Lava Lampalong: Fabric Selection

by Molli Sparkles · Published February 11, 2024 · Updated February 10, 2024

Let’s talk about fabric, baby. Let’s talk about you and me. Let’s talk about all the good things that could be! There are so many options with the Lava Lamp block, that you can’t really go wrong. I like to think of each block I make as a vignette of some character or actual person I know. What type of lava lamp would they have? Where in their house would it be? What table cloth would it sit on? What type of wall paper would they decorate with? These are all questions I ask myself while I’m mixing and matching potential fabric combinations. I encourage you to do the same. At the very least it’s exercise for your imagination!

While the lava lamp bases have traditionally been black, they come in practically every colour now. You could use all black, a rainbow cacophony, metallics, monotone, or just black with a few pops of colour. The thing about lava lamps is that they’re designed to stand out, so whatever colours you choose for the base will work out. You can see in my quilt top, I made half of them black, and then the rest got lit with colour.

As for the lava, I generally think solid or small scale prints work best. I’ve also used ombré fabrics to create the illusion of shadow play, and sometimes no lava blobs at all. This isn’t the place to use your large scale fabrics, but I’m ready to be proven wrong! Lava can be basically any colour you want, so coordinate it with the other prints, or make it loud and proud like a pride parade. You do you, boo!

The glass of the lava lamp can be a bit tricky, as it depends on the other fabrics you plan on using. White might be a bit too bright, so think a soft, dewy grey or yellow, or ombré fabric to indicate the glow of light. I even found using some small-scale, patterned fabric for the lava glass can suggest floating lava, sparkles, and glitter. Also, don’t forget that giant stash of low volume fabrics that might provide just the right glisten for glass! Again, imagination is key here!

I’ve made this block dozens of times, and the best thing I’ve learned is that it is perfect for utilising your large scale prints for the background. I know you buy them, because I do, too. Then they sit in your stash and stagnate as it becomes too challenging to combine them with other fabrics that are not of a similar scale. Plus, you don’t want to cut them up too small as you lose the gloriousness of their print and scale, which was entirely the point of buying them in the first place! So hear me now, pull out all of your large scale prints and start the auditioning process. Each block will need no more than a fat quarter for the background, so it’s time to assemble that fat quarter army!

The one cautionary tale is about stripes–personally, I have a love / hate relationship with them. When used meticulously, they look hot AF. However, when foundation paper piecing, especially when combining sections, you run the risk of misalignments. That will immediately draw the eye, and you certainly don’t want unintentional stank eye on your quilt! My advice for beginners, just avoid them for this project! If you’re a bit more advanced, give a few a whirl and make magic happen!

Finally, the area under the horizon line represents a table or table cloth, which gives you ample opportunity to explore fabrics for both scenarios. Browns and other neutrals could be a table top, while small scale prints and blenders could be the table cloth that compliments the wallpaper above. As there are a few pieced angles in this section, again, I’d stay away from any fabrics with a strong linear nature as you run the risk of those lines not matching up. Consider fabrics that have more organic motifs that will blend better over the seam lines.

As I was designing my first Lava Lamp quilt, my fabric selection was all about diversity from one block to the next. Perhaps the unifying, driving factor was bold, punches of colour. However, there are a bunch of ways to bring cohesion to your blocks. Maybe it’s time to use a fat quarter bundle you’ve been saving? People, I know you’ve been hoarding one or two of them! You could also do one designer, but multiple fabric lines. Again, like all that Tula Pink, Alison Glass or Liberty I know you have in your stash! If you want something more scrappy, consider: rainbow, 2-colours, neutrals, solids, low volume, colourful monochromatic, or just go everything but the kitchen sink! Whatever it is, find a thread that you can weave through all your blocks to keep, keep, it together.

Okay, finally … would anyone be interested in some Lava Lamp starter fabric bundles? I could do some mix and matching of like a fat quarter and fat eighth situations for the wallpaper and table top combos, and then list them for sale in my shop? Knowing me, they’d be of the bright and bold variety. Perhaps do four sets in a starter pack, which would be 1-1/2 yards of fabric in total. I’d have to do them at $40 AUD + shipping. However, I know most of you have oodles of fabric, so this may be a silly idea. Just let me know your thoughts in the comments, and we’ll go from there.

How exciting, it’s only about five weeks until we officially kick this journey off together. Make sure you grab a social button, and spread the word! Shout out to Patricia who bought a Molli Sparkles Lava Lamp pattern for herself, and for three of her gal pals! What a gem of a friend!