How to Use a Brown Autumn Floral as the Main Print in Fall Quilts
Every fall quilt needs an anchor — one print that sets the season, the mood, and the color palette for everything else in the project. The Awe of Autumn Main Brown fabric is designed to do exactly that job. Designed by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs, this is the main print in The Awe of Autumn collection. It features clusters of flowers and leaves on a brown colorway, and it is a 100% cotton quilting fabric, 43"/44" wide, sold by the yard. Like the rest of the collection, it is made for quilting, apparel, and home decor.
What Makes a Print a "Main" Print?
In a coordinated collection, the main print is usually the one with the largest, most detailed motif — the print the coordinating fabrics were designed to support. Here, those clusters of flowers and leaves carry the whole autumn story in a single design. Instead of piecing together the feeling of fall from several small prints, you can let this one fabric do the heavy lifting and build the rest of your project around it.
That role also tells you how to cut it. A main print rewards larger pieces — cut it big, and each block becomes a little autumn arrangement in its own right.
Cutting and Piecing Tips
Start by opening out your yardage and looking at how the clusters fall across the width. Decide whether you want whole clusters centered in feature blocks, or whether a more scattered, all-over effect suits your pattern. Neither is wrong — it simply changes the feel of the finished quilt.
- Cut it big: Large squares, rectangles, and wide borders show off complete clusters of flowers and leaves instead of fragments.
- Use it for focus blocks: Alternate main-print blocks with simpler pieced blocks so the eye has somewhere to rest and the floral can stand out.
- Try a whole-cloth approach for small projects: For a table runner or wall hanging, a single panel-like expanse of the main print, quilted and bound, lets the design speak for itself with very little piecing.
- Save offcuts wisely: Smaller leftover pieces still work well for binding accents, applique leaves, or scrappy fall borders where a glimpse of the motif is enough.
Pairing Colors and Coordinates
The brown ground gives this print its warm, grounded character and makes pairing straightforward. Pull your coordinating colors from the flowers and leaves in the clusters themselves — creams and soft neutrals for contrast, and deeper autumn tones from within the print for sashing and borders. Let this be the busiest fabric in the project. Pair it with solids, small-scale coordinates from The Awe of Autumn collection, and quiet blenders rather than other large florals, which would compete for attention.
For backing, a solid or subtle print keeps the focus on the quilt top, while using more of the main print on the back makes a reversible fall throw.
Project Ideas Beyond a Quilt Top
Because the collection is intended for quilting, apparel, and home decor, this fabric stretches beyond one quilt. Try a table runner, cushion covers, or an apron where the floral gets plenty of room. In quilts, it also works beautifully as a border framing a simpler center — one long, uninterrupted showcase for a main print.
Care
Care for finished projects following the guidance for this fabric: machine wash cold and tumble dry low. Washing new yardage in cold water before cutting is a good habit with richly colored autumn prints, and it helps your finished quilt wash evenly later. Store folded fall pieces out of direct sunlight between seasons so the brown ground and floral colors stay rich year after year.
When you want one fabric to carry an entire season, start with the main print. Build your palette from it, cut it generously, and let the clusters of flowers and leaves do the storytelling.
Shop the The Awe of Autumn Main Brown 43"/44" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
