Seeing a Fabric Collection Through a Quilter's Eyes | Before the Bloom by Riley Blake Designs
Designers and quilters spend hours looking at the same fabric, but they're rarely looking for the same things.
When I'm designing a collection, I'm thinking about color, scale, repeat, and how every print relates to the next. I'll spend days adjusting the size of a flower, deciding whether a stripe needs another repeat, or figuring out if a blender is doing its job. By the time the artwork is finished, I've looked at every detail hundreds of times.
Then the fabric arrives in a quilt shop, and someone else begins a completely different process.
A quilter isn't thinking about how the collection was designed. They're imagining quilt blocks, borders, fussy cuts, seam allowances, and how each print will work once it's cut into dozens of pieces. They're looking at the very same fabric, but asking completely different questions.
I've always found that fascinating.
Welcome! If this is your first time here, I'm Danelys Sidron, the artist behind Riverpine Studio. While many people know me through my wallpaper collections, I'm also a surface pattern designer who licenses artwork across different industries, including quilting fabric.
My newest fabric collection, Before the Bloom, launches this August with Riley Blake Designs. In my previous post, I shared the story behind the collection. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here.
For this post, I wanted to shift the focus.
Instead of talking more about my own design process, I wanted to hear from the people who will cut into the fabric, sew with it, and transform it into quilts.
So I reached out to three talented quilters whose work I admire and asked each of them one question. They asked me one in return.
Their answers reminded me that a fabric collection doesn't stop evolving once it's printed. Every quilt adds another layer to its story, and every maker notices things I never would have thought to ask.
Along the way, we talked about scale, blenders, color, print direction, and the small decisions that shape a fabric collection long before the first stitch is sewn.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Looking at Scale From Two Different Perspectives
The first person I reached out to was Lisa Donnelly, the designer behind Wild Plum Lane. Lisa is a quilt designer, landscape architect, and artist based in Kansas City. She has more than twenty years of quilting experience and designs patterns that blend traditional quilting with a fresh perspective.
You can find Lisa's work at Wild Plum Lane and follow her on Instagram at @wildplumlane.
One of the first things I wanted to ask Lisa was about scale. It's something I think about constantly while designing a collection, but I was curious how important it becomes once the fabric reaches someone's sewing table.
Danelys: When you are looking at a new collection, what scale and print direction are you looking for?
Lisa: For traditional piecing, scale is everything to me. I look for a good range within a collection... small-scale prints and tonal blenders for all those little cut pieces, so seams and points stay crisp and readable, plus a few medium or larger-scale prints I can use more sparingly to highlight on sashing and borders, or even in the center of a block. Before the Bloom has such a beautiful range built right in! Prints like Astrid, Viola, and Iris are wonderful for smaller pieced units, while the Main and Florence prints provide something special to feature in bigger cuts.
Print direction is just as important! I gravitate toward non-directional, tossed, or all-over prints, since traditional piecing involves so much cutting, flipping, and rotating of pieces that a strongly directional print can end up sideways in the finished block. This goes double in foundation paper piecing, where fabric gets flipped even more. The tonal blenders and dot and gingham basics that coordinate with this line are exactly the kind of forgiving, go-any-direction prints I love having on hand.
Reading Lisa's answer made me realize that designers and quilters think about scale at completely different moments in the process.
I'm thinking about scale while I'm painting.
Lisa is thinking about it after the fabric has already been printed, cut, and sewn into a quilt.
That difference is exactly why I wanted to have these conversations.
Lisa: When you are designing a collection, how do you define the scale of each print?
Danelys: Scale is the very first thing I think about when I start a new collection. Everything begins with the hero print, the one that sets the tone, the palette, and the overall direction of the collection. I design it large enough to showcase the details, then begin building the supporting prints around it.
Throughout the process, I print drafts on letter-size sheets of paper. It sounds simple, but it's one of the easiest ways for me to judge whether a motif feels too large, too small, or just right once it's on fabric. I also keep fabric samples from previous collections nearby as a reference. Scale isn't just something you see. It's something you compare.
There's always a point where I have to ask myself what details might disappear once the artwork is printed on fabric. That's where testing becomes so important. After I submit the collection to Riley Blake Designs, we go through another round of feedback and refinements together. Sometimes the changes are subtle, but they can make a big difference. That collaboration is one of my favorite parts of the entire process because every round helps make the collection stronger.
The Prints That Hold a Collection Together
If you've ever looked through a fabric collection, chances are your eye went straight to the largest floral or the boldest print. Mine usually does too. Those are often called the hero prints because they're designed to grab your attention first.
But every collection also has another group of prints that work just as hard.
The stripes, dots, plaids, textures, and smaller coordinates may not be the first fabrics you notice, but they're often the ones that make a quilt feel balanced. They create contrast, connect larger prints, and give the eye a place to rest.
As a designer, I spend just as much time thinking about those supporting prints as I do the heroes, so I was curious how someone on the other side of the cutting table thinks about them.
The next person I reached out to was Tamara Darragh, the designer behind Remi Vail Studio. Based in Minnesota, Tamara creates quilt and bag patterns inspired by nature, and her studio is named in loving memory of her baby girl.
You can find Tamara's work at Remi Vail Studio and follow her on Instagram at @remivailstudio.
Danelys: How do you decide which blenders to bring in alongside a collection?
Tamara: I think blenders are some of the hardest working fabrics in a quilt. I'm always reaching for stripes, dots, plaids, small scale prints, and fabrics with beautiful texture because they add movement and depth without stealing the spotlight from the collection.
From there, I'm looking at color, value, and scale. I want each fabric to have a purpose. Sometimes it's adding contrast, sometimes it's softening a transition, and sometimes it's simply giving your eye a place to rest. When everything comes together, the blenders don't feel like an afterthought. They feel like they belonged there all along.
I really liked Tamara's answer because she described blenders the same way I think about them while I'm designing a collection: every print has a job.
Some prints are meant to become the focal point. Others are there to support the collection as a whole. A hero floral wouldn't have nearly the same impact without simpler prints around it. Those supporting fabrics help create rhythm, add contrast, and make the collection easier to use across different quilt patterns.
As designers, it's easy to get excited about painting the large florals, but I think some of the most challenging prints to design are often the simplest ones. They have to stand on their own while also making every other print around them look better.
Naturally, Tamara's question to me was about another part of the design process that usually happens long before anyone sees the finished fabric.
Tamara: How do you land on a colorway? Where does that process start?
Danelys: Color is always my starting point.
Before I sketch a single motif, I'm usually thinking about the feeling I want the collection to have. My natural tendency is to gravitate toward muted, earthy colors like warm creams, mossy greens, rusts, and soft browns. That's simply where my taste lives. But every collection has its own personality, and sometimes that means stepping outside of my usual palette because of something I've seen while traveling, walking through a museum, or wandering through a local market.
Color is also the part of the process that changes the most.
It's very rare for my first palette to become the final one. I'll adjust colors throughout the design process, and then revisit them again after sharing the collection with Riley Blake Designs. Sometimes a small shift is all it takes. Changing a dusty rose to a softer pink, or warming up a green just a little, can completely change the mood of an entire collection.
If I had to describe my process, it usually follows the same order every time: color first, texture second, and details third. Once those three pieces feel like they're working together, the collection starts to find its own identity.
Choosing a Collection
When I was putting these questions together, I realized something interesting. As designers, we spend months thinking about how to build a cohesive collection. We ask ourselves if the colors work together, if the prints vary enough in scale, or if we have the right balance of hero prints and supporting coordinates.
Quilters approach the same collection from the opposite direction.
They're not thinking about how it was designed. They're deciding whether it's the right fit for the project they're about to start.
That made me curious.
Jennifer Walters is the designer behind Manderley Makes, where she creates quilt patterns for quilters looking for thoughtful, engaging projects. With more than a decade of quilting experience, she has worked with countless fabric collections, so I wanted to know what makes one stand out from another.
You can explore Jennifer's work at Manderley Makes and follow her on Instagram at @manderleymakes.
Danelys: What makes you choose one collection over another when you are starting a new project?
Jennifer: Color, first and foremost. It's the color palette that initially pulls me in, and a well-balanced palette in colors I'm drawn to will win me over every time. Once I'm hooked on the colors, I look at the prints themselves. I want to see tonal prints or neutrals mixed in, because those pieces are needed to keep a quilt project from feeling too busy. If a collection consists only of loud prints and you put them all next to each other, there is nowhere for the eye to rest. I'm also thinking about how the prints will actually behave in a quilt: does this one lend itself to fussy cutting, or is that one still going to be pretty when I cut through the middle of a motif?
Often, I fall for a collection with no project in mind. I just know I have to have it, usually because of the colors, and I'll figure out what it wants to be later. Other times I'm deep into a pattern and it hits me, "Oh, that collection would be perfect for this!"
Jennifer's answer brought me back to something I think about often while I'm designing.
When I'm painting a collection, I'm usually focused on one print at a time. I'm thinking about the rhythm of the leaves, whether a flower needs another petal, or if a motif should be slightly larger. Eventually, though, there comes a point where I have to stop looking at the individual prints and start looking at the collection as a whole.
That's when I ask myself the same question Jennifer does: does this feel balanced?
Not every print should compete for attention. Some are there to be featured, while others create breathing room around them. Hearing Jennifer describe how she shops for fabric reinforced something I've believed for a long time: people may fall in love with a hero print, but they come back to a collection because everything works together.
Jennifer's question to me was one I was especially excited to answer because it touches on something I think about throughout every collection I design.
Jennifer: How do you think about the quilter when you are designing? Are they in your head while you work?
Danelys: Absolutely.
I'm not a quilter myself, although it's something I've always wanted to learn. That also means I have to be intentional about listening to the people who do quilt because they see things I simply wouldn't notice on my own.
Conversations like these have become an important part of my design process. The more I understand how quilters work, the better decisions I can make before the collection ever reaches a fabric shop.
Scale is a great example. Before I started designing fabric, I probably would have approached it very differently. Now I'm constantly asking myself whether a print will still read well once it's cut into smaller pieces, or if a directional design will make someone's project more challenging than it needs to be.
Designing wallpaper and designing fabric have taught me different lessons, and I love moving between those two worlds. Wallpaper gives me the freedom to work on a much larger canvas. Fabric challenges me to simplify, think about versatility, and consider how every print will be used. I honestly believe each one has made me better at the other.
More Than Fabric
Putting these conversations together reminded me why I enjoy licensing so much.
One collection can end up living many different lives.
Some artwork becomes wallpaper. Some becomes fabric. Other pieces find their way onto stationery, home décor, gift products, or things I never would have imagined when I first painted them. Each industry asks something different of the artwork, and every collaboration teaches me something new.
Before the Bloom was designed specifically for quilting fabric, but the conversations in this article reminded me that my work as the designer is only one part of the story. The collection isn't finished when I send the files to Riley Blake Designs. It's finished when someone chooses a pattern, cuts into that first piece of fabric, and turns it into something uniquely their own.
That perspective has made me a better designer.
It has also made me appreciate the quilting community even more. Quilters don't simply use fabric. They study it. They notice details that I might overlook, they solve design challenges in completely different ways, and they often inspire ideas that carry into my next collection.
I'm incredibly grateful to Lisa, Tamara, and Jennifer for taking the time to be part of this conversation and for sharing their knowledge so generously.
If you're already sewing with Before the Bloom, I'd love to see what you're making. Please tag me and the wonderful designers featured here so we can celebrate your projects together.
Celebrate the Launch
To celebrate the launch of Before the Bloom, Lisa, Tamara, Jennifer, and I wanted to put together something fun for the quilting community.
Each of these talented designers created an original digital quilt pattern exclusively for this launch.
One Grand Prize winner will receive:
• The complete Before the Bloom Fat Quarter Bundle from Riley Blake Designs.
• One digital quilt pattern from Lisa Donnelly of Wild Plum Lane.
• One digital quilt pattern from Tamara Darragh of Remi Vail Studio.
• One digital quilt pattern from Jennifer Walters of Manderley Makes.
We'll also be selecting two additional winners, each of whom will receive all three digital quilt patterns.
Entering is simple. Just answer one question in the giveaway form.
The giveaway opens August 4, 2026 and closes August 11, 2026. Winners will be announced on August 13, 2026.
No purchase is necessary. Open to U.S. residents only. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Riley Blake Designs.
Continue Exploring Before the Bloom
If this is your first introduction to the collection, you can read more about the inspiration behind Before the Bloom in Part One of this series, where I share how the collection developed from my first watercolor sketches to the finished fabric collection.
Beginning in August 2026, Before the Bloom will be available through Riley Blake Designs retailers and independent quilt shops.
Meet the Designers
Danelys Sidron | Riverpine Studio
Danelys Sidron is a surface pattern designer and the artist behind Riverpine Studio, where she creates heritage-inspired wallpaper collections for the home. Alongside Riverpine, she licenses artwork across multiple industries, including quilting fabric, stationery, home décor, and gift products.
Website: https://riverpinestudio.com
Licensing Portfolio: https://danelyssidron.com
Instagram: @danelyssidron
Lisa Donnelly | Wild Plum Lane
Lisa Donnelly is a quilt designer, landscape architect, and artist based in Kansas City. Through Wild Plum Lane, she creates quilt patterns inspired by traditional quilting with a fresh perspective.
Website: https://www.wildplumlane.com
Instagram: @wildplumlane
Tamara Darragh | Remi Vail Studio
Tamara Darragh is the designer behind Remi Vail Studio, where she creates quilt and bag patterns inspired by nature. Her studio is named in loving memory of her baby girl.
Website: https://remivailstudio.com
Instagram: @remivailstudio
Jennifer Walters | Manderley Makes
Jennifer Walters is the designer behind Manderley Makes and has been quilting for more than a decade. She designs quilt patterns that encourage makers to challenge themselves while enjoying the process.
Website: https://www.manderleymakes.com
Instagram: @manderleymakes