FABRICS & THREADS
We chose a light essex linen fabric in a pale
blue shade as the base material for our
Alphabet Garden Quilt. We pulled fabrics for
the floral appliqués that represent colors you
would see in bountiful gardens. All appliqués
chosen were cotton. If you are having trouble
building your color palette, use a picture of
a garden landscape to help you pull your
fabrics together. You can expand from there
by selecting fabric shades that are lighter and
darker, increasing the amount of color variety
you will have in your quilt or project.
As always, we matched our stippling thread
color with the base fabric. However, you’ll
also notice that we purposefully chose a
darker blue thread color for the decorative
bean stitch consistently featured in the
majority of the blocks. These two threads
were used in just about every single block of
this collection. Having an extra spool or two
may prove itself useful depending on the size
of your quilt or project. Since many of the
blocks feature appliqué in this collection, it
was really important to digitize these designs
utilizing highlighting and shading to allow
the floral elements to appear more realistic.
Choosing threads will be easy from here, as
all you will need to do is match threads to the
different fabric colors chosen. Then, select
thread colors that are a few shades lighter
and darker to enhance the highlighted and
shaded areas.
We used Madeira’s Rayon Viscose
embroidery threads. These particular threads
are of the highest quality rayon and give
off a subtle sheen. Madeira Rayon Viscose
embroidery threads come in an assortment of
colors, 400 to be exact, and can be washed
up to 95° celcius.