Our Quilt Strategy

At Fabric Café, we believe quilting should be fun, simple, and stress-free. That's why we've developed a proven formula that helps you select fabrics, choose a pattern, and start sewing with confidence. Follow the steps below and discover how easy it is to create a beautiful quilt you'll love.

Step 1
Fabrics

Step 1 – Fabric Selection

Fabric Café has a winning strategy for selecting fabrics for our 3-yard and 5-yard quilts. We take the guesswork out of sorting through your fabrics to achieve fantastic results.

Have fun, and keep in mind that the goal is to choose fabrics that differ from each other while complementing one another in color, scale, texture, and value.

Fabric 1

Your focus fabric or the star of the quilt. Usually, this is the largest print. It may be dark, medium, or light overall—and that’s okay! Once you identify this first fabric, you’re on your way to a great quilt.

Fabric 2

The lightest fabric. This fabric provides background contrast and often picks up the lightest colors from the focus fabric.

Fabric 3

The darkest fabric. This is your pop of color pulled from the focus fabric. It should contrast with both companion fabrics.

SHOP KITS
Fabrics

Making a 5-yard quilt? You’ll need two more fabrics to make the pattern sing!

Fabric 4

Your secondary focus fabric. It acts as the sidekick in print and color and is often a different scale than fabric #1.

Fabric 5

This fabric will be either darker or lighter than your secondary focus fabric. It should contrast with the remaining fabrics and may end up being a medium value overall.

That’s it! You’ve got a winning fabric combination that’s sure to result in a fabulous 3-yard or 5-yard quilt.

Don’t forget: We offer a variety of pre-matched quilt kits so you can get started right away!

SHOP KITS
Step 1
Fabrics

Step 2 – Select Your Pattern

Buy a single pattern or a book that includes multiple patterns. Each book offers instructions for enlarging the quilts to twin or queen/king-size topper.

With just three yards, you can make a lap quilt. With six yards—or two kits—you can make a twin-size quilt, and with 12 yards—or four kits—you can make a queen/king-size topper.

Our 5-yard quilts start a bit larger and can be enlarged with a single border or made into a queen/king-size topper by using 10 yards or two 5-yard kits.

Check out the pattern section of our website to explore your options. Be sure to notice the alternate versions of the pattern images we share to help you better visualize the finished project!

SHOP PATTERNS
Step 1
Fabrics

Step 3 – Start Sewing

Your fabrics and pattern are ready, now it’s time to start sewing!

Whether you’re new to quilting or a seasoned stitcher, Fabric Café is here to help you every step of the way. We offer beginner-friendly tutorials, helpful tips, lots of free goodies, and hundreds of fun and inspiring videos on our YouTube channel.

Quilt confidently with your friends at Fabric Café!

TUTORIALS