Today I thought I would dive right in to one of the most popular fabric designers I have the pleasure of working with; Tula Pink!
Every 6 months or so, Tula releases a new collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics, and I have so much fun taking those fabrics and turning them into quilts for you to enjoy. The entire process takes about a week per pattern, between designing, tweaking, writing, illustrating and technical editing. Myself and the tech editor at FreeSpirit do our absolute best to make sure you get a pattern that is clear, easy to read, and straightforward to make. I get to really branch out with the skill level on these ones; I aim to have a beginner friendly pattern and an advanced level pattern. The advanced level assume prior knowledge and experience in things like paper piecing, fussy cutting, templates, applique, ect. The beginner level patterns I try to make straightforward, and introduce at least one new skill for quilters to develop and start gaining confidence.
As I have about 3 releases of quilts to cover, I will take a day for each collection. I am prolific when it comes to the fabrics and designers I love 😉
Today we will dive into the glorious explosion of Tula Pink True Colors.
The release of Tula Pink’s new True Colors collection made all my wildest rainbow dreams come true. With a full spectrum of 42 hues to chose from, it is entirely possible that I may have gone overboard when designing for this one. I enjoyed every second of it, and poured so much of my love of all things color and fabric and texture into it, that True Colors will always be one of my favorite lines. The best part? It is a supporting line, so will be around for at least the next 2 years!
The first quilt for the True Colors collection was finalized while I was on my quilting cruise; Woven Radiance. I wanted to utilize every single print in the collection in a non-traditional rainbow layout. I took inspiration from my previously designed Radiance quilt. This quilts name is a nod to the previous. I assure you, the two are nothing alike and I may be the only person to see the inspiration on first glance.
The next offering for True Colors left me undecided on a background. I wasn’t the only one torn between colorways, so we went with both! A simple substitution of background hue breathes a different life into this quilt, which I called Stardust. The lighter version uses the fairy dust print from True Colors in Whisper for the background. The dark version used the Tula Pink Solid Diva. I may reimagine these with the new Tula Pink Solids, I think Legendary would make this quilt…..wait for it……LEGENDARY! haha!! See what I did there? yes? Okay! moving on….
In my mind, this quilt represents light in all it’s full prismatic glory, gently bathing the world in color as it rains from the stars.
I loved True Colors so much I needed to express it in quilt form. I also wanted a quilt that could possibly be made with a jelly roll. While the jelly roll aspect was a fail, the quilt itself was a WIN. I just can’t seem to make a quilt small enough to suit jelly rolls…….but that’s okay! More fabric for you to love!
Floating Hearts uses a combination of strip piecing and stitch and flip piecing. The best part is all the leftovers could be turned into a mini quilt or throw pillows if one was so inclined. And since I also can’t seem to do anything the easy way, the colors flow one into the next. My brain was a gooey pile of rainbow spaghetti after editing this one, but so totally worth it! The release of this pattern was delayed because of the background print. We had to wait until the announcement of the next collection before releasing this one, so it had been sitting in the ready folder for FOREVER. Okay, okay, not forever, but it really felt like it!
I don’t always remake my old patterns, but the next two quilts are updated colorings of my quilts for the previous true colors collection in 2016.
Confetti was first designed when Tule Pink All Stars released. The Stripes, Pom Poms, and Tula Pink Solids were meant to continue on into future collections, and I wanted a quilt to show off the supporting prints and carry them forward. I have an ongoing love affair with stars, and I’ll take any chance at creating one with fabric in different and exciting ways. I wrote Confetti as a beginner friendly quilt. The building blocks are HST. My whole vision was no two Confetti quilts would be the same. Cut the triangles, throw them in the air like confetti, then pick them up and start sewing them together at random. While I don’t usually encourage throwing your fabrics all over the place (who wants to recount squares or lose one behind the sofa) I do encourage letting go and grabbing at random to create the sections.
Each of Tula’s lines has an exclusive pattern that you can only get in the quilt kit released by FreeSpirit Fabrics. For True colors, my design was chosen for the kit! Solar Flare is an updated version of the original true colors quilt kit, Prism, that was Craftsy Exclusive. ALLLLLLLLL the way back in 2015. 2015!!!. I loved that quilt, and now I love it even more with the expansion of colors.
You can find the exclusive quilt kit at your local quilt shop or online.
This isn’t the last quilt in True Colors, but it is the last for today. The next True Colors quilts are spectacular, but both are part of different posts, and I cannot wait to introduce you to them!
As always, please tag me on Instagram when you make your quilts. I love to gush over other quilters makes from my designs!!
Happy Stitching
