I realized that I have been sharing my progress on the Rainbow Scrap Quilt on Instagram, but some of you might not know how I chose to finish out the quilt. I am also at the point of auditioning thread colors for the quilting and deciding on a quilting plan, so I thought I’d share how I worked through the process for this multi-colored quilt!
For starters, I chose to use blocks of solid colors in the same rainbow order edged with solid black as a border. The quilt now is 56.5-inches wide by 63-inches long, and I am really happy with how it turned out! I gravitated toward this border and as it was coming together I realized it gave the quilt new meaning for me, but I will share all those details when the quilt is finished. 🙂
Rainbow Scrap Quilt – Finished Flimsy
And as you can see in the image above and below, I pulled some of my Aurifil thread from my stash to audition on the quilt top.
Rainbow Scrap Quilt – Auditioning Thread
I auditioned (left to right):
-
Black (2692)
-
Light Blue Grey (2610)
-
Natural White (2021)
-
Ermine (2312)
-
Marrakesh (3817)
My thoughts on the thread to audition are that I do not plan to change my thread color for every block in the quilt, so I want something that either all over blends, all over pops, or splits the middle.
Rainbow Scrap Quilt – Auditioning Thread
Next, I strung out each thread color along the quilt. This is something that is easy to do in person but hard to do and photograph to share, so I laid out all 5 colors on one block for reference here. They are (top to bottom):
-
Natural White (2021)
-
Marrakesh (3817)
-
Ermine (2312)
-
Light Blue Grey (2610)
-
Black (2692)
There is also a bit of a view of how the colors look on the next block over (blue).
Rainbow Scrap Quilt – Auditioning Thread
This is where things get subjective. In person, the color that blends the best across all the block colors is Ermine (2312). The highest contrast across the colored blocks is Black (2692).
In the end, I chose to use the variegated thread Marrakesh (3817) to continue to rainbow theme. I do not plan to quilt on the thin black areas, and I will probably do a dense but organic horizontal straight line quilting. I think this will show off the color variegation in the solid borders and be really fun, and not compete too much with the improv piecing in the center of the quilt, which I still want to be the star of the show.
Love everything about this 🙂
The added pop the black brings to this top is great! Love your solution for making the top bigger – the different widths of the border was just brilliant! I do the same thing when deciding on thread color. It always amazes me how different some threads look when they are actually laid out on a quit top!
That border makes this quilt come to life. What a great idea.
What about a darker thread in the black-framed border and something lighter in the middle?
I really like the solids framing the scrappiness of the centre. This is really turning out lovely!
Beautiful! I love what you did with the border. The black sets it off and looks like stained glass to me! You did a wonderful job! Have fun with the quilting! I cannot wait to see that!
I just can’t love this project enough. I don’t know why it affects me so much but I just LOVE it. It’s by far my favorite of yours. Your eye for design is just amazing. I also like your choice in thread color and impressed with your overall collection of thread.
Oooh I love that variegated thread, and it looks great across your quilt!
I love the border you added and how it continues the different widths. Have fun quilting.
I thought your quilt was perfect before the border but now it is full of life. Thank you for sharing your process for selecting thread. It is a subjective choice at the end but still the process is great and is somewhat similar to what I do. I look forward to seeing how the quilting changes it.
The variegated is such a fun choice. If you’re not quilting the black borders then I can’t wait to see what you do with the colorful blocks in the borders! I know I’ve said it before but I just LOVE how your improv blocks came out!
Love your quilt! I have a question. Do you use the Aurifil thread on your long arm machine? As Aurifil is cotton thread, will it bread easily due to the high speed of stitching on the long arm?
Sandra
It really is a stained glass window
I have some of the Orange spool aurufil thread but it snaps constantly on me
It’s coming together so nicely. Good luck with quilting. Can’t wait to see it finished.
I’m so glad you went with a slightly darker teal on the border, it works beautifully. 😀 And I can’t wait to read the story on this one!! Beautiful work, as always!
Hi Yvonne: The border you have made frames this quilt very nicely. I wouldn’t have thought of bordering this quilt but the border really adds a lot.
The variegated thread looks great and will compliment all the rainbow colors in the quilt. I do the same thing when choosing thread, and I find that the thread blends even more once it is stitched. I love these blocks; what a great way to use up scraps!
It has been so much fun to watch this piece come together. The border fabrics that echo the colors in the main body of the quilt create a terrific dynamic. It is wonderful that the solid border fabrics continue the overall aesthetic of the quilt while going your eye a chance to rest momentarily before moving back into the high energy improvisational center of the piece. This is such brilliant and balanced design!
This is a great way to use up scraps, but still have a good design. I’ve heard of people cutting scraps into 2″ squares or 2 1/2″ strips, but I like this better. Where you choosy about your fabrics/colours?
I have a really limited thread stash as a new quilter and so this process is always a little daunting to me. I love the way you used a number of lines of each color for testing. I look forward to hearing more about your quilting process as you finish up!
I really do love the black in this one, which is quite strange for me, but it just works so well, and very much makes me think of stained glass windows.
Just a smiling visitor here to show the love, by the way outstanding design .