Fabric Color

to select a group of fabrics that look good together, choose your entire group from the same manufacturer - their colors will look best with one another.

Before pre-washing your solid fabrics, put a safety pin in the selvage with the closure on the right side of the fabric, that way it will be easier to tell which is the right side.  Some fabrics have the stitch-like holes in the selvage.  The smooth side is the right side of your fabric.

Instead of spending an excessive amount of money on an item that is labeled for quilting use, use a common household item and pay much less.

I store my fat quarters and other fabrics to be used for future quilts in the hanging shoe holders for your closet.  They can be purchased at WalMart or Big Lots or even Dollar Tree for half the amount some quilting catalogs are asking.  They come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fabrics.  I roll my fat quarters and then store them either grouped for quilts just waiting to be cut or by color for matching to a future quilt as needed.  They take up much less space than draping the fabric over hangers and it can be easily seen and the determination made for whether it can be used or not.

I am quite new at quilting but have my couch full of material set out for at least six more quilts.  All the material for each quilt, is of course,  in its own little stack.  After washing 1/4 yard fabrics of 8 different kinds for one quilt,I hung the pieces on one of the plastic hangers with the spring clips for skirts.  Voila!!  perfect for quarter yard fabrics.  I now plan to hang all my planned quilt quarters after washing.  It is sure saving a lot of space and there are no fold lines to try to iron out.

  When I am going to make a colorful Quilt for someone special. I go to the paint department and pick up a card in the color. It has many shades of the same color, so when buying fabric i know what shades that go well with it....  Happy Sewing Cindy

Ever notice how you tend to buy fabric in the color range that you are wearing when you go to your favorite fabric stores? solution - wear black, white or cream....even if you just throw it on as an overshirt while you shop. Choosing colors to put together in sewing is very difficult for many people. Any pattern or design in the fabric makes it even more difficult. solution - buy a pack of color cards that are solid color (they are not bigger than a pack of playing cards). Make your color choices at home or outside of the shop. When you go into the store, lay your card(s) on the bolt(s) of fabric to decide if it blends well. This technique also helps when you are trying to make fabric decisions from your stash.

Make shopping for fabric easy. Purchase a small photo album.  Then cut a small swatch of each fabric in your stach.  Side one or two swatches into each pocket of the photo album and drop it in your purse.  Now you know what fabrics you have and if any new fabrics you are concidering buying will match.

Take a photo copy of the fabrics you want to use in a quilt. Seeing them in black and white lets you see the various shades of light, medium, and dark. This will help in the selection of pattern too without the distraction of color.

Thanks,

Patty

Shout makes a product called "Color Catcher".  It is a white cloth that actually catches the dyes from the various fabrics in the wash.  I have been able to wash multiple colors, including reds and purples without them getting on the other fabric.  Sometimes it will come out with just a grayish tint, but other times more color.

I also use it all the time in my normal wash.

When washing the reds or purples, I put a white piece of cloth in the dryer with only one color of fabric at the time. When the material has completed the drying cycle, the white cloth will let you know if the fabric will still fade.