Picture this: you’re about to work on a brand new pattern and the recommended fabric is a satin charmeuse. This is where the book and its uses really shine! And then, flip through and admire it! Step Three: Use the Swatch Book Regularly + Add to the Book 3M Double-sided permanent tape might not seem like it’ll hold: but it’ll hold (I promise!) My original university book still has its swatches firmly in place, even after 6 years!įollow along with the video, and get your book set up.Do you want everything organized by source location? By color? By fiber content? This doesn’t have to be a strict choice, but it’ll help you organize things and find things later down the road when all like-swatches are near each other. Decide early on how you want to organize your book.You can print your sheets double sided! This way, you don’t waste paper and you can get more swatches into your binder.Regular paper is too flimsy for heavy use. Please use cardstock or thicker paper for this project.This is pretty straight forward, but please note a few things as you get started: Also, if you’re seeing the same types of fabrics listed as recommended fabrics in your favorite sewing patterns, order them, too.Īnother tip I recommend is that if you see a free swatch sample available, jump on it! For services like Spoonflower and My Fabric Designs, new fabric types become available regularly and swatches are usually distributed for promotional purposes. Scuba knit? Double knit? Broadcloth? By ordering a few at a time, you start to build an array to add to your book. Swatches are cheap and you should really aim to start collecting swatches from fabric you’ve never used before. Ultimately, build your swatch book in the way that might work best for you.Įvery time you place a fabric order online, order swatches. If you want to have pages dedicated to a specific fabric company, you might want to include a box that talks about release date or collection. If you love working with nothing but natural fibers, you might want a box that talks about shrinkage. The download includes three pages, the first as pictured above, the second page reverses the position of the swatch boxes (for an evenly balanced binder!), and the third includes blank boxes in case you want to track different information than what I use personally. My free printable is organized with what is most important to me in a swatch, specifically: I'd like to receive the free email course. Usually priced relatively cheaply ($1-$2 a swatch), I recommend picking up 3-4 swatches every online order to start building your book.īuilding your Fabric Swatch book is SUPER easy. It’ll give you the ability to test color fastness, laundering qualities, and how much your fabric shrinks. A swatch will tell you more than color of a textile- but it’ll show you the weave, the drape, the amount of body, the color vibrancy. I am a huge fan of ordering swatches, specifically ordering swatches in bulk. I’m sure there is a percentage of people who order fabric online because they expect one thing… but get something else.įiber content and qualities are described as accurately as possible, but if you’ve never been exposed to Georgette, you will have no idea what it is you’re ordering. Online fabric stores can be a game changer, but you have to know where to start. Especially if you live in an area where really high quality fabric stores are not available, not being exposed to different fabrics and understanding how they differ can really set you back in growing as a seamstress. For someone who may not know what is out there, they might not know of everything they could work with. Of course, this sort of education for a home seamstress and sewist may only come from a fabric mishap and can be a painful experience. Weaves and characteristics of each type of fabric.Setting up my book was one of the very first projects I did as a textile design student and it taught me a few really important things: If I ever have a fabric question, its there for me.Ī fabric swatch book is a book of possibilities. ![]() The swatch book has never before appeared in a single video, but I consult it regularly and it lives next to my giant sewing pattern library. I’ll just say it up front: my fabric swatch book is one of the most important tools in my sewing arsenal. A fabric swatch book? What the heck is that?
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