Monday, January 25, 2010

Fabric Buying Lesson...

I've been following Elizabeth's Paintbox Quilt Along over on Flickr. I'm dying to join in, but I'm on a self-imposed fabric diet until I can get some of my UFO's finished. I adore Elizabeth's quilts - she is a true artist.One discussion thread really caught my attention. Elizabeth gave some ideas for fabric lines that work well for the Paintbox Quilt. Interestingly, I have so many fabrics from these lines - Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, Heather Bailey, etc. Unfortunately, I tend to buy the flashy, big scale prints. But then I don't know what to do with them because they don't lend themselves to small sized piecing.

It really struck me that I was buying the wrong fabric, when I read from Elizabeth:

"My preference in fabric for quilting tends toward monchromatic or otherwise simple prints anyway, so I tend to approach a new collection looking for those prints, rather than at the flashy bigger multicolored prints. For instance, Amy Butler's new Love collection has lots of big multicolored florals, but it also has several colors of a print called "Sunspot" that would be perfect for this kind of project." -Elizabeth, Oh, Fransson
- A successful purchase this summer - 7 out of 10 are monochromatic!

So, when my fabric diet is over, I plan to buy more monochromatic fabrics instead of the flashier prints. And I'm going to buy a Kona Roll-Up so I can make one of these beautiful Paintbox Quilts. Even though I need a new project like a I need a hole in my head!

So, what type of fabric are you buying these days?

4 comments:

NiCoLe said...

I'm buying way too much fabric these days! haha. I've bought some solids and monochromatic prints. I also am drawn to big colourful prints. I read the same post as you did and I was thinking that I should get more smaller prints. I love the look of Elizabeth's quilts. I think it looks good to have a couple of hints of other colours in a small print too. As long as all the fabrics work together in the end!

Carmen said...

I have a problem! I'm a compulsive online shopper...and there is so much out there! I think I need a support group...LOL. My New Year's resolution was not to buy any more fabric until I put a good dent in my stash! While cleaning up...I found an enormous amount of very nice (& expensive) fabric still in there original packaging...this led me to the "My name is Carmen, and I'm a fabricoholic!" I have a tendency towards big prints, which I love, but don't do me any good when work with small quilt pieces...so when "I'm allowed" to buy more, I'll be buying smaller prints, and solids...

Deb Robertson Writes said...

Oh but I love how it looks when you cut a flashy print small, you get glimpses and view of the beauty in it, like looking through a microscope. Go flashy I say. Have you seen the Don't look now blog? she cuts all that stuff out of flashy prints if you look closely, she makes them work for her style of applique!!

Jessica Christensen said...

I actually buy a lot of monochromatic fabrics. Those are my favorites as well -- things that "read" one color even if there are multiple hues of that color. I'm doing the paintbox quiltalong, trying to use up some scraps (although I did break down and buy the Kona roll-up in bright and pastel). Your doll quilts are beautiful. I'm in DQS8 myself, mailing to Australia too. You have some lovely things on your blog.