Using Clothes to Pick Fabric

Knowing how to pick fabric for a quilt can be difficult, especially with so many different colors, patterns and prints available in quilting cotton today.

In this video, Toby Lischko teaches you a fun way to help you select fabric colors for your next quilt by using some of your favorite clothing items and accessories.

Fabric Selection for Quilts

Toby begins by talking about some of the different ways that fabric can be chosen for a quilt. While many quilters have their favorite color pallets that they use and generally stick to, it’s always a good idea to change it up every once in a while and choose fabrics outside of your comfort zone.

Toby explains that a fun way of learning how to pick fabric for a quilt is to use your clothing. If you, similar to Toby, find yourself usually wearing the same few colors when it comes to pants and shirts- use an accessory!

Toby shows several examples of scarves that she likes to wear that have a wide variety of colors on them. She explains how you can find fabrics that are similar in color to those on the clothing and accessory and know that they are going to look well together in a quilt because you can already see that they look good together in whatever garment or accessory you are looking at.

She also explains that while there may be many, many different colors in one garment or accessory, you do not have to use them all. You can stick to a ‘family’ or colors within a garment or just choose a handful of your favorites.

When it comes to learning how to pick fabric for a quilt, color alone is not the only thing you need to consider. Learn how to choose fabric using fabric value and how to choose fabric using fabric texture to help you select the perfect fabrics for your next project.