How to audition fabrics for a quilt

30 September 2026 · Sashing guides

Audition your own fabric photos on a whole quilt →

Start with value, not colour

A block reads because its light, medium and dark pieces sit in the right places. Two fabrics of different colours but the same value blur into one shape. The quickest check is a photo in black and white. Lay the fabrics next to each other, take a picture, and switch it to greyscale. Star points that vanish against the background in greyscale will vanish in the quilt too.

See each print at the size it will be cut

A big floral on the bolt is a different fabric once it is cut into 2½″ strips: you get a slice of a petal, not the flower. Fold the fabric so only a patch the size of the finished piece shows, or cut a window that size in a sheet of card and move it over the print. A 12″ Ohio Star has 4″ units, and its sashing may be only 2″ wide.

On a screen, scale matters just as much. In Sashing you tell the app how many inches of fabric your cropped photo shows, from 2″ to 12″, so a large print is drawn large on the quilt and a small sprig small. Measure one repeat of the print when you photograph it.

One block first, then the whole quilt

Audition on a single block while you are choosing between fabrics. It is quick, and you can see the relationships up close. Then look at the whole quilt, because repetition changes everything. A fabric that sparkles in one block can dominate when it appears forty times, and a quiet one can become the pattern. On paper this is where colouring pencils give up. In Sashing, recolour one block, then every block of that kind, and compare.

Try the background and the sashing

Most of a quilt's area is background, sashing and border, so they set the mood. Sashing that matches the block background makes the blocks float. A contrasting sashing frames each block like a window. A dark border pulls the quilt together, and a light one lets it spread. Try at least two sashings before you decide. How to add sashing to a quilt covers widths.

Step back

Quilts are seen from across a room far more than from arm's length. Pin the pieces to a design wall (a flannel sheet or a piece of batting works), or put the phone down and look at the screen from a few steps away. Squint: what stands out when you squint is what everyone will see first.

Check you can buy enough

The last audition is the shelf. The background of a throw can need nearly 3 yards (the throw example needs 2⅞ yd), and a shop may have one yard left on the bolt. Check the yardage for each role before you fall in love. If you are shopping your own shelves, planning from your stash starts from what you have.

Photographing fabric for an audition

• Use daylight near a window, with no flash. Flash flattens texture and shifts colour.
• Lay the fabric flat and shoot straight down, filling the frame.
• Photograph every candidate in the same light, so they compare fairly.
• Look at the photos on a neutral grey background. A coloured one changes how the fabric reads, which is why Sashing's design wall is plain grey.