Coral fabric – do you love it? Or does it make you wince?

I have to admit that after a rocky start the 2019 Pantone Colour of the Year, Living Coral, is growing on me.

I’m not much of a pinky, peachy girl, but as an accent colour I can see that coral can be beautiful.

I’m especially fond of a navy and coral fabric combination. I’ve explored that with this pattern here, as well as with this mini quilt below (pattern here).

I consulted my stash cupboard last weekend and found some nice coral fabrics hidden away in there. You can see a selection of them below:

From top to bottom: 1. Avantgarde Uninhibited in Bask by Katarina Roccella

2. Deity in Orchid from Tula Pink’s Eden line (technically not coral as it’s an orange pattern on pink fabric, but it reads from a distance as coral. It’s also a very useful fabric if you are making a transition [or ombre] from orange to pink).

3. Kona in Coral.

4. Not sure about this one. No selvedge. I think it’s a Timeless Treasures Sketch fabric.

5. Kona in Nectarine.

This small fabric grouping caught my eye:

L to R: Fern Bouquet from Dear Stella’s Foxtail Forest, Carolyn Friedlander crosshatch in Creamsicle and Avantgarde Uninhibited in Bask.

I thought this would be a fun combination to use with my new Ribbon Heart mini quilt pattern. So far all my versions of this mini quilt had been made with darker fabrics on a pale background. I was interested to see how it would look with bright fabrics on a dark background.

Hey, I think it looks pretty cute!

I had some fun matchstick quilting this one. Lots of lines in dove grey thread, but it really didn’t take long as it’s such a small piece.

I didn’t want too much contrast in the binding for this one, as I felt it would detract from the pop of the heart.

So I used the background fabric for binding with just a snippet of coral contrast (the pattern has instructions for this).

I could also have chosen to use the self-binding method, which I’ve described here, to create a “no-edge” look. But I don’t really enjoy sewing with that method very much. It’s somewhat finicky and by the time I’m at the stage of binding I’m totally over finicky! I much prefer to sew a standard binding, which is what I did.

I’m really happy with how this Ribbon Heart mini turned out, and I enjoyed a bit of experimentation with coral fabrics.

If you’d like to see the Ribbon Heart mini quilt made up in different colours, you can see some in this post here.

So what do you think about coral fabric? Yay or nay? Will you be sewing something in Living Coral this year?

I don’t think I’m done with coral just yet 🙂

Have a great weekend and wishing you happy sewing (in coral or otherwise!)

Kirsty

Ah, mini quilts – aren’t they fun? You can sew them up in an afternoon, entirely from your stash. They can be used as wall decorations, front door decorations, table toppers or runners. And of course, they make great last minute handmade gifts.

This mini quilt pattern, which I’m calling the Ribbon Heart mini, could be a sweet handmade addition to a baby nursery or a Valentine gift for a crafty friend.

The Ribbon Heart mini quilt finishes at 16.5″ x 12.5″.

The instructions and diagrams are detailed and show you exactly how to make sure your directional pattern fabrics all face the same way across the pattern.

I like it when my stripes are all aligned. It’s just a little detail that makes me happy!

Hopefully these instructions will be useful for other patterns too. It can be hard to visualise how patterns should be oriented in blocks to make sure they all match when sewn together.

I liked the idea of a small contrasting piece of fabric in the binding, so the pattern has instructions for that too.

I have another version almost finished. This will be a striped blue and green Ribbon Heart, with some IKEA hippos on the back. Perfect for a baby nursery.

I had two lovely testers make some versions of the pattern as well.

First up, Kimberly (from Autumn Hollow Patchwork) made a very Valentine version in pink and red stripes.

Look at those stripes all lined up the same way – soooooo satisfying. (Should I be worried about how much I want stripes to face the same way? 🙂

Amy (from Stitchy Mitten) also made a couple of test mini quilts, with very groovy quilting.

I quilted my versions with wavy lines using my walking foot.

Probably should have done some matchstick quilting on this one though… given all the matchsticks.

So that’s the Ribbon Heart Mini Quilt!

If you’d like to make your own version, and be deeply fulfilled by having your stripes all face the right way, then you can find the pattern listed here in my shop.

Thank you and happy sewing!

Kirsty