tip tuesday: fabric shopping for those other colors
We all have our favorite colors that we love to buy fabric and make quilts in and those other colors that we just walk on by when browsing the aisles of our local quilt store. You know, the colors that are nowhere to be found in our stashes.
Taupe was one of those other colors for me. I usually gravitate towards bright colors and black & white prints. But when I took the time to look at the fabrics in the taupe section of different shops, I found that there were always some taupe prints that I actually liked. Now I love my growing collection of taupe fabrics and even look forward to shopping for them. I’m planning different ways to use my taupes in upcoming quilts. The Daiwabo print on the top of the stack is one of my favorites.
Here’s my tip/challenge to you: Whenever you go fabric shopping, wander through the section for one of those other colors and really look at the fabrics just like you would for your favorite color. Try to find just one print that you like and buy a piece of it, a fat quarter or maybe a half yard. Then go back to your favorites and shop like crazy if you wish. Put those other colors in your stash along with your favorites. As your collection of those other colors grows they’ll grow on you and you’ll see ways to use them, perhaps first with an old favorite or two and then maybe later on, shining in a monochromatic quilt of their own.
I Like the top fabric. I have tried to look at colors that I don't necessary gravitate towards. Sometimes it comes in handy to have the variety in your stash.
My "other" colors are always earth tones… I love them, will use them one day, but for now, i tend to pass them by. Great post, thanks!
I don't really have any colors that I avoid…which seems to have come with problems of its own! (laughing) What I try to do at this point is to buy only what I know I will use for projects I have in mind already. Of course there are fabrics a person just can't resist…even without any use in mind for it!
I usually avoid the beiges and olive greens but when working on my hoffman challenge piece this season (which was all of those colors!), I decided that I really kind of liked them. I don't plan to buy them in stacks but at least I am not as averse to them as before the piece.
I must have a thousand different prints in my stash (used to work for a fabric store) but I never seem to have the right one when I need it, be it any color choice, favorite or otherwise. LOL
My colour has to be yellow i hardly every find any yellows that i like because i think they look dirty but the best part is they really do look good when combined with other colours! lol