My Favorite Bellas

 

Hello, and happy Friday! How about some Bella solids talk today?! One of my first ideas for writing about the Bella solids was to interview some of my favorite designers and ask them about their favorite Bella solids (This post is titled "My Favorite Bellas" because really, you can't have just one favorite). Today I'd like to share some ideas from Camille Roskelley, Joanna Figueroa, Kate Spain, and Carrie Nelson. Thanks to these terrific ladies, there is a lot of wonderful information in this post: I think this is one you'll want to bookmark to refer to again and again.

Photo by Camille Roskelley


First up is Camille who said this: "I love to buy my solids in my favorite colors by the bolt. They make the best backgrounds, bindings, and even backings, and I couldn't sew without my Bleached White 97. I should have counted how many bolts of white I sewed through last year! Maybe I'll try to keep track this year. Anyway, I love 97 (bleached white), 83 (gray), 34 (aqua), and 16 (red)."

Photo by Camille Roskelley

Next, I spoke with Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Company. Here are a few of her ideas:

 

"I use our coordinating cream backgrounds any time I can since they have that beautiful tone on tone feeling and coordinate perfectly with whatever collection they come with. I would always recommend ordering a few yards of that cream any time you fall in love with a collection. It's just the best! But, the minute I run out, I use Snow (9900-11) for most backgrounds these days. I also use the Fig Tree Cream (9900-67) and sometimes the Ivory (9900 60) if I am looking for something a little bit lighter. I seriously can't live without those creams and have several bolts on hand at all times!"

 Blossom Quilt Photo from With Fabric & Thread by Joanna Figueroa

Do you love the green in the quilt above? Guess what...it's a Bella solid! Here is a little more on this color (and quilt) from Joanna:

"Lately Clover (9900-73) is my favorite green although it is not the same as my standard "Fig Tree" feeling yellowy-green. This one is a bit crisper and more apple green in tone, I guess. It matches well with Strawberry Fields, California Girl, and Avalon. We used Clover and Snow for our Blossom quilt from our latest book, With Fabric & Thread."

Lollipops Quilt Photo by Joanna Figueroa

Joanna also had some terrific ideas on Bella neutrals to share:

"I use Tan (9900-13) as my standard linen-feeling background. It is the perfect neutral when I want something darker than cream or ivory, and I don't have actual linen on hand. I also love the Parchment (9900-39) color which is just slightly lighter than the Tan. I used the Tan for the background of my large Lollipops quilt, and I love how it sets off the Dresden plates. It [also] plays perfectly with the new Avalon collection.

The Golden Wheat (9900 103) is a wonderful orange that we used a lot in our Halloween Pops kits and other fall feeling projects. I will definitely be using that one again!

Other favorite 'must haves' that we have used in some of our bundles or that coordinate with our collections are Soft Yellow (9900-148), Butterscotch (9900-36)), Bubble Gum (9900-88), Coral (9900-147), Scarlet (9900-47), Breeze (9900-132), Mint (9900-133), and Celery (9900-72)."

Kate Spain also sent along a few of her favorite Bellas. She says:

"I love bright, bold colors, so not surprisingly my favorite Bellas *happen* to go along with some of my fabric collections! Here are my (latest) favorites:

 Mango 9900-222

 Robin's Egg 9900-85

 30's Blue 9900-25

 Terrain Iris 9900-168

But wouldn't you know, the one I buy by the bolt is plain ol' reliable goes-with-everything...

Bleached White 9900-97."

Photo by Kate Spain

Carrie also sent along a list of some of her favorites...here are some of her ideas on favorite Bella solids (Carrie also shared some Bella solids ideas on my last Bella Post found here):

"97 Bleached White PDF, 67 Fig Tree Cream, and 200 Off White. I love this one (Off White), and when I am out of 97, this is the one I'll continue to order. 16 Christmas Red is my favorite red--so far--as it goes with everything. You know, Red IS a neutral. I like using this as a background or border when I make quilts with all solids. 116 Dusk--it's almost purple, almost blue. This is also a terrific 'neutral' for quilts made with all solids. And 117, Night Sky. It's almost navy but not quite. Another really good 'neutral' for working with all solids."

9900-116

                                                                        
                                                                         9900-117

 

So there you have it...a wonderful list of Bellas you might want to consider having on hand. As for me, I always have Bleached White 97 and Snow on hand. I'm also trying to slowly grow my collection of other colors; after writing this post, I definitely have some ideas about what to add to my collection next!

Thanks so much for stopping by to read Scraps from Sherri at A Quilting Life!