What This Fabric Is
Love You Always Main Cream is the main print from the Love You Always collection by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs. It is a 100% cotton quilting fabric, 43"/44" wide and sold by the yard. The design is an allover print of sprigs of leaves and flowers on a soft cream ground.
As a main print, this fabric is meant to carry the look of a project. The sprigs are spread across the whole surface rather than arranged in a stripe, so the eye travels over the quilt. The collection is described for quilting, apparel and home decor.
What It Is Best For
A cream floral main print is at its best where large pieces can show the sprigs whole. Use it for the large squares, rectangles or setting pieces in a patchwork quilt, as a wide border, or as a backing where the pale, botanical design adds interest without overwhelming the quilt top.
Beyond quilts, it suits apparel and home decor: a gathered skirt, cushion covers, a table runner, or curtains. The cream background keeps the print fresh and neutral, so it blends easily into many color schemes.
Cutting and Piecing Tips
Press the fabric flat before you cut, and cut on the straight grain with a rotary cutter, ruler and mat for clean edges. Because the print is an allover design, you do not need to match sprigs across seams, and pieces can be rotated without a flower ending up obviously upside down. That makes it forgiving for chain piecing and for beginners.
Think about scale as you choose block sizes. Pieces that are too small will chop the leaves and flowers into fragments. Generous cuts — 4-inch squares and larger, wide strips, and whole border lengths — keep the sprigs readable. For a focal point, fussy cut a pretty cluster of flowers and center it in a block or cushion front.
Piece with a consistent quarter-inch seam allowance and press carefully. Cream is a light ground, so darker seam allowances and darker fabrics underneath can shadow through. Press seams toward the darker neighboring fabric where possible, and avoid placing a very dark fabric directly behind an unquilted cream section.
Pairing Colors and Companion Prints
Start your palette with the print itself. Look closely at the colors in the leaves and flowers and pull one or two of them out to repeat in solids, blenders or small-scale coordinates from the Love You Always collection. Repeating those tones in sashing, binding or accent blocks is what ties a main print to the rest of a quilt.
The cream ground pairs naturally with soft, low-contrast companions for a gentle quilt, and it also provides a calm base for one deeper accent in a narrow border or binding. Balance this active floral with quieter partners — tone-on-tone blenders, tiny dots or a small check — and separate it from any other large floral with solid sashing.
Project Ideas to Try
- Main-print patchwork throw: Alternate large squares of this cream floral with a plain or tone-on-tone coordinate, then bind in a color pulled from the flowers.
- Bordered center panel quilt: Use the fabric as wide outer borders around a simple pieced center to frame the blocks with sprigs.
- Table runner and cushions: Cut long, wide pieces so the allover design runs uninterrupted, and back with a coordinating solid.
- Apparel accent: Use it for a skirt, apron or bag front where the full repeat can be seen at once.
Care
Follow the care given for this fabric: machine wash cold and tumble dry low. That helps protect the cotton fibers and printed sprigs and keeps the cream ground looking clean. Press with a warm iron as needed.
Shop the Love You Always Main Cream Cotton 43"/44" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
