Tips for choosing fat quarters (from someone who’s bundled 5,000)

Got stacks of fat-quarter singles that you couldn’t resist at the store — and now you’re not sure what to do with them? If you have fat quarters that aren’t in pre-bundled form, it can be challenging to figure out how to choose the right combination of colors, values, and prints and sew them into a quilt you’ll be proud to display. But in Me and My Sister Designs’ book 12-Pack Quilts, you’ll find smart tips for combining fat quarters, all from a bona fide professional fat-quarter bundler.

• Strive for variation in color between your fat-quarters fabric and your background fabric color. If your background is light gray don’t use light gray tones in your fat-quarters.
• A rookie mistake in choosing fat quarters is not getting enough contrast between your quarters and your background fabric color. Lay your fat-quarter fabric on top of your background fabric before you get started and make sure they separate.
• When choosing fabric colors try to stick to color palettes you like. If you’re having a hard time with this just look at what you’re currently wearing – there’s usually a color palette you like there.

“If you include high-contrast lights and darks in your 12-pack, think about choosing a strong medium tone for the background.”