Hi everyone, and welcome to the Bella Vista Sew-a-Long, featured on Instagram.
I am Sew excited to be sewing along with you, even sewing with virtual friends is motivating and lots of fun. I love to see all the different interpretations of a quilt pattern. It is amazing to think that each quilt will be a true original; no two quilts are ever exactly the same.
Here is the link to purchase the Bella Vista downloadable pattern if you haven't got it already.
The hashtag for the Sew-a-Long will be #bellavistasewalong please include it on your Instagram posts so I can find them.
This sew-a-long will go for 5 weeks.
Week 1 - Fabric Pull
Week 2 - Cutting
Week 3 - Sewing Blocks
Weeks 4 - Block Placement and starting to sew it altogether
Week 5 - Finishing
I have made my quilt with Vista Wovens because that is the fabric range I designed this quilt for. but you can choose any fabric you like.
I do think the stripe in the sashing really adds some interest and sparkle to the quilt, it just seams to tie all the fabrics together. I don't often see stripes used in sashing but I think it does work well, and this one is a soft gentle stripe, so it doesn't dominate the quilt.
This week we are choosing fabrics, and as I said, you can choose plains, stripes, prints or a combination of all.
I have chosen Bella Solid 9900 174 - American Blue for the background of this version and it really lets the star blocks shine.
This is my fabric pull for the original version of Bella Vista.
Since I am using all woven checks and stripes I made sure that I chose different scales of stripes.
Some are very fine pinstripes, some are wider and closer together; there are large buffalo checks and tiny ginghams.
If you were choosing print fabrics for a quilt you would choose different scales of prints too. So this is nothing new, but just something to keep in mind.
Remember there are no rules, if you like it then that is all that matters.
Here is the fabric selection I have chosen for another Bella Solid quilt I will sew a long with you.
I am aiming for a blue, white and grey quilt and am deciding between the two grey Bella Solids for the background.
I think I will go for the darker one, it is Bella Solid 9900 433 called Flint. I have chosen this one because I think the contrast will be greater and really frame the stars nicely. It will add drama!
Here is another photo of that fabric pull and the woven are placed on the grey background. There is a good variety of scale in the stripes and checks, and the sashing and border stripe is working well.
I am happy with this selection and will now pair them up so I can allocate the fabrics to each block, prior to cutting.
Here are the fabrics pairs in 13 pairs, because there are 13 star blocks in this quilt.
Note that in each pair I have tried to include a light and a dark or stripes of different scales.
You can play around with these pairings for as long as you like, I think it's lots of fun. There are no right answers, just looking for something that is pleasing and to your taste.
One more fabric selection to show you.
One of my wonderful teachers in the shop has decided to join the sew a long and she wants to make Bella Vista into a Christmas Quilt. Why not!
She has chosen to use a Layer Cake by Stephanie Sliwinski called 'Good News Great Joy'.
The greens of Vista woven work really well with this range.
Stephanie and I were booth neighbours at Quilt Market in Houston last October and our two fabrics lines were being released at the same time. We both agreed that our fabrics made a handsome match!
Lorraine has chosen a white tone on tone for the background in the quilt and will pick the prints from the layer cake. There is not enough fabric in a 10" Layer Cake square to cut what you need for the Bella Vista star blocks, so adding a matching Charm Pack should solve that problem.
I am really looking forward to how this combination of prints and stripes plays out. I think it is going to make a really lovely Christmas Quilt.
I am also excited to see your fabric pulls for the Bella Vista Quilt.
The hashtag on Instagram will be #bellavistasewalong so make sure you include that in your posts.
It's also a good idea to tag me @piecestotreasure because then I am directly notified of your post.
I am going to put together some fabric bundles and patterns as prizes so I will choose someone every two weeks from the Instagram posts. Don't forget those tags so I can find them.
Remember, to have fun while you sew-a-long, it is not a race and you don't need to keep pace. Life sometimes gets in the way of sewing and so long as you are enjoying it, that is all that counts.
Stay tuned for a blog post each Monday with some photos of progress and hints and tips.
Happy Sewing
Jenelle
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