You are a quilter and I'm sure you love going to quilt shops. But, when you open the door and step over the threshold, are you overwhelmed by all the fabrics? Bolt after bolt, and where do you begin? How can you possibly find your perfect fabrics? There are too many possibilities!
Do you think that you must be the only quilter that feels this way? Do you think that every other quilter opens the quilt shop door and walks in with confidence and sass and knows just how to find what they need? LOL You are not alone!
Many, many quilters feel overwhelmed and scattered when they see all the fabrics there are to choose from, and agonize that it takes them so long to shop for fabrics. The first time I ever taught my class The art & science of choosing fabrics for your quilts, the dozen students were amazed that almost every other quilter in that room also felt overwhelmed by all the fabric possibilities. First, they didn’t know how to identify what fabrics they wanted/needed for their quilts, and second, they didn’t know how to find them amongst the amazing, wonderful, crazy number of bolts of fabrics at their local quilt shop.
Let’s look at some ways to Prep before you head off to the quilt shop, and a Perspective to use when you arrive.
Prep
First, breathe. Take a couple of yoga breaths. You've got this.
Next, do some prep before you get in the car. What are you looking for? You probably write up a grocery list before going food shopping – or add it to your phone, or maybe even have your list in Instacart so you don’t even have to go to the grocery store - so do the same for your trip to the quilt shop.
For example, are you looking for:
· Fabrics for a baby quilt - and you know it's a boy.
· The last two fabrics for the bed quilt of your dreams. Or,
· You are taking an online class and need to find the fabrics for the class pattern.
Make a list.
· Two blue fabrics, one a stripe and one that looks like clouds, and a light gray.
· A yellow floral and a green of some sort that works with it and the other fabrics already chosen.
· An inspiration fabric and a dark, two mediums and a light that all work together.
Think about what types of prints and colors would work for your project. No, you likely will not find exactly what you are picturing! However, imagining the possibilities is a good place to start. This "exercise" is worth doing before you go shopping. It will save you lots of time at the quilt shop. Besides, once you know what you are looking for, it's far easier to walk through the door and not get stopped by all the “shiny red balls” - and there will be lots of them!
For more ideas and information about what colors and prints to choose for your quilt, check out my book Conquering Color and Fabric.
In addition, here is a resource I designed that can help you with the process of identifying what fabrics you want in your quilt, and therefore what fabrics you want to look for at the quilt shop. The Dynamic Quilting Color and Fabric Plan™ takes you through a step-by-step process, starting with an inspiration fabric.
Thankfully, quilt shop owners do a lot to help us with finding fabrics. Picture the layout of your local quilt shop. Where are the holiday fabrics? Where are the batiks? Where are the kids fabrics, the "grunge" fabrics, the solid Kona cottons? Are you looking for any of these "types" of fabrics? If yes, then that is your goal - go directly to that section, "do not pass Go." Put blinders on and ignore the displays of new products. The cool new displays, patterns and fabrics will still be there after you look for, and hopefully find, what you came in for – what is on your list. You can check out the new products after you find what you came for!
Perspective
What if you're looking for fabrics for a gray and teal quilt? Where do you start? This is where it gets fun because you get to look all over the store. Don't panic! You probably have a style of prints in mind for your gray and teal quilt, or at least styles that it is not. Not batiks? OK, cross that section off the list. Not a kids fabric, or a holiday print. You've just narrowed down your search area!
Sometimes I’ll start with what seems like the hardest fabric to find, just so I can check it off my list – and I’m usually fresher at the beginning of my shopping expedition. Start where you like, but in this case, my list says “a yellow floral and a green of some sort that works with it and the other fabrics already chosen.” The green depends on the yellow, so the yellow floral is the best place to start.
Looking for a yellow floral is just like the technique I use at the grocery store. I call it my scanning perspective, and it begins as soon as I step over the threshold of the quilt shop.
I love it when my grocery list only includes items that I've bought before so I know exactly where to find them and what they look like - well, until they change their packaging! I can scan the correct section, looking for the logo, the package colors, the shape of the item, and pick it off the shelf and move on. Done.
The quilt shop scanning perspective technique can be used in two ways.
First: Survey the layout.
As long as you’re not in anyone’s way – stop when you get a couple of feet inside the store. Even if you were at your local quilt shop last week, it’s possible that sections have been moved around, or maybe you’re at a store you’ve never been in before. Stop and look around. What is the layout? Figure out where the “types” of fabrics are located. You might see reproductions, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, batiks, Japanese fabrics, holiday prints, kids prints, etc. If any of these sections host fabrics that you might be looking for today, that will be your first stop. If none of them likely have appropriate fabrics for today’s shopping list, then ignore them! Don’t let your eyes get drawn into the new Tula Pinks or Amy Butler collections. You can check them out later.
Now, scan again to identify the sections where you will start searching for the yellow floral.
Second: Locate fabric possibilities.
Use the same scanning technique to look for the yellow floral. Go to a section where you might find it, and scan for yellow florals. All kinds of yellow florals. Even though you don’t know exactly what the fabric will look like, you can scan for a characteristic of the fabric, and in this case first look for the color yellow, and then for floral prints. Even though you don't know exactly what you're going to find, scanning for a yellow floral - and only fabrics that "read" yellow floral - throughout the store will give you some obvious options. Scan, and only stop to look if you notice a yellow floral in your scanning. I mean it. Only stop to look if you see a yellow floral!
The idea of scanning might seem random and like you're flitting around the quilt shop, but you're not. You are narrowing your perspective and your options. You are purposely and intentionally identifying prospective sections of the quilt shop, and then scanning for possibilities of the one fabric you intend to purchase. You might find twelve possible yellow floral fabrics, and then check many off the list of possibilities because they “don’t work” for this quilt. Shrink the possibilities to actual choices. Just don't get distracted - your mission is to find all the yellow florals and cross them off your list until you find the "right" one.
What if you don't find the perfect fabric on your first pass through the shop? Don't give up; we're not done. Go back to the fabrics you liked but weren't quite right, and look around near them. Maybe there is a yellow and pink (or yellow and coral, or yellow and light green) floral that could work with your other fabrics. Maybe it's a fabric with a yellow background and different colors in the floral print. Maybe you find a green print near a yellow floral and they are great together. Maybe that’s how you choose both the yellow and green. Often our quilts contain many fabrics, so the perspective of the whole is much more important than the individual choices. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
I hope you are more successful on your next foray to find fabrics possibilities!
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There are a number of resources on the Dynamic Quilting website that will help you in the steps of finding fabrics and choosing fabrics for your quilts.
· Book: Conquering Color and Fabric
· Resource tool: Dynamic Quilting Color and Fabric Plan™
· Blog article: Three things to consider when choosing an inspiration fabric
· Blog article: Seeing Color
· Blog article: Fabric First. Take Time. No More Quilt Clones.