Stonehenge Gradations: How to Plan an Ombré Quilt With Chips, Tiles & Strips
⚡ Quick Answer
- What it is: Stonehenge Gradations is Linda Ludovico’s stone-textured blender line for Northcott. Each colorway runs through a family of shades from light to dark.
- Why it suits ombré: the colors come already graded, and the mottled texture softens the step from one shade to the next.
- How to plan it: sort the pack into lights, mediums and darks, line each pile up, then check the order with a black-and-white photo.
- How much you need: one pack of Tiles (42 10″ squares) makes a throw-size top of about 57″ × 66½″ before borders.
- Where to start: Misty’s Jelly Twist (Strips) or Jenny’s Sunshine Shoofly (Tiles).
While typical fabric lines offer a nice mix of prints, Stonehenge Gradations hands you a built-in color strategy that can work in a variety of projects. Every pull moves gracefully from light and airy to rich and saturated, featuring the soft, earthy texture that makes Northcott’s Stonehenge so special. Once you line up your values, the design flows naturally.
If you've been wanting to make a seamless ombré quilt, this is the line to use. The key to a showstopping finish is simply organizing your values before sewing. Read on to learn the secret to sorting a pack, how much fabric your project requires, plus two step-by-step Missouri Star video tutorials to spark your creativity!
Key Takeaways
- ➤Sort by value, not by color. Lights, mediums, and darks first. The ombré lives in the value, so an ideal sequence of hues can still look jumpy.
- ➤Your phone is a value finder. Take a black-and-white photo of your layout. Any piece that jumps out of line is in the wrong spot.
- ➤Pick the precut for the scale you want. Strips give long, smooth fades. Tiles give a bold, blocky fade. Chips give the gentlest steps in a small quilt.
- ➤Number everything before you sew. A pin or a strip of painter’s tape on each piece saves you from a mixed-up row later.
- ➤Two colorways can share a quilt. The texture ties Gradations' colorways together, so a bigger quilt can run from one colorway into the next.
What Makes Stonehenge Gradations Different
Stonehenge is Northcott’s long-running line of stone-textured prints, and Gradations II is Linda Ludovico’s version built around color steps. The mottled surface means each piece already carries a little light and a little dark inside it. When you set two neighboring shades side by side, the texture blurs the seam between them. That’s the quality that makes a Gradations ombré look smooth instead of striped. Read more about the company behind it in our guide to Northcott fabrics.
You don’t have to take our word for it. Here’s what makers told us after they sewed with it:
“A stunning choice of color to create an ombré quilt.”
— Susan T. on Peacock Strips, verified buyer
“The pinking edges was a pleasant surprise for me and the gradual color from light to dark is perfect.”
— Jeannene S. on Graphite Tiles, verified buyer
“Love the color and variation. I will be using this for an illusion quilt. It has great contrast for light, medium, and dark fabrics.”
— Kathrine D. on Marrakech Tiles, verified buyer
Which Gradations Precut Should You Use?
Northcott gives its precuts their own names: Chips, Tiles, and Strips are what other companies call charm packs, layer cakes, and jelly rolls. Every one of them can be found in our Northcott precuts collection.
| Northcott name | What’s inside | The ombré it makes |
|---|---|---|
| Chips | 42 5″ squares | Soft, gentle steps. Good for a baby quilt, a table runner or a wall hanging |
| Tiles | 42 10″ squares | A bold, blocky fade across a throw |
| Strips | 40 2½″ × 44″ strips | Long, smooth fades, row by row |
| Rolls | A fat quarter bundle (count varies by colorway) | Flexible. Cut your own shapes in the order you want |
How to Sort a Pack From Light to Dark
Give yourself a big, flat space and good daylight. A design wall is ideal, but a clean floor or a bed works just as well.
- Open the whole pack and lay every piece out. Don’t sort as you unwrap. You need to see all of it at once.
- Make three piles: lights, mediums, and darks. Decide fast. You’ll fine-tune in the next step.
- Line up each pile from light to dark, then join the three lines into one long run.
- Step back and squint. A piece that pops out at you is usually a shade too light or too dark for its spot.
- Check it in black and white (see the pro tip below), and swap anything that breaks the line.
- Number the pieces with a pin or a bit of painter’s tape before you move a single one to the sewing machine.
💡 Pro Tip: Take a photo of your layout, then switch it to black and white (most phone cameras have a monochrome filter). Color can fool your eye; value can’t. In black and white, a smooth ombré looks like a smooth gray ramp, and any piece out of place shows up right away.
Some packs, like the Gemstone Chips, repeat each print twice. That makes a mirrored layout easy: put the darkest pair in the center and let the color fade out toward both edges, or flip it and let the quilt glow from the middle.
How Many Packs Do You Need?
Here’s the math for a simple top of squares or strips sewn straight together, with no sashing and no borders. Your pattern’s supply list always wins, but this gets you in the right neighborhood.
| You have | Layout | Finished top (before borders) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 pack of Chips (42 5″ squares) | 6 across × 7 down | 27″ × 31½″: a baby quilt or wall hanging |
| 2 packs of Chips (84 squares) | 8 across × 10 down (80 squares) | 36″ × 45″: a crib quilt |
| 1 pack of Tiles (42 10″ squares) | 6 across × 7 down | 57″ × 66½″: a throw |
| 1 pack of Strips (40 strips) | All 40 sewn side by side | About 80″ × 42″, one long fade from end to end |
Each square loses ½″ to seam allowances, so 5″ Chips finish at 4½″ and 10″ Tiles finish at 9½″. A 2½″ strip finishes at 2″ wide.
Three Tutorials Made With Stonehenge Gradations
All three were sewn in the Missouri Star studio with Stonehenge Gradations, so you can watch exactly how the colors behave.
Uses Strips
Jelly Twist Quilt
Misty sews 2½″ strips of Stonehenge Gradations II into a quilt with a lattice effect. It was designed by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew. You’ll need one pack of strips, 2½ yards of background and ½ yard of binding. See the tutorial
Uses Tiles
Sunshine Shoofly Quilt
Jenny chose Stonehenge Gradations Brights Indigo Tiles. She sews quick four patches, turns them into hourglass blocks, then adds little shoofly blocks. You’ll need a pack of 10″ print squares and a pack of 10″ background squares. See the tutorial
Uses Yardage
Lucid Quilt
Guest designer Teresa Coates of Crinkle Dreams foundation paper pieces her Lucid Quilt from Stonehenge Gradations II yardage, mostly in Blue Planet shades from light Quartz to deep Slate. Light-to-dark value turns each block into a faceted crystal, and you can see how far one colorway stretches. The Lucid Quilt pattern is sold separately. See the tutorial
Mixing Colorways in One Quilt
Need a larger quilt? Combine multiple packs without losing the flow. Because every Gradations strip features that same iconic stone texture, different colorways blend seamlessly together. Transition smoothly from a cool palette into a warm one, or pair neighboring shades for an ultra-long, dramatic fade.
“The colors are lovely and merge beautifully in my courthouse steps quilt. I combined all of the Stonehenge jelly roll strips purchased to create the pattern of the quilt. Even though they were different hues and gradations, they blended together perfectly.”
— Tawny on Blue Planet Strips, verified buyer
One more idea: finish the back to match! The Stonehenge Gradations Ombre wide backing is 108″ wide, so a whole throw or bed quilt can be backed in one piece with no seams. Browse it in the Stonehenge Gradations Ombre wide backing collection.
Start Here: Four Gradations Precuts
Strips
Stonehenge Gradations II – Gemstone Strips
40 2½″ strips in jewel tones. Ready for a Jelly Twist. Shop Gemstone Strips
Tiles
Stonehenge Gradations II – Gemstone Tiles
42 10″ squares for a throw-size fade. Shop Gemstone Tiles
Chips
Stonehenge Gradations II – Midnight Chips
42 5″ squares in deep blues for a small quilt. Shop Midnight Chips
Strips
Stonehenge Gradations II – Peacock Strips
The strips one maker called “a stunning choice of color to create an ombré quilt.” Shop Peacock Strips
Related Articles
- ➤ The Ultimate Guide to Ombre Fabric for Quilts
- ➤ Northcott Fabrics: A Quilter’s Ultimate Guide
- ➤ 15+ Free Jelly Roll Quilt Patterns
- ➤ Chips, Tiles, Strips & Rolls: Northcott's Precut Names Decoded
- ➤ Colorworks Premium Solids: What Quilters Say About Northcott's Solids
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designs Stonehenge Gradations?
Stonehenge Gradations II is designed by Linda Ludovico for Northcott.
Is Stonehenge Gradations good for an ombré quilt?
Yes. Each colorway already runs from light to dark, and the mottled stone texture softens the step between shades. Sort the pack by value and you have an ombré plan.
What’s the difference between Chips, Tiles and Strips?
They’re Northcott’s names for its precuts. Chips are 42 5″ squares (a charm pack), Tiles are 42 10″ squares (a layer cake) and Strips are 40 2½″ × 44″ strips (a jelly roll).
How big a quilt can I make with one pack of Tiles?
Sewn as plain squares 6 across and 7 down, one pack of 42 Tiles makes a top of about 57″ × 66½″ before borders.
Can I mix Stonehenge Gradations with other fabrics?
Yes. Makers use Gradations as blenders next to solids and other prints, and the texture helps it settle in with fabric you already own.
Is there a matching backing?
Yes. Stonehenge Gradations Ombre comes as a 108″ wide backing, so you can back a large quilt in one piece.
Lay it out, snap the photo and trust the fade.