Fabric Selection

I recycle my egg cartons and muffin containers for squares cut to certain sizes. A 1 1/4 square fits nicely in the egg carton and other sizes are put into the muffin containers. Everything is nice and organized and marked on the outside.

I have found an excellent outlet for good quality backings for my quilts at a very  good price!

I go to Goodwill Industries and other Thrift stores and look in their bedding section for cotton sheets in the size I need for my quilt. I have bought twin, queen and king size sheets for - each and they are new (still in their packaging). Make sure the thread count is no less than 180. The higher the number the better the grade of fabric.

i have a shelf above my tv in my room. i pick out at least four fabrics and drape them down next to each other and look at them for a couple of days. while doing this i will pick out a couple more and add that to the pile. if i feel some are not working out i will place it on the side and try draping the fabric in a different order.

i do this until i have three to seven fabrics in combination and the i wash them and iron them and start cutting.

When buying quilting fabric, I usually buy 5 - 10 yards at a time.  I always prewash everything and don't like the fabric twisting up.  I have found that I can fold it loosly (accordian style) and tie it with left over fabric strips (selvege  strips works great).  The fabric is washed and dried without being in a twisted ball.  Smaller pieces can be washed in mesh bags.

Quilts can be very expensive. But I have learned to wait until the fabric store is having a sale. (40% off or so). That will cut your quilt price almost in half. I do the same with batting. And my bonus tip is to use a sheet for the backing to save money. I have made quilts with them and my "on-sale" fabrics and love them.

When I purchase fabric for a project, I copy the information off of the selvage, such as design and/or designer, fabric manufacturer, and design number. This information can be pinned right to the leftover fabric, or kept on a 3x5 card with a swatch of fabric attached.  If I decide to use the fabric for another project later on, or want to buy additional fabric to make matching accessories such as pillows, curtains, or a bedskirt, it is much easier to find the fabric through a local quilting store or online.

I always make a diagonal cut on the corners of my fabric to cut down on the thread tangles when pre-washing my cotton fabric.  I used to sit and cut all those tangles off.  Now I save a step and they are eliminated when I square up my fabric.

I use pizza boxes for storing my 2" precut watercolor squares.  I label each box: light, medium & dark so I alwayx know where my fabric is when working on a project.  Pizza boxes are great to stack and fit almost anywhere, my daughter paints them so it's a two fold project she decorates the boxes while I actually get some quilting done.  I've also converted this idea to storing finished blocks, landscape quilt projects, scraps, the options are endless.  Most pizza places don't mind giving you a few boxes, so the price is right as well.

If possible, when I start a project, I print out a copy of  chosen fabric colors and  a color copy of finished product to go by if I am duplicating, like out of a quilting magazine.  I then take this to the store with me as a guide, since I am a beginner quilter.  I know what my favorite colors are,  but my favorites don't always show up that well in a quilt.

Often when making an art or landscape quilt, I find that I still need just that little bit of extra fabric to achieve the right look.  In the past I stapled sample scraps to my shopping list, which inevitably got misplaced. 

 Now I use one of those smaller photo albums from discount stores to hold the multiple scraps, ribbon etc.  It's so much easier to organize and view them, and of course to compare with a potential candidate fabric at the store.  When the quilt is complete I place a photo of the quilt, sometimes the owner and any comments or suggestions for future consideration.  This way I have a permanent record of my labours of love.