Guest Post: Janice’s Peppered Cottons Quilt

This post was written by Janice Pope, a sales representative for Studioe.

I just finished piecing and quilting my first quilt using the Peppered Cottons designed by Pepper Cory from StudioE. It will not be my last! These shot cottons are a superior quality and the colors are luscious! Some I used were prewashed and some were not. Both were soft and almost cuddly. The pattern I used is College Bound Plus 3. (http://anythingbutboring.com/quilts/) I made the twin width, but one-row shorter. The blocks were 5 across and 6 down, so a large throw size, or nap quilt. (A nap quilt is larger than a lap quilt!)

Shot cottons are made with the warp and weft threads being two different colors. This creates nap in the fabric so that from one direction you see one color more dominantly, and from another direction you see a different color. Other companies have produced these for the quilting industry, but I was never impressed with the hand or the quality before.

Working with these fabrics was such a joy! As a fabric representative, I am handling fabric on a regular basis and it is one of the things that make my job so enjoyable. Working with these fabrics was different because of the lovely colors and hand. The look is almost linen-like and the feel is almost that of brushed cotton. The ones that have not been washed have sheen on them from the ironing process, but the washed ones are not shiny, and are even softer. The edges did unravel, much like a flannel, but it helped to control that by ironing with Best Press. The seams are beautiful and the quilting was beautiful too. I do tend to change my needles often, but I didn’t put in a new needle and there was not one pick or issue in the entire quilt. I used both the “solid” colors as well as the “fancies” which are plaids (large and small), and stripes. I used a contrast threat for the quilting.

Many of these colors are neutrals. I have always thought red was a neutral: but actually, a neutral is made of a color formed by both a warm and a cool color. That yucky green color is a neutral (which I choose as my corner stones) and the sashing/border fabric, which is kind of a purple-blue, is also a neutral. It is formed by combining a warp of fuchsia and a weft of aqua. There are several other neutrals in this line, which you can see online at www.studioefabrics.com. You will have to look in two places, as some are new and some have been around a while. There are 50 colors in all. I used several in this quilt.

If you have not used these luscious fabrics yet, I suggest you give them a try. Because in many of the fabrics you can see both colors used, you will find they are especially easy to match with other fabrics. I used batik for the binding. What fun!