African fabrics are bright and bold; some with large motifs and others with small designs. Typically used for African clothing, but lets see how it looks in a quilt.
I never thought of quilting with African prints until I received a request from a friend who wanted quilts for her daughters. She knew she wanted African prints or Jamaican colors incorporated. She also wanted them to be designed using some of the blocks from the underground railroad quilt code.
I didn’t know where to go to find African fabrics. My first thought was JoAnn Fabrics because that was my go-to store. And to my amazement, they did offer some African prints. The called them “shirtings” and the fabric was very expensive at $19 to $29 per yard. If you are looking for African prints, I suggest looking for an online store and compare prices. I decided to buy a quarter yard of several prints. My first quilt was going to be a log cabin block, so I knew I could get several 2.5″ strips from a quarter yard of fabric.
It was also a first for me to use so many different bold, contrasting fabrics in one quilt. And you know what happened? It worked. The scrappy log cabin quilt looked amazing. I did add a few batik strips because I thought it complimented the African prints nicely.]
After I made that quilt, I was so excited with the result, I wanted to make something else. I decided to make the Homecoming quilt by Lo And Behold Stitchery. This pattern resembled a tribal design, and I knew it would look amazing with an African print. For this quilt, I went with just one African print and a dark background. What I liked about this fabric is all of the pieces look different depending on how it was cut. The African print I chose had a large continuous stripe design throughout, but when you cut and sew together, it is a nice cohesive look.
This next quilt was made with the traditional Crossroads block pattern. This was a simple design that utilized larger blocks so the African print is really pronounced. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pictures of this one before it went to it’s new home.
This wedge quilt was one of my absolute favorites. I made it knowing that I would be selling it, but, oh boy, I was so tempted to keep it. The result is absolutely stunning with all of these bold prints. Again, I used a black grunge background to make the colors pop. I love that you can put African prints together any way you can think of and it al works.
So if you have not tried quilting with African prints, I highly recommend giving them a try. You can have so much fun with them whether you do traditional piecing or improv quilting.
Last October we talked with Lisa Sheppard of Cultured Expressions, and she is just one of many shops that sell African prints.
Happy Quilting!
Mary Davis
