Swatch Book

Swatch Book

On Thursday I was hunting around Spotlight for one more green fabric that would match my stash scraps for a super cheap project and I was stopped by a lovely lady. She had noticed me holding up my little swatch book to every green I could find and exclaimed "OH! That is such a great idea! Do you mind if I copy it?" We then had a chat about the frustration of matching fabrics.

After my first quilt I had a few small strips and off-cuts left over. The smallest I cut into 3" x 1" rectangle and put aside as a keepsake. The rest I either kept or turned into 3" squares depending on their sizes. Then I grabbed a beautiful journal which had been waiting for the perfect use as it was "too good to use" and had been a gift. Initially my idea was to turn it into a quilt journal with photos and swatches from each quilt, but I found myself taking the thing along to fabric stores and its purpose evolved.

So what I have started to do is every time I use a fabric, I keept a little piece and stick it into my book. Every piece is the same size so it is absolutely beautiful to have a look through the pages as well as a fantastic resource for the fabric store.

The only question in my head is whether I should have set it up by colour, or just stick them in as I get them. I think I will continue sticking them in as I get and use fabrics because of the way fabric trends change and if I write down dates perhaps it will be a great history of quilt fabric that I have used one day too.

As one lady thought it was such a great idea I thought I would share it here incase anyone else can use this too. I know I can never remember the exact tone I am looking for so I don't think I'll be without this when colour matching now.