Tips for Patchwork Beginners: How to Choose Your Fabrics
First of all, choose what you like! You'll be more likely to finish a project if your supplies bring you joy!
But once you start sewing your fabrics, other factors besides aesthetics will come into play and can either make your task easier or more difficult. So, here are my tips for choosing fabrics that you like from the start and that you'll like until the end of a project and beyond!
Material: Use fabrics made from natural fibers; 100% cotton will be the easiest to start with. Cotton is durable, takes dye very well, reacts well to ironing, and is easy to care for.
Weight: Choose fabrics that are tightly and evenly woven. If the weave is tight and you don't see any gaps between the threads, the fabric should hold its shape and will be more resistant to distortion when you handle it by cutting and sewing. In other words, your fabric shouldn't resemble Aida cloth for embroidery, but rather have a denser feel.
In terms of weight, quilting cotton should be between 120 and 160 g/m² (grams per square meter). Many quilting cotton fabric manufacturers produce brushed cotton (often simply called "quilting cotton"), but another option is cotton poplin, such as that made by Art Gallery Fabrics. Cotton poplin has a little more drape than brushed cotton and has a silkier feel; the weight is between 100 and 140 g/m².
Color: Prints or solid colors? I think you can trust your own taste, but if you have any doubts, one solution is to stick with solid colors and/or blender fabrics where the color appears less uniform because the fabric has a slightly textured look.
If you still want to use patterned fabric but don't feel confident, why not choose small, widely spaced patterns where the direction of the cut doesn't matter? For example, you could use fabrics with small circles, stars, or other small shapes that will look good even if the fabric is upside down.
