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Choosing Quilting Fabric
Choosing the right fabric and colot for your quilt is as important as the design. Cotton, Flannel,
Muslin, Felt, Batting, Interfacing , so many choices. Advice on choosing the right fabric
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How often have you made a quilt and after it was all done, you wish you would have chosen different fabric colors? All the work you did on the project seemed to have been in vain. You are not happy with the outcome at all!
TIP: Buy the best quality fabric you can afford.
It is easier to work with, looks better and will last longer in your quilt.
A great way to remember what fabric you have in your stash at home is to keep a notebook with you with a swatch of the fabric and the yardage on hand.
Additional good information is the manufacturer of the fabric.
Fun information for posterity is where you purchased the fabric and how much you paid per yard.
One good way to tell the quality of the fabric is to hold it up to the light. If you can easily see through the fabric between the threads, it is probably not a good choice for your quilt. It will likely wear out soon.
Thread count information may be misleading, since the width of each thread can vary.
You may have purchased a variety of color wheels in the hope that by some magical formula it would display the right color choices for you. But try as you may, the colors just didn’t seem right. In fact, you just couldn’t trust this little gadget no matter which way you turned it
To make a striking and a perfectly designed quilt, choice of quilting fabric is far more important than the precision of stitching. A flawlessly stitched quilt without the right choice of colors, pattern or fabric can possibly ruin your so much hard work.
If you have interest in quilting and planning to start it on your own, you are lucky to be in this era. You can find a wide range of fabrics in the market, all over the world. But if you were looking for the fabrics from 2-3 decades ago, you might have not found as many as you can get now.
There are so many fabrics that it is difficult to state all the properties and ranges of fabrics. Right here we will give you certain guidelines that will help you to know more about fabrics and how to choose the right one.
THE FABRIC CHOICES:
There are fabrics from cotton to velvet, from denim to flannel, from woolen to silk. You can have plain or printed fabric. Choose among cotton, silk, flannel, denim, woolen, velvet, brocade, satin, recycled old clothes, fine jute, wool felt, suede, leather pieces, crepe and certain heavily embroided fabrics. You can then choose between soft, ragged, textured, self prints, embossed and shiny textures in the chosen cloth type. Take advantage of the huge summer savings going on right now at Fabric.com...Up to 70% off Retail 
PURPOSE OF THE QUILT:
The purpose of the quilt is basically the one which determines the choice of the fabric. A baby quilt is supposed to be soft, smooth and most frequently washed. Therefore making cotton, flannels and other durable fabrics, ideal for the stability. Similarly, denim made quilt is ideal to use on picnics, or for a young child, may be for a loved pet as well. A quilt designated for the decoration purpose has to be made with rich fabrics. Try using silks, crepes, Japanese brocades and embroided clothes for this purpose. Do not wash them frequently, dry cleaning is preferred.
THE COLOR CHOICE:
Color and fabric choice goes together hand in hand. The colors play the most important role. A wrong color scheme or even one odd color can make the quilt look shabby and una
ppealing. A specific season quilt needs appropriate colors. For example an autumn quilt looks incomplete without the shades of gold, orange, rust and maroon. Similarly a winter quilt looks great in dark colors and shades of grey and blues. If you are making a quilt for certain bed room, try to match the color scheme to enhance the look of your quilt as well as the bedroom. Use light pastel colors for baby quilts.
Apart from all these facts there are certain other things to choose the right fabric. These factors should not be overlooked. Here are some key tips for the right fabric choice:
1. The fabric should be pre washed. This helps to determine whether the fabric shrinks or not because any fabric that has shrinking capability should not be used as it can distort the pattern in future.
2. Check whether the colors are fast or not. Prewashing is helpful to check.
If you are looking for a fabric that will add some spark to your quilt, why not try a batik?
Batiks have been around for hundreds of years, yet are a relative new-comer to the quilting world.
Each piece of fabric is a work of art, and when you understand all of the handwork that goes into making the fabric, you might not want to cut it up and put it into your quilt.
But, when you do, your quilt will sparkle and your family and friends will know that you paid special attention to the fabric for that quilt.
Batiks generally come from Indonesia and are hand crafted - one bolt of fabric at a time.
It's remarkable that the fabric doesn't cost a small fortune off the shelf, because even though it is ordered in quantity, each bolt is still hand dyed and laid in the sun to dry.
Batiks give a quilt a unique and rich look. Sometimes a square or panel in a batik can be used as a centerpiece for a block or quilt.
Other times, the batik has an overall design, and can be used as a patch in a quilt block. Continued→
This tool has saved me many times more than the cost of the investment!
Using this convenient little tool, you will never again need to be some kind of math whiz or guess how much fabric to buy, how many strips to cut, how wide to cut your strips or how much your fabric will cost.
* Create quilt designs using Block functions with or without Sashing; solves Diagonals
* Find total Yardage, including Backing, Binding, Borders and Drop for any quilting project
* Calculate the total yardage for Squares, ½ Square Triangles, ¼ Square Triangles, 45° and 60° Diamond
* Reverse the calculations: find the number of Squares and Diamonds that can be cut from fabric
* Store fabric yardage solutions for 6 individual types of fabric and view total yardage for material
With the Quilter's FabriCalc you will take pride and satisfaction in a finished quilt that starts with accurate dimensions, design and layout. Use the calculator to convert ideas into usable dimensions-yards, inches, fractions or metric measurements. It's easy to do the math! With a few simple keystrokes it all adds up to fast solutions to help figure just about anything. Calculations are built-in for blocks, squares, diagonal, 1/2 and 1/4 square triangles, diamonds and much more. Use it anywhere , perfect for all your designs and lets you focus on creativity. Save time, money and material! Size: 5.7" x 3.0" x 0.65" Power: One 3-volt (CR-2016) Long-life Battery
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