Spring Nectar fat quarter quilt & my experience with Connecting Threads fabric

Hello friends! I’m excited to show you my Spring Nectar fat quarter quilt. This is a fast and easy quilt made with Spring Nectar, a beautiful collection of floral fabrics from Connecting Threads. Although the name says Spring Nectar, this fabric definitely has some summer vibes with its bold and bright flowers and colors.

In this blog post, I’ll share details about the quilt I made and my experience working with Connecting Threads fabric. This fat quarter quilt was super fun to make and something I came up with after playing with a few ideas in EQ software. If you’re unfamiliar or just curious about Connecting Threads and their fabric, I think you’ll gain some insight from my experience.

Spring Nectar fat quarter quilt

I LOVE fat quarters, especially when they come in a coordinating bundle! I guess that’s why I’m always on the hunt for good fat quarter friendly patterns. After receiving my Spring Nectar bundle, I looked at my collection of patterns and books as well as online (Pinterest, etc). I wanted something that was fast and easy and that would showcase the fabric nicely.

I came up empty handed, so I turned to EQ to play with some ideas. I liked the idea of keeping the piecing simple and I saw a design in an older quilt magazine that I liked. With a few modifications and a fresh look, I created my Spring Nectar fat quarter quilt.

I like the way this design shows off the individual prints with straight forward structure. It’s made in columns that contain rectangles and quarter-square triangles (QST’s). The cutting and piecing are very simple; the hardest thing was making sure the colors were evenly distributed.

With 18 fat quarters, I could have made a king size quilt! This one measures 62.5″ x 77.5″ which is a generous throw size quilt. If I decide to make this into a pattern, I’ll probably tweak the size of the rectangles and QST’s so they’re chunkier = less cutting and piecing.

Spring Nectar fabric

I was given the opportunity to work with my choice of any Connecting Threads fabric collection and I chose Spring Nectar. It definitely fits my style profile! There are 18 prints in this collection and they play together so nicely. There are florals in varying sizes and tonals that coordinate perfectly. The color palette includes yellow, orange, magenta, turquoise and navy. They also sent me a coordinating set of thread from their Essential Thread collection. This is a 50 wt. 100% cotton thread and it’s quite lovely.

Connecting Threads fabric is OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified which means it doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals or dyes. Although this doesn’t guarantee fabric quality, it gives me a sense of company responsibility. For a larger explanation of OEKO-TEX and fabric quality (especially as it pertains to quilting), check out my earlier blog post here.

About Connecting Threads

If you’re familiar with Connecting Threads, you’ll know they have always specialized in quilting fabric and notions at affordable prices. While they also sell fabric from other manufacturer, they have a team of in-house designers who create fabric collections for them. I would consider their fabric designs to be more on the traditional spectrum.

Connecting Threads started as a family-run business in 1994. “Back in the day”, they relied on printed catalogs to reach their customers. With the advancement in computers and communications, most of their sales now come directly from their online presence. They sell direct to consumers – one reason they can offer many of their products at affordable prices.

In 2020 (possibly earlier), Connecting Threads became a registered trademark of Crafts Group, LLC. Crafts Group consists of four direct to consumer e-commerce brands: Connecting Threads, Knit Picks, Superior Threads, and WeCrochet. This may contribute to their expansion in products, marketing and educational tools.

This year, I became an affiliate with Connecting Threads. This means that any purchase made from one of my links will result in a small commission for me at no extra cost to you. With that being said, I am typically not a blogger that is driven by sales. The genesis of this blog post came from an email I received from one of my followers. My intention is to give open feedback about a product.

My thoughts on Connecting Threads fabric

I often get ideas for blog posts from questions I receive from the quilting community. One of my readers sent me an email asking how I liked the fabric produced by Connecting Threads. Her experience from 15 years ago was that of poor quality fabric. I had a similar experience with Connecting Threads fabric (a long time ago) that wasn’t the best. The quality of the fabric seemed cheap and it didn’t have a good hand (feel). The price was a lot less expensive than other quilting fabrics on the market. I remember paying $5 or $6 a yard which was a bargain.

Recently, I had a better experience working with Connecting Threads fabric. Their fabric is still affordable compared to others, but the quality seems much improved. The fat quarters I received felt smooth and strong. There was no bad smell or heavy sizing used in the fabric. The colors were vibrant and consistent. I still have yet to sandwich and quilt my project, and to wash the finished quilt. I guess I’ll have to report back!

Working with Connecting Threads fabric was similar to most other quality cotton fabric. I did not pre-wash any of it. I used a small amount of spray starch to prepare the fabrics prior to cutting, as I always do. It cut easily and handled well. Piecing and pressing was normal with no warping or stretching.

My only complaint is that it frayed a little more than I’m used to. It’s not a game changer, but it was noticeable. I’ve had the same experience with Kona solids and some Moda collections. You can see the stray threads in the photo below. It didn’t impact my cutting or piecing in any way. Once I’m ready to quilt it, I’ll snip the more aggressive threads as well as the ones that shadow through the light fabric.

Final thoughts

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with how the quilt turned out and with the fabric quality. Connecting Threads is a good option for those looking online for quality quilting fabric and notions at reasonable prices. I don’t have any information about how good their customer service is, but I’ve read some reviews that rate them well.

I will definitely keep you updated on how this quilt handles the quilting process and subsequent washing. I’ll be using their Essential thread for the quilting and I’ll give you my feedback on that, too.

Thanks for reading and happy quilting!