Just keep in mind the focus of your quilt is the kaleidoscope blocks so that is what you want to stand out. Many times a plain black or tone on tone black fabric will really make your kaleidoscope blocks pop. You’ll want to choose a fabric that doesn’t have too much pattern so it doesn’t take away from your kaleidoscope blocks. Usually, you’ll want to select a color for your background fabric that will bring out a color in your main fabric you want to accent. The background fabric should compliment your main fabric. When looking into the mirror, you will be able to see the kaleidoscope effect each print will produce. Place the mirror on the fabric at an angle – approximately at 90°, 60°, or 45° depending on which pattern you plan to follow. To get an idea of what a kaleidoscope block might look like for a particular print, you can use an angled mirror. With novelty prints, you can selectively cut your pieces to get specific motifs to form your kaleidoscope. If you want a softer look to your quilt, you will want to choose a print with softer colors and less contrast. I like prints with brighter colors with a variety of colors and shapes and good contrast as I feel those fabrics create invigorating quilts. Large floral/leaf prints are a natural choice when making these quilts, but large abstract prints can create very interesting blocks also. I’m also including images of a quilt I made using a 24” repeat to show the variety one gets with a larger scale, larger repeat main fabric – see Figure 1-2. The fabric I used for my samples has a 9” repeat – see Figure 1-1.Because it is a smaller repeat, I made smaller sample blocks so they would create more interesting kaleidoscope effects. Length of the fabric repeats tend to be more accurate. You want to cut your identical rectangles using the repeats along the length of the fabric instead of the width of the fabric.
![kaleidoscope quilt pattern kaleidoscope quilt pattern](https://fthmb.tqn.com/hoiT2TRM2KSIyr67XXrw00ljum0=/1800x1200/filters:fill(auto,1)/kaleidoscope-quilt-pattern-56a7badc3df78cf77298c1ce.jpg)
This will give you the pattern repeat of the fabric. Choose a point in these identical motifs and measure between these points. To determine the repeat, look along the selvage of your fabric until you see the same motif. The repeats can be as small as 6” or can be larger than 27”. Small scale prints are less interesting in large blocks but can be very effective in smaller blocks. Larger pattern repeats create more variety in your blocks which makes your finished product more interesting. Medium to large scale prints create blocks with more interest. The main fabric is used to create all your kaleidoscope blocks. The Stack & Whack method involves taking rectangular pieces of fabric that have nearly identical motif prints to make the Stack then Whack (cutting) pieces from this Stack and arranging them to create a kaleidoscope effect.
![kaleidoscope quilt pattern kaleidoscope quilt pattern](https://cdn.mycrafts.com/i/1/8/20/part-1-kaleidoscope-quilt-and-joMS-o.jpg)
This Stack and Whack Tutorial for Beginners will cover some of the basics for selecting which pattern you want to make and which fabric will work best for that pattern.