How to Build a Woodland Quilt Around a Cream Wildlife Print
A good main print does a lot of the storytelling in a quilt, and that is exactly the role of this fabric. Let's Wander Main in Cream is the main print from the Let's Wander collection by Casey Cometti for Riley Blake Designs. It is a 100% cotton fabric, 43"/44" wide and sold by the yard, featuring forest wildlife and foliage on a cream background. Riley Blake describes the collection as great for quilting, apparel and home decor — and as a main print, it works best when you give the design room to be seen instead of cutting it into pieces too small to read.
What This Print Is Best For
Main prints are the prints you build a project around. Because this one features forest wildlife and foliage, it carries a clear woodland theme on its own, which makes it a natural centerpiece for a nature-inspired quilt, a child's or cabin-style throw, or a simple patchwork where the fabric itself is the focus. The cream background helps here: it keeps the overall look light, so the finished quilt does not feel heavy even with a busy, detailed print, and it pairs easily with a wide range of coordinating colors pulled from the foliage and wildlife in the design.
Beyond quilts, the same qualities suit apparel and home decor where a larger area shows — cushion covers or a table runner where the woodland scene can run uninterrupted.
Cutting: Let the Motifs Stay Whole
The most common mistake with a main print is sub-cutting it too small. If you cut it into 2-1/2" strips or tiny squares, the wildlife and foliage break up and the theme is lost. Instead, plan cuts that keep the motifs readable:
- Large squares or rectangles: Cut 6-1/2" to 10-1/2" pieces for simple patchwork, alternating the main print with solid or small-print squares for rest.
- Big center panels: Use an uncut width-of-fabric section as the center of a throw, then add borders. This is the fastest way to make a quilt that looks designed, not just assembled.
- Fussy cutting for feature blocks: Center a favorite section of wildlife in a larger block, using a clear ruler to frame it before you cut. Save this for a few hero blocks rather than the whole quilt, so it stays special.
Before cutting, press the fabric flat and check the direction of the print. Wildlife and foliage designs are often directional, so confirm which way is up on every piece before it goes into the quilt — a bear or tree turned sideways in one block is easy to miss until the top is finished.
Color Pairing and Piecing Ideas
Start your palette from the print itself. Pull colors you can actually see in the foliage and wildlife — soft greens, warm browns and tans, and other earthy neutrals are natural companions for a woodland design, with cream solids to echo the background. Use those coordinates in smaller-scale prints, tone-on-tones, or solids. That contrast in scale matters: large wildlife print plus small, quiet coordinates reads as intentional; large print plus another busy print competes.
Three layouts work well: alternating main-print and solid squares; a bordered center panel with a deep foliage inner border and cream outer border; or a row quilt alternating strips of the main print with pieced rows in your coordinates.
Care
Follow the care given for this fabric: machine wash cold and tumble dry low. That routine helps preserve the cream background and printed design in finished quilts, apparel, and home decor made from this cotton.
If you want a calm, nature-led print to anchor your next quilt, this cream main print gives you the theme, palette, and focal point in one fabric — cut it generously and let it wander across the quilt.
Shop the Let's Wander Main Cream Cotton 43"/44" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
