How to Quilt with Panels and Patchwork: 12 Project Ideas for Turning Panels into Finished Quilts
Printed fabric panels are one of the fastest ways to start a quilt — the artwork is already done for you — but many quilters stall at the same question: what do you build around the panel? Quilting with Panels and Patchwork answers that question. This 104-page book, published October 31, 2023, is a guide for quilters of all skill levels who want fresh inspiration for using quilt panels creatively.
What This Book Is
Quilting with Panels and Patchwork features 12 panel-focused quilts that combine pieced blocks and other elements with panels, resulting in updated design interest rather than a panel simply bordered and quilted as-is. Alongside the projects, it includes insightful overviews of basic patchwork instruction, guidance on selecting fabrics that enhance and pair perfectly with your panel, and tips for selecting complementary quilting designs. It covers the full path from a panel on your shelf to a finished quilt: the patchwork around it, the fabrics that support it, and the quilting that finishes it.
Why Quilters Use It
Panels deliver a strong focal point — a scene, an image, or a themed print — without appliqué or intricate piecing. The challenge is that a panel on its own can look plain, and the wrong fabrics can fight the artwork instead of framing it. This book helps in three ways. The 12 projects show different ways to combine a panel with pieced blocks. The fabric-selection guidance helps you choose prints and colors that enhance the panel. And the patchwork overviews make it useful even if you are newer to quilting, while the quilting-design tips help the stitching complement the panel instead of distracting from it.
How to Use This Book: Step by Step
- Start with your panel. Choose the panel you want to feature, and look through the 12 panel-focused quilts to find a layout that suits its size and theme.
- Review the patchwork basics. Read the overviews of basic patchwork instruction first, especially if a project uses a technique that is new to you.
- Select supporting fabrics. Use the guidance on selecting fabrics to pull prints and solids that enhance and pair with your panel — audition them next to the panel before cutting.
- Build the pieced elements. Make the pieced blocks and other elements called for in your chosen project, then combine them with the panel as directed.
- Assemble the quilt top. Join the panel and patchwork sections, checking that the panel stays centered and square as you add each element.
- Choose the quilting design. Apply the tips for selecting complementary quilting designs, picking stitching that supports the panel's artwork and the patchwork around it.
- Bind and finish. Bind the quilt in a fabric that frames the whole piece, and add a label noting the panel and project you used.
Practical Tips
Let the panel lead: choose surrounding fabrics after the panel, not before, so every print enhances the focal point. If a panel is slightly off-square, correct it gently during assembly rather than forcing the pieced blocks to compensate. If your panel differs in size from one in a project you love, adapt by adjusting the pieced elements and borders instead of trimming the panel's artwork. Beginners can start with the project that leans most on the panel itself.
Care and Storage
Store the book flat or upright on a shelf, away from sunlight and damp, so it stays clean and readable as a long-term reference. Keep it near your panel stash so you can match a stored panel to one of the 12 projects when inspiration strikes.
Project Ideas
Use one of the 12 projects as a wall hanging that lets a favorite scenic panel shine, build a lap quilt by surrounding a panel with pieced blocks for extra size, or make a themed gift quilt where the panel sets the subject and the patchwork sets the colors. The same approach works for seasonal panels — a holiday or autumn panel becomes a complete quilt once the right blocks, fabrics, and quilting design are built around it.
Shop the Quilting with Panels and Patchwork at Linda's Electric Quilters.
