Are the color cards for solid fabrics worth it???
05-03-2012, 06:19 AM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,312
I have a color card for the Hoffman water color "batiks" best investment ! So if you really want to be sure of a color, and you can not get swatches. If you plan on doing lots of work with that fabric line .. get a color card !
05-03-2012, 06:31 AM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,501
I bought a Konacolor card many years ago and have really used it. I do notice that colors have been dropped and new colors added; but the basic colors remain the same. Perhaps it is time for me to order a new Kona color card.
05-03-2012, 06:54 AM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Native Texan living in beautiful Arkansas
Posts: 464
Know your fabric makers and stay with them. I order from www.fabricshack.com but I purchase Windham or Northcott etc. I know they make quality fabrics so when they come to my mailbox, I know I have good value. So far, the photo of the fabric has been exactly like what comes in the shipment, plus shipping with them is cheap! Good luck!
05-03-2012, 08:30 AM
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Central Missouri
Posts: 715
Sorry you don't live closer. My LQS owner will order Moda bellas or marbles for a customer. They usually arrive within a few days. Check with your LQS -- can't imagine why they would not let you look at their cards, whatever they carry.
05-03-2012, 09:39 AM
#17
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 106
The Kona card is actually the next item on my to-buy list. They are my preferred solids and I recently spent a ridiculous amount of time agonizing over which colors would be just right for a project with nothing to look at except pictures online.
05-03-2012, 10:06 AM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,688
Some notes gathered over a long period of using solids from many sources...
Color cards are good IF you are sharp enough to judge from a 1" square that is half pasted to cardboard...it's not easy and I have a very keen eye for color. Also be aware that the dye lot of the actual fabric received will not match the dye lot used to make the color card so it can be a c**p shoot anyway. I have a Kona card and have been disappointed more frequently than not. I stopped using it a couple years ago.
Not all solids are broadcloth and not all broadcloth has the same hand as Kona solids. Moda Bella is a broadcloth, but with a softer hand and a slight glow to the surface. Kona also has a softer hand after it is washed, btw.
Two solid lines with a hand very similar to regular quilting fabric by the same manufacturer are RJR's Supreme Solids (my current favorite) http://www.rjrfabrics.com/fabrics/co...packageID=1007 and P&B Color Spectrum http://www.pbtex.com/html/colorspectrum.html (I believe this is what borntohandquilt prefers for her wholecloth quilts, but I could be wrong).
Despite the differences in monitors, I have found much more often than not, if two colors from a manufacturer's website "go", odds are great that they will coordinate in person as well. They may be slightly different from what you see online, but relative to each other, they will most likely be fine. It's much trickier when using multiple manufacturers or even multiple lines. Safest way is to buy in person, of course.
Hope at least some of that helps you.
Color cards are good IF you are sharp enough to judge from a 1" square that is half pasted to cardboard...it's not easy and I have a very keen eye for color. Also be aware that the dye lot of the actual fabric received will not match the dye lot used to make the color card so it can be a c**p shoot anyway. I have a Kona card and have been disappointed more frequently than not. I stopped using it a couple years ago.
Not all solids are broadcloth and not all broadcloth has the same hand as Kona solids. Moda Bella is a broadcloth, but with a softer hand and a slight glow to the surface. Kona also has a softer hand after it is washed, btw.
Two solid lines with a hand very similar to regular quilting fabric by the same manufacturer are RJR's Supreme Solids (my current favorite) http://www.rjrfabrics.com/fabrics/co...packageID=1007 and P&B Color Spectrum http://www.pbtex.com/html/colorspectrum.html (I believe this is what borntohandquilt prefers for her wholecloth quilts, but I could be wrong).
Despite the differences in monitors, I have found much more often than not, if two colors from a manufacturer's website "go", odds are great that they will coordinate in person as well. They may be slightly different from what you see online, but relative to each other, they will most likely be fine. It's much trickier when using multiple manufacturers or even multiple lines. Safest way is to buy in person, of course.
Hope at least some of that helps you.
05-03-2012, 10:09 AM
#19
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
Color cards make a wonderful "quilters toy". I just LOVE my color cards, and wouldn't be without them.
I have all four of the color cards you mentioned, plus Maywood's Shadow Play and RJR's Cotton Supreme. If you can send me something in the colors you are looking for (such as a paint swatch) I can look over the color cards and tell you what goes best.
We may not carry the colors you need, but at least you will know the pattern/color numbers of the ones that are right, and then you can hunt them down online. Bear in mind that the batiks are hard, though, because on the color card the swatches are tiny and may not represent what color would be a few inches away on the actual fabric.
And... by the way... it's the kind of customer service that we provide all the time! We spend a lot of time on the phone with customers, helping them to match fabrics.
I have all four of the color cards you mentioned, plus Maywood's Shadow Play and RJR's Cotton Supreme. If you can send me something in the colors you are looking for (such as a paint swatch) I can look over the color cards and tell you what goes best.
We may not carry the colors you need, but at least you will know the pattern/color numbers of the ones that are right, and then you can hunt them down online. Bear in mind that the batiks are hard, though, because on the color card the swatches are tiny and may not represent what color would be a few inches away on the actual fabric.
And... by the way... it's the kind of customer service that we provide all the time! We spend a lot of time on the phone with customers, helping them to match fabrics.
Last edited by Favorite Fabrics; 05-03-2012 at 10:13 AM.
05-03-2012, 10:12 AM
#20
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
...Despite the differences in monitors, I have found much more often than not, if two colors from a manufacturer's website "go", odds are great that they will coordinate in person as well. They may be slightly different from what you see online, but relative to each other, they will most likely be fine...
Well... I have to disagree. I've had to "tweak" the pictures of many Moda Marbles to make them look right with respect to each other. Some of their pictures are just plain wrong!
I do agree that trying to coordinate between manufacturers based on their online images is risky business.
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