The Fabric Smackdown

A final exercise or exploration we did in Bill's class was the Fabric Smackdown.  He said he and his wife do this frequently and you can read more about their method in their magazine Modern Quilts Illustrated, which you can order from their website :)
He started by having each class member throw a piece of fabric of our choosing into a pile on the floor.  He sorted through them, then grouped them in groups of three.  That is what determined the group we worked with.

We found the other two people, then took turns with them, adding more fabric to our pile.  We had to have a reason to add the fabric, it needed to connect to some fabric already there, either by:
Hue - color on the color wheel
Value - light, medium or dark
Saturation - intensity of color
Scale - size of print
Illustration style - like leaves, dots, swirls etc.

He definitely challenged us to get outside our comfort zones and as you can see, there were some pretty great combinations!

 Some more notes I jotted down:
1.  Don't just choose one theme print and add other fabrics that go with.  Invite another theme print!
2.  Fabric Fusion is integrating fabrics together.
3.  Large scale fabrics were not intended for quilting, but quilters like them and try to use them (explains my trouble with the Tula Pink quilt!)  He said large scale fabrics do better by being isolated, and there are several patterns available that will accomplish this, such as their pattern called "Follow the Leader".

4.  White can be a "problem child".  If there is white in a motif, you generally need to "build a fence around it" (i.e. some sort of border or sashing).
5.  He really likes RJR solids such as Linen White, which is more cream colored and Optical White, which is a brighter white.
6. Recommended reading:  Weeks Ringle's article called Stash RX in the June 2014 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting.  (There was also one in the June 2013 issue.)