First of all, you definitely don’t have to manually color each individual patch to make a quilt look scrappy! Lots of times if you are planning on sewing a scrappy quilt you wouldn’t be using the specific red fabric you’re coloring your quilt with, you would just be using a red from your stash anyways. So, the first step is just to not overthink it!  But, here are a few different ways to make this job a little faster.

  1. In this Wedding Ring Quilt I used the Ctrl/Cmd to color the blocks with the Paintbrush tool, which colors the same patch in all matching blocks on the current layer.

     

    And ended up with this quilt…

  2. Once you have a quilt designed and colored like in Step 1, click the DESIGN tab > Block Tools
  3. Use the Rotate and Flip tools to break up the repetitive fabrics.
    For example, here is the bottom row before flipping and rotating vs. afterward.
  4. Click Fabric Tools  > Paintbrush and recolor any other pieces that you feel need it. As you can see, I added in a few new fabrics, like gray and brown.
  5. Click Add to Project Sketchbook    for any variations you would like to keep. If the project is unnamed EQ8 will prompt you to do so. (To be saved, your item needs to be in the Sketchbook AND your project needs to be named. Here is more information.)

    Another option is to color a few variations on the Block Worktable

  1. Open the block to the Block Worktable
  2. Click the COLOR tab > Fabric Tools

  3. Color the block and click Add to Project Sketchbook  
  4. Repeat Step 3 once or twice.
  5. Click Quilt Worktable > DESIGN > Block Tools > Set Block and set a variation of the blocks you colored.
  6. Flip and Rotate the blocks.
    There are three different block colorings in this quilt.
  7. Click Add to Project Sketchbook    for any variations you would like to keep.

Here are some other things to keep in mind…

  • If you only have a limited amount of yardage available, you can check the yardage estimate periodically to make sure you’re not using a certain fabric more than what you have available.
  • You may want to use the Search by Color feature to find more fabrics to get a scrappy look.
  • If you aren’t seeing all the different colored variations of blocks in your Sketchbook you may want to check to see if they the blocks are stacking.
  • Sorting your fabrics may help, too!
  • Once you have a scrappy quilt designed, it’s easy to make lots of variations with the Swap Color tool.

    Do you have any tips for coloring scrappy quilts? Share them below!If you want to post images of your quilt, here is how to export the images.
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    To post your image click to comment on this post. Fill in your info and then click Browse.
    Go to: Documents\My EQ8\ImagesI can’t wait to see what you’ve done! I hope you enjoyed the lesson!
    If you have questions about the lesson feel free to post them below.
    If you have questions about something else EQ related, please contact techsupport@electricquilt.com.
    If you have suggestions for new Design & Discover lessons feel free to comment below or email Heidi@electricquilt.com.