Tips for Mixing and Matching Sewing Fabrics
Tara RexIf you’ve been sewing a while, or even if you’ve just recently started, you’ve probably got more than a few pieces of fabric lying around your sewing room. And while just one of those fabrics may not be enough to complete a project, combining multiple fabrics could get it done. Tara Rex shows you that it’s okay to mix-and-match sewing fabrics – even combining polka dots with stripes!
Auditioning your fabrics before cutting anything out is an important part of sewing, especially if you want to eliminate possible fabric waste. Simply lying fabrics out on a table to see if they complement each other – or clash – helps you get a better idea of what your finished project will look like. Tara shows you several examples of what works and what doesn’t, and also gives ideas of what to keep in mind when auditioning your fabric, like what the project is and who you are making it for.
I wanted to talk today about auditioning fabrics. And some people like to just buy the line of fabric that comes in the stores, and they're all matched. I'm more eclectic and I have a huge stash of fabric in my studio, so I like to mix it up a little bit. I'm not very conservative with my colors, as you can see. But as you can see here, I've got some polka dots here, some polka dots here.
This is actually from the same fabric line. I really do like the way that it looks, but you could easily switch it up and put it with polka dots for something different and something kind of eclectic with a flare. Here, we have some other fabric. I mean, it's all about what your taste is, what you like, what project you're making it for, and who you're making it for, too, as well. So I wanted to give one example that probably wouldn't work, well, for me, it doesn't work, but maybe for somebody else, it may.
I'm not really feeling that, so I'd probably play with it a little bit and play with different fabrics until I got something that I really quite liked, like this. And you don't always have to use just pairs. You can go into multiples. I've got some black and white and red here. And so you can see what that's going to look like and if you're going to like it on your project.
Now, I'll show you something that I have here. I'm going to be making this pillow. And I was trying to think of what I could use on the ends. And I wanted to give it a little bit more interest, if it can get more interesting. So I was thinking that maybe I'd audition some fabrics to see what they might look like and if I like it, before I cut it up, cut the fabric up, and then get it together and decide, oh, that actually doesn't look very good together.
So it's really up to you and what your taste is and what kind of look you're going for. I also have this example to show you, where I used two different fabrics on the back of this pillowcase. And I auditioned them. I laid them out and I thought, well, I really like it because they're organic and the colors go well together. So it's really personal taste, what you like, and what kind of look you're going for.
So I hope you enjoyed this.
Where are the ‘tips’ ? She said she didnt like the colorful fabric with the black and white but didnt say why. Her message was simply choose whatever you like. Not helpful at all.
Looking for ideas for fabric coordination. What about using a color wheel for suggestions on what colors of fabric go together? Any ideas?
I expected tips on how to choose colors and patterns that compliment each other. I know personal taste is important, as I think most people do. So this video was pointless to me.
2 1/2 minutes of my life that I will never get back. No information worthy of calling this a tip class. Please pull this video from your inventory.
I thought this video might cover mixing fibres, such as cotton with polyester, and what to consider when you do that. Love Tara, but sorry, there was no point to this video.
Besides telling you that this is all up to your personal taste, there are not any tips. What about pulling out colors from the patterns, or anything would be helpful beyond what this video says!
This was not very informative. When you keep saying it's your personal taste and not even explain your way of thinking for fabrics to go together. Waste of time to watch