to see the finished product.
    Mary

    Reply

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