Sunday, August 4, 2013

Lantern Layout Ideas

The Lantern-a-long is almost over! Can you believe it? There's one more lantern to be revealed tomorrow, and after that, you have a week to finish up your quilt top, and a week to link up. I'll be posting reminders as we go - no worries! This week, we've had some really cute Tinkerbell Lanterns pop up in the Flickr group!


This week I'm sharing some ideas on layouts. When I designed this quilt for myself, I wanted a large lap size, which is why I made 3-4 blocks of each lantern. I had a lot of trouble deciding how to lay them out, though, so I took to my design wall (and floor).



Some of you are making large lap sized quilts, too - or, maybe you're only using a few lanterns to make a baby quilt (4 of the larger ones would be so pretty!)  or maybe many more for a bed quilt. Either way, you can do a lot with color placement to add another element to your quilt. And we haven't even talked about quilting yet ;)


This is the way I first laid out my blocks, and I ended up (almost) keeping it! It was a balance of the different colors I used. So, nothing worked better than the original ;)

 Basically, you can look just like me at Color Me Rad yesterday! :)




Another picture that contributed to my final layout - a balance in color, especially the top row (think one of each color - purple, blue, green, and orange - for each row).

Here are some other options:


 Lay them out according to lantern size  - this would be helpful if you are worried about adding in the extra strips of solids or fabric, like I did, to make them appear hanging. I think this is a beautiful option and would make everything look a little more equal.


Arrange each row (or column!) according to color.

And really, the options are endless. If you have lighter vs. darker lanterns, you could switch off across a row with contrasting color values, or you can arrange a row of light and then a row of dark. Some of my lanterns were made ombre-style - I think it would be so cool to make a lantern quilt based on one color, all ombre. I'll keep that one in mind for the future (I'm thinking purple of course ;) )


I can't wait to see what you decide! Please comment about what you are thinking, or post a picture to the Flickr group about the layout(s) you are considering. I hope you are enjoying this relaxing sewing project :) See you tomorrow for the last lantern!


Tues. July 2 - Mon. July 8 - Gather supplies
Mon. August 5 - Lantern Block 5, finish up quilt tops
Mon. August 12 - Linky goes up for finished quilt tops/quilts (open for one week)
Mon. August 19 - Winners chosen at random from the linky pool!
 
Linking up to Let's Get Acquainted.
 
 

3 comments:

  1. I am looking forward to the 5th lantern on Monday! I am making two of each lantern so I need to figure out a layout that will work for me! Can't wait to start laying it out and coming up with a plan.

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  2. your lanterns look great! It's neat to see how the quilt really changes with each layout. I love your random layout best though!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  3. First I must say you look like you are having way too much fun. I suspect a long shower was required to get you back to normal. I loved the way you showed different start points for the layout. I am so totally predictable when it comes to that aspect of a quilt. This will help me. I got two tinkerbell's done but having camera issues. Hopefully I will be able to get at the last one before the next week. Looking forward to what you have in store. Joanne

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Let's start a conversation! I love comments and I'd be happy to reply to all who have an email address accessible. Thanks for commenting!

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