Ready to make a gorgeous quilt from your Dream Big fabric panel?
I love the Dream Big panel from Hoffman Fabrics, but I’ll admit to never having the nerve to actually *work* with it…so it remained a pipe dream as opposed to a big dream. Thanks to a quilt along this pipe dream is becoming a reality!
The panel comes in a wide variety of colors as shown above, and is a generous 43″x43″ – it can be found on either Amazon or Etsy. Large enough to maybe be a lap blanket, but not much else. As we were about to quilt this beauty, I really wanted to add more size. Do you remember the postage stamps with the beautiful flower at the center? That’s a bit what this panel reminded me of – the giant center of the postage stamp.
What borders the stamp? A lovely scalloped edge. Fun fact: that scalloped edge is a result of die cutting, which allows for easier removal of one stamp from a sheet of stamps. The scalloped look is preferred over straight-line die-cutting and makes it look closer to a traditional stamps – plus it is much more difficult for someone to counterfeit the stamps with scalloped die-cutting than straight-line die-cuts!
I wanted to recreate this soft edge, so I purchased a second Dream Big panel and VOILA! The pattern was born 🙂 Actually, it was a lot more math than that, but I’m so so happy with the result, don’t you think? Curves can be a bit intimidating, so I pulled together a short video showing you how to create those soft shapes in the border:
Now, you don’t necessarily need to purchase a second panel to complete this pattern, but doesn’t the vertical design in the petals look *stunning* in the border? I couldn’t imagine a solid there, or even a print, as it would distract from the center panel. As the border is now literally made *from* the central panel, it results in such a beautiful complimentary design. I love how it softens the hard square center; the curves in the pattern really make a ribbon-like effect, and it truly reminds me of those postage stamps from a few years ago.
I look forward to seeing how you Dream Big and how your interpretation of this pattern goes!
[…] a little larger (and a lot more lovely) by adding a postage-stamp inspired scalloped edge to it! Here’s more information on this lovely pattern…but remember, all you’ll need for the quilt along is the panel […]