Moda Grunge Basics Deep Teal is a 100% cotton quilting fabric, 44/45 inches wide, in a rich blue-green teal with a softly distressed, textured look. It is best used as a blender — a near-solid that adds depth and movement to quilt blocks without competing with your feature prints.
What Is Moda Grunge Basics Deep Teal Fabric?
Grunge Basics is a long-running collection from Moda Fabrics, designed by BasicGrey. Instead of a flat solid, each Grunge color is printed with subtle tonal variation — lighter and darker brushy patches across the surface — so it reads as a solid from a distance but shows texture and depth up close. That makes it one of the most useful blenders in quilting: it supports busy prints, softens transitions between colors, and keeps large areas from looking flat.
This colorway, Deep Teal (stock #30150-487), is described as turquoise, teal, and blue-green — a saturated, moody teal between blue and green. Like the rest of the line, it is 100% cotton, 44/45 inches wide, made in Japan, and sold by the yard. As a quilting-weight cotton, it cuts, presses, and sews just like the other Moda fabrics in your stash.
Teal is a particularly handy color to own: it bridges warm and cool palettes, pairs naturally with navy, aqua, coral, mustard, and cream, and gives quilts a grounded anchor color without the starkness of black.
How to Use It
Cutting: Grunge has no directional print to match, so you can cut strips, squares, and triangles in any orientation. Its tonal texture is also forgiving — small imperfections are much less visible than on a flat solid. Press before cutting for the most accurate results, as with any quilting cotton.
Sewing: Use a standard 1/4-inch seam allowance and a universal or quilting needle in your usual size for cotton. Deep Teal's darker value hides seam lines well, and a mid-teal or dark grey thread blends best on the surface. The fabric presses crisply and holds a crease, whether you press seams to the side or open.
Pairing tips: Use Deep Teal anywhere you would reach for a solid: sashing, borders, backgrounds for light prints, and binding. It is especially effective behind cream, white, and pastel blocks, where its depth makes lighter fabrics glow. Pair it with other Grunge Basics colors for a coordinated palette, or set it against bright florals to give the eye a resting place. Because the color reads blue-green, test it against both blue and green fabrics first — it can pull either direction depending on its neighbors.
A Project to Try
Try a teal-sashed nine-patch throw. The deep teal does the framing work, letting simple blocks look polished and modern.
- Cut nine-patch blocks from a mix of light prints and cream or white Grunge, finishing at 9 inches.
- Cut Deep Teal strips 2.5 inches wide for sashing, and 2.5-inch squares in a contrasting accent, such as coral or mustard Grunge, for cornerstones.
- Assemble rows alternating blocks and sashing strips, then join the rows with long sashing strips and cornerstones.
- Add a 4-inch Deep Teal border, layer with batting and backing, quilt with straight lines or a simple allover design, and bind in the same Deep Teal for a clean, framed finish.
A throw around 48 by 60 inches uses roughly 2 to 2.5 yards of Deep Teal for sashing and borders, depending on your layout.
Care and Handling
As a 100% cotton quilting fabric, Deep Teal can be machine washed cold with like colors and tumble dried low or line dried. Saturated teals can release a little dye in the first wash, so wash it with similar dark colors the first time, and consider pre-washing before pairing it with very light fabrics. Press with a medium-hot iron, and store it out of direct sunlight, as deep colors show fading sooner than pastels.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grunge Basics Deep Teal a solid fabric?
Not quite — it is a blender. From a distance it reads as a solid teal, but up close it has subtle tonal, brushy variation that adds texture and hides seams and minor imperfections better than a flat solid.
What colors go with Deep Teal in a quilt?
Deep Teal pairs well with navy, aqua, cream, coral, mustard, and other Grunge Basics colors. Its blue-green balance lets it work in both cool and warm palettes.
How much Deep Teal do I need for sashing and borders?
For a throw-size quilt, 2 to 2.5 yards typically covers sashing, cornerstones, and a border. For binding alone, half a yard is usually plenty.
Shop the Blue Grunge Basics Deep Teal 44"/45" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
