Ideas for using gradation/ombre fabric for quilting

There are a few cool things about my latest quilts.  One is the reverse applique technique, then it’s the knife and then the pair design+fabric.
I started with simple solid fabric but there are so many options for all the 18 designs included in the pattern.

For my next two samples I used a gradation/ombre fabric –  it’s called Gelato by Daiwabo for E.E. Schenck (I bought it from equilter.com).
I just cut a 20” piece of ombre fabric, cut the design out, used two black backgrounds and here are my two little quilts.  I really love the look.

Then I started looking at all the designs of the pattern and realized that I could use the ombre fabric in a different way.

So here is what I did:
The color sequence is repeated twice on the width of the fabric (one sequence is the mirror of the other), so I cut my fabric in half lengthwise.
I had a 1.5-yard piece.

Then I removed the selvages and cut the wide pieces into 2 x10” wide strips.
Here is the result – two repeats for each color sequence.

I stacked all the strips, with edges carefully aligned.

Then using the 45-degree marking line of a long ruler, I made this first cut, aligning the ruler as close to the bottom left corner of the strips as possible.

Then I rotated the ruler as shown and here is this triangle.

I repeated the process until I have cut 4 triangles as shown below.

So here is the result:

Then I just pieced the 4 triangles into squares and look at the different gradation achieved. These squares would make wonderful backgrounds for my designs.  The squares measure about 19”.

But there are even more possibilities. Those are the simplest pieces, with only 4 repeats.
How about 6 or 8 repeats? There are designs that can benefit from these gradations, too.

Stay tuned (subscribe to my newsletter) because I  have to make some more complex gradations and I will share the math behind all these.

Meanwhile, check out the Double Reward quilt pattern –  this one-time offer is expiring in a few hours.

 

Happy quilting!