Buying Neutrals - Question

[Connie R.]

Hello Everyone (and Alex!)....I'm learning so much w/ Alex's fabric classes. I want to begin buying neutrals but not sure how much to buy. What do you suggest? 1/2 yd ,1 yd? More? Thanks guys.....Connie in California

[Connie R.]

I recently collected neutrals and made a king-sized quilt. I haven't posted a photo yet, probably after it's quilted. I bought a few yards, a few half yards and mostly fat quarters. Of course, alot more for the borders and binding. Turns out I had way more fabric than I needed and I've already made 3 pillow cases to match.

If you have a pattern first, it might guide you as to how much to buy. I was making 100 blocks! Each block used a light and a dark and I'd make about 3 blocks from 2 fat quarters with a bit left over. Since I didn't want to repeat fabrics too often, the fabrics that I bought half yards had alot left over. Thus the pillow cases!

It's really fun to collect and collect! Just remember to get darks and lights and not all mediums. Have fun! Nancy in ny

[Connie R.]

I just watched Alex's episode about neutrals (again!) and I had missed it before....but she clearly states to buy up to a yard. So I found my answer. Thank you Nancy in New York for your suggestions. ......Connie in California

[Hannelore N.]

I guess it really depends on how "scrappy" you want your quilt to be (and how much cash you have in your pocket).

I was intrigued by Alex's comment that there are not that many true neutrals around. So every time I have seen a whole collection recently I looked for those neutrals, and Alex is sooo right. There are quite a number of collections around that don't have any neutrals in them at all. What a shame. I wonder if, thanks to Alex, some of us should get ourselves a t-shirt with the words "Neutrals Hunter" on the back.