Expanding Your Precuts
Ever buy a layer cake or any precut but aren’t sure what to make? And if you can’t figure out what to make, you don’t have enough fabric to make the project and aren’t sure what to do. Then the layer cake, stacker, jelly roll, or whatever pre-cut you have just sits on a shelf or in a bin waiting for the right project. I think this has happened to all of us. I am here to help you expand on your pre-cuts.
I love doing this because it allows me to use those wonderful new lines that I can’t seem to live without AND use fabrics from my stash to enhance the pre-cut sets. Win, win!
Let’s Do It!
To get started, let’s look at the pre-cut we are matching. No fear! We may not have to start with opening the pre-cut. We can look online first to get an idea of the colors and prints in the precut set. Please note: for the purposes of this video and blog, I am going to use a layer cake, but you can use this method with any precut. I promise! One important thing to note is that if you like the precut you are matching, chances are you have those colors in your fabric stash already, because, well, you like those colors.
For example, I have the layer cake Folk & Lore by Fancy That Designs. I love these prints! I can also see, just by looking at the color swatch photo online, what colors and prints are included.
Picking Coordinating Fabrics
Background:
Let’s start with the background. This is usually beige, white, gray, or black. For this particular set, it is beige. Well, that is easy! I can add beige from my stash to expand this layer cake. Keep this in mind until Step 5.
Next, let’s look at the color theme. We can see there is light blue, dark blue, pink, maroon, and yellow. Although these are the base colors, we can see there aren’t exactly pure colors. For example, the maroon has an orange tint to it and pink has a bit of a coral feel.
Blues:
Let’s start with the blues. Start by looking at the blue fabrics in your stash. Since this particular collection has prints with light and dark blues, we can look at them and match fabrics from our stash that goes with those colors. Pull out the colors and see if they work. I call this interviewing the fabrics. As you are pulling colors, remember the background color for the set you are matching. In this case, it is beige. If there is a blue fabric that has a white background but the blue matches, it probably won’t go with this collection. After sorting and pulling blues, set aside all that goes with the fabric collection and put the rest back.
Pinks:
The pink included have a coral tone to them and go will with the blues. Keep this in mind while sorting. We aren’t looking for a bright pink, hot pink, etc. We want a more muted color of pink. Again, make sure to keep in mind that beige background.
Maroon:
Do you see how the maroon fabric in this collection has an orange tint to it? That’s what we are looking for. Maroons are tricky because of those tones. Keep interviewing and picking fabrics. You can do it! They are in your stash somewhere. Well, they are in mine, at least. 🙂
Yellow:
Okay–this one is kind of easy. This yellow is mustard. We can find that! We aren’t looking for bright-sunshine-and-stars yellow. We want that fall yellow.
Final a Balance
Now that we have found matches, make sure to have a balance of colors. Unless it is the look we are going for, we don’t want to overwhelm the collection by only using navy blue, for example, We want a little bit of everything so it blends well and enhances the precut. Finally, make sure to add some of the background fabrics, too. This will give it a nice balance.
The next step depends on what you are making. For example, if I want to expand a layer cake with more 10” squares, I could cut (42) 10” squares from a variety of my matching scraps. Tada! I would have TWO layer cakes! However, if you have a quilt in mind and know what sizes you need, you can simply cut them from the scraps. The important thing is you have the fabric that coordinates. That’s the hard part, right?
I hope you enjoyed making this block!
Happy Quilting,
Kris
