Paintbox Quilt-Along: Supplies

 

Pictured above are, from left to right: Bright Palette, Classic Palette, and Dark Palette

As I mentioned in my last post, Kona Solid Roll-Ups are a great shortcut to making a Paintbox Quilt.  These rolls are pre-cut sets of strips, each from a different colored solid fabric.  I've started a thread in the Flickr Group about the best places to find these.  I bought mine from Fabric Depot's website, where they're on sale. Sorry, they are sold out now!

Kona Roll-Ups are available in Classic, Bright, Pastel, Dusty, Dark and 42 New Color rolls.  Any of them will work, so choose whatever you like best and what matches your stash.

If you don't have a roll-up, or don't want to buy one, you can definitely still make the quilt!  I'm not a Roll-Up Spokesperson or anything.  I'm only encouraging people to use them because it's an easy and economical shortcut to tracking down yardage of 40 different solids.

The potential downside to using precut strips like this is that you cannot prewash them.  If you feel strongly about prewashing all of your fabric, these rolls are probably not for you.

Pictured above are, clockwise from top left: Classic Blocks, Scrappy Blocks, Scrappy Variation and Classic Variation.

Your first step should be deciding what kind of blocks you want to make.  I've listed the necessary supplies below, by block type.

Supplies for Blocks

For Classic Blocks:

40 different solid fabric strips 2 1/2" x width of fabric, or one Kona Solid Roll-Up

40 different monochromatic print fabric squares, each 10" x 10" in colors to coordinate with the solid strips

For Scrappy Blocks:

40 different solid fabric strips 2 1/2" x width of fabric, or one Kona Solid Roll-Up

Monochromatic print fabric scraps in colors to coordinate with the solid strips.  Scraps should range from 2 1/2" squares to 6 1/2" long.

For Classic Variation Blocks:

40 strips of solid fabric 2 1/2" x width of fabric.  You can use as many or few different solids as you want, for instance:

• 3 yards of a single solid fabric, cut into 40 strips
• 1 1/2 yards each of 2 different solid fabrics, each cut into 20 strips
• 3/4 yard each of 4 different solid fabrics, each cut into 10 strips
• 1/2 yard each of 8 different solid fabrics, each cut into 5 strips
• 3/8 yard each of 10 different solid fabrics, each cut into 4 strips
• 1/4 yard each of 20 different solid fabrics, each cut into 2 strips

40 different print fabric squares 

For Scrappy Variation Blocks

40 strips of solid fabric 2 1/2" x width of fabric.  You can use as many or few different solids as you want, for instance:

• 3 yards of a single solid fabric, cut into 40 strips
• 1 1/2 yards of 2 different solid fabrics, each cut into 20 strips
• 3/4 yard of 4 different solid fabrics, each cut into 10 strips
• 1/2 yard of 8 different solid fabrics, each cut into 5 strips
• 3/8 yard of 10 different solid fabrics, each cut into 4 strips
• 1/4 yard of 20 different solid fabrics, each cut into 2 strips

Assorted print fabric scraps.  Scraps should range from 2 1/2" squares to 6 1/2" long.

 

Other Supplies

For Quilts Using Classic or Scrappy Blocks:

2 Yards of a neutral solid fabric (white, snow, putty, stone, ash, etc.) for sashing

2 1/2 Yards of the the same netural solid fabric for backing

2 1/2 Yards of a slightly darker neutral solid fabric for backing

1/2 Yard fabric for Binding

66" x 81" Batting

For Quilts Using Either Variation:

2 Yards of a neutral solid fabric for sashing.  This fabric should contrast with the solid fabric used in your blocks.

2 1/2 Yards each of the solid fabric used in the blocks and the solid fabric used for sashing for quilt back

1/2 Yard for Binding

66" x 81" Batting

 
I'll be back tomorrow with the block tutorials.  Please leave any questions in the comments and I'll try to answer them all in a post tomorrow. 

Comments

[Ramona]

ok, this is maybe a silly question, but what's the difference between the classic vs variation blocks? i get the scrappy/nonscrappy difference, but totally don't understand the classic/variation difference.
Thanks!

[Chris]

Love the quilt, so colorful. Ordered my my kona roll-ups. Did your mod-sampler quilt and learned so much from your tutorials. Look forward to joining you in this quilt along!

[Julia]

Another possibly silly question, but what do you think about using some scrappy blocks and some single print blocks?

[Danielle Wilkes]

Girl, you are trouble. And I like it. I just ordered some rolls of solids. Have no idea what prints I'll put with them, but I look forward to it. This is my first quilt along, so I'm pretty excited about the journey.

[Jo]

What size will eack block be, and what size will the finished quilt be? Is it similar in size to the mod sampler? Thanks for organizing this!

[Gale]

These rolls are gorgeous! I am a prewasher and really picky about it. If I want to make something with a jelly roll or something similar, I will buy all new fabrics for it including backing and binding, make it, and then wash afterwards. It doesn't really help me use up my stash though... Love the blocks too. Even if I don't buy a precut roll, I like patterns where I can use strips since they're so quick to cut.

[Magnolia Bay Quilts]

This looks like a really fun quilt-along! Thanks so much for sharing the project. It's beautiful!

[Shruti Dandekar]

Help!!! Elizabeth... i do not get kona rolls here... :( ... and gathering 40 assorted colour solids and matching prints in going to be a really tough job... any suggestions in a way i could narrow it down a bit... say to about 10-15 fabrics in all? mail me at shrutinow(at)gmail(dot)com...
Thanks a tonne

[Wendy]

I'm in! I have so many projects that I should finish first, but just can't resist this quilt a long - I ordered two rolls last night, the bright and the pastel, and will use scraps for the prints....

[Amy]

Definitely not the point of a paint box quilt, but I am thinking that I'd like to do this in just blues & oranges - how much solid would you suggest to get in just two pieces - for the front. (Based on what I read, I think the answer to my question would be 3 & 3 for the classic & scrappy variation blocks, right? I am about to hop out to the store during the football game.)

[Peggyann]

I just love colour, and this is a perfect way to use a bit of my stash favorites, well, all of my stash are favorites. In order to do that i will have to use a combination of all the blocks.

This is my first quilt-a-long, and I am very excited to join. Thanks for inspiration and organization!

[Angie]

Oh dear. I've been wanting to make this for my niece. (Good for a teenager, don't you think.) What would you think of 16 or 20 colors instead of 40?

[Sew Inspired]

I would love to join in the quilt-along. Not sure if I'm going to have time. A big THANK YOU for the hot tip on fabric depot. I needed an excuse to stock up on some fabric.

[Ginny]

Can I use a combination of unwashed (kona rolls) fabric, with washed (my stash) fabric, or should I buy new prints so I am using all unwashed?
Thank you!

[Kayla]

I also would like to know about combining the Kona rolls with my washed stash prints. :)

[Melanie]

I'd love to join in! I ordered some Kona roll-ups, but looking through my stash, I have very few monochromatic prints. I'm sure I can make something work. Thanks for taking the time to host this quilt-along!

[Dena]

Beautiful quilt. Can you recommend a "roll up" type source for print fabrics to coordinate with the Kona Roll Ups for those of us without an extensive stash to draw from?
Thanks.

[leslie sorrells]

oh, thank you so much for this!! i love the paintbox quilt and am so excited to be walked through this!

[christie]

Washed fabrics and unwashed fabrics will behave differently in your finished quilt. Those that are prewashed will not shrink (or not much, anyway) after assembly/quilting, but unwashed fabrics will. There may also be issues with bleeding, depending on your colors and manufacturers.

It's generally accepted that a single quilt should be consistent as to prewashing... but there are still no quilt police, and you can do what you want. :)

[Elizabeth]

I agree that its ideal to either wash everything or wash nothing, but my experience has been that, as long as high-quality materials are used, the difference in rate of shrinkage is negligible enough as to not make a noticeable difference. Unless youre using chain-store fabrics, vintage or any other potentially questionable materials, I would not be afraid to combine washed and unwashed fabric in a quilt.