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Hopefully by now you’ve got swatches on your sewing radar. With your own fabric swatch book at hand, you’ll always have a great reference to help you demystify fabric! The easiest source of swatches is what you already have. Whatever fabric you’re using, save a scrap for the future. You can do this with every fabric you sew. For now, the most important info is the name of the fabric (i.e. ponte, denim, challis, double knit etc.) and the fiber content (i.e. 100% wool, 95% cotton/5% spandex etc.). specialty knits, poly knits, cottons For this project, you’ll need the Fabric Swatch Book Template. I just added it to the Resource Library.
The law of fabric: the more fabric you touch, the better you understand what fabric is and how to work with it. Type of fabric (batiste, poplin, denim, gingham, tweed, jacquard, boucle, voile, double gauze, taffeta, etc.) If you already own a piece of fabric, or you've already used it up for a project, it's still smart to save a swatch of your fabric. You can use it as a reference for future projects or when you're looking for similar qualities online. How do you obtain fabric swatches from (online)stores? A swatch library or a fabric swatch book is where you catalogue your fabric swatches and write down the details of a certain fabric for future reference. Why create a swatch book? You never know how the fabric feels, what the color actually looks like, how the fabric drapes, washes or handles until you get your hands on it. For some projects, it's OK to take a gamble, but when you are working with expensive fabrics, that's not a risk I'm willing to take.I’ve taken a couple of classes from Sarah Veblen on Patternreview. One is Understanding Knits and another that’s she’s not currently teaching on sheer fabrics. In each of those, there’s a kit of swatches for the class.
A handy tip to help against fraying and curling edges, add a strip of tape before you cut out your swatch.This is particularly helpful if you are working with knits. You can use staples, double sided tape, pins or paperclip to attach the swatches to a piece of paper. Fabric swatches are a cheap or free way for you to get your hands on a veritable mountain of fabric! I like to use a rotary cutter fitted with a pinking blade here. This will keep the edges from fraying on you. 2. Print out the Fabric Swatch Book Template
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I share it with this caveat: It’s my opinion that this book is maybe not the most helpful for someone starting out sewing. I say that because it’s #1 more expensive than most sewing books. #2 The designer fashion pictures in the book might not be the most relatable for someone just starting out sewing. #3 There’s also not a lot of helpful sewing information particular to those fabrics. It took me a weekend of pre-washing all the unwashed fabrics + the ones I was unsure about and created a template to keep everything organized. I thought I'd share a bit about the process and notes on how and why you should create a swatch library. But let's start at the very beginning... What is a swatch of fabric? It’s best to have a variety of swatches within that. They can be anything. Go for what interests you! Use the fabric you have for future swatches The possibilities are off course endless, but it highly depends on your needs. here are a few ideas to inspire your own system. Having a compiled fabric swatch book can help you choose a fabric or compare fabrics from your book to ones you wish to buy to get a good match.
As someone who has collected my own little mountain of swatches over time, I know that they need some help in the organization department. Another option would be to use an accordion file folder / expanding file organizer to hold the paper with swatches. Care instructions – how to wash it, temperature, dry clean only and ironing – this will help make your fabric last longer.
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This is a fantastic reference book. It has swatches in categories of fabric. It’s quite comprehensive, and there’s text explaining each fabric.
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