Availability of Patchwork Fabric
Jun 27th, 2008 by admin
All too often I am greeted by unhappy quilters who are searching for fabric to finish a project, fabric that has sadly become unavailable!
So, when buying fabric for patchwork & quilting it is important that everyone is aware that there are two different types of patchwork fabric.
Each fabric house produces it’s own range of solids (plain colours) and semi solids often referred to as blendables. They tend to have either a very small all over pattern or just a splashing of colour or a clouding of colour. e.g. Moda marbles, Benartex’s fossil ferns, Makower’s Spraytime & Kaufman’s Fusions.
They are chosen for their ability to blend with their other fabrics and because they add a little more detail than a solid colour would. These fabrics come in plenty of colours and are available for many years.
Here is an example of blendable fabrics.
However, all other fabrics are fashion fabrics and are only avaialable for a limited time, in some cases less than a few months!!
Here is an example of fashion fabrics
If a particular range of fabric is popular, the shop keeper may only have it on the shelf for a few weeks, often it can’t be re-ordered, and unless you are particularly prolific it takes more than a few weeks to make your quilt.
Therefore it is wise to buy more fabric than you think you may need. It is much better to have a few extra pieces of fabric in your stash(after all if you love it you’ll use) than it is to have a quilt spoiled by not having enough fabric of your choice!! Or an unfinished quilt because you can’t bear to continue without the exact piece of fabric!
I’m sharing this with you, in the hope that it might prevent others from being desperately disappointed when the can no longer find the fabric to complete their masterpiece!
