Pat R

Will choosing fabric become easier? I'm new at quilting and when I try to choose fabric on my own it's usually boring and within the same color family. I didn't think it would be so hard but....

Jim's Gem

Yes, it will get easier. You will learn what you like and what goes well together. I have great fun picking out my fabrics. However I have a substantial stash and can make last minute changes if something doesn't quite "work"

dkabasketlady

If you have a hard time choosing your own fabric and like a certain pattern because of the fabrics in it, then try to copy their fabrics. Yes, it gets better. You'll be buying fabric just because you have to have it and don't even have a quilt in mind. Watch out when you get bitten by the "stash bug"!

craftybear

all takes time, have fun!

quiltinghere

Picking fabric (to buy) is no problem for me - It's making the Final Decision (of what to put in a quilt and where) that is a problem! LOL

mrsdralshhadeh

I am fairly new as well,, but what I have found to work for me is,, when I choose the fabric,, I choose one way outside my comfy zone, one in the middle and one I normally would choose. Then what I do is I put the one I would norally choose back,, and then concentrate on the other 2. And I have seen it has gotten easier.

Another thing is,, take someone else, that does nto quilt,, or,, ask a random person in the store. Sometimes, a stranger may choose one you do not think of,, but when you get it together it works.

One more,, (then Im done,,lol) choose maybe 1/2 yrd of a few,, go home and play around with the colors... and you will be surpised what you normally would choose compared to another,, you may choose the second,,lol..

Hope this helps!!! :-D

JackieG

It does get easier. You start looking at colors in terms of whether they are the same "family." I have a good eye for color, I'm told, but I'm not a good quilter (yet). Just try to look at fabrics in terms of whether they have matching hues or undertones. Then the family of colors falls into place. You'll do fine.

hazeljane

Another suggestion, if you have trouble picking out enough different colors is to pick a fabric that you like, that has several different colors in it. usually, along one side of the selvedge will be colored dots- those are the colors in the fabric- you can then take that fabric, and the dots and match up colors. It is sometimes easier for beginners than trying to guess at the right colors or shade. I love scrap quilts and 20 years ago or so, I recognized that they were missing enough contrast. For a couple of years, I made myself buy remnants by weight and feel, regardless of pattern or color, and I began to use some truly ugly fabrics. And what i found was that a 4 inch piece of ugly fabric can sometimes pop in a quilt, and it no longer looks like itself.

JanetM

What has worked for me is to find that one fabric I definately must have and then looking at the different colors in that fabric, I choose complimentary fabrics. :-D

virtualbernie

I have always had a hard time choosing fabric. I feel my choices are boring too! What I have decided to do is, when I sew for other people, my price is some yardage of fabric that they have to go and pick out. That way I get fabric out of my comfort zone. I just have to make sure that they remember that I only want 100% cotton from the quilting section :-)