QUILTING FABRICS FROM PARIS - Planning a Quilt with French Fat Quarters

Fat quarters of quilting cotton, with a couple of vintage fabrics in the mix.

We were in Paris last week, and I am still catching my breath from walking so much every day! I feel mentally refreshed and inspired after taking in so much art, architecture, fashion, and food. (After seeing the Theirry Mugler show at Le Musée des Artes Décoratifs, I’ve been watching his runway shows on YouTube - highly recommend!). Shopping in Paris is a true treat, even if you aren’t hitting up the couture showrooms. I’m going to be writing a few short posts to show all the little bits & bobs I collected as we made our way through the city.

These fabrics GLOW with gorgeous neon pigments.

When in Paris, I always pop in to Petit Pan - I prefer their Montmartre location because the focus is more on fabrics and notions than on baby clothes (but those are made out of the same fabrics and make great gifts). I have a few fat quarters purchased on previous trips, but I cannot bring myself to use them, only admire them and then put them away.

I want to make a quilt this winter….or maybe I should say in 2022? Anyway, I’ve been collecting and sorting all my garment sewing scraps, plus the scraps of vintage fabrics I’ve hoarded over the years. The top left tulip print is a vintage fabric I’ve had for about 20 years (found at a Saver’s in Rhode Island when I was in college) and the bottom row, second from the right, is from a vintage shop in Osaka, Japan).

Anyway, I knew I needed more brights! And I knew Petit Pan was the best option. So I bought a bunch of fat quarters. They were having a Black Friday sale, so some of them were half off (I think past season prints).

Won’t these look so cute paired with crisp white fabric? Or maybe a white-on-white quilting cotton? I love those for subtle texture. I’m imagining a traditional American quilt block pattern, but we’ll see. Something with half square triangles. I also have a lot of Liberty scraps, which I think can mix in well, especially the limited edition Betsy color ways that have neon pigment in them.

The colors are really this bright! I’ll prewash them, to avoid any bleeding, and I hope they remain so neon.

That’s all for now, but I’ll post soon about shopping for garment fabrics, and the treasures I found at the flea markets (my favorite souvenirs!). XO, Martha