The Holiday Season is upon us and every year I vow to make gifts in lieu of buying them...
And every year, I fail...miserably, I might add, to do so.
One of my closest friends had a daughter 3 years ago and I was so excited to start making things for her. Well, being the terrible friend that I am, I haven't made A THING (smh!) and it's been 3 YEARS!! Ugh!
I finally decided this year that ENOUGH was ENOUGH and got on the ball.
When choosing fabrics for a project, I know lots of us like to stick with prints that are "safe favorites" to us. Those familiar prints we use again and again. I have taken the "USE A NEW FABRIC" vow to change it all up.
I've touched on this before--some fabrics from manufacturers are only printed for 1 run. Others are printed for several runs and then discontinued. These are the fabrics that always "get us"...the ones that seem like they are going to be around forever and then one day are discontinued and just disappear.
I cannot tell you how many panic stricken emails and messages I have gotten from people desperate to find a discontinued fabric. It is really imperative in the fabric world that we don't get "stuck" on a print--especially if you are using it for a product that you make for your business because in the blink of an eye, that fabric can be out of print, discontinued, retired...adios, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen! I've seen it happen over and over again!
Truth be told...it happened to ME too. I have 1st hand experience of a favorite fabric of mine that I used to make purses for my own Handmade shop fading away into the distant darkness never to be heard from again. It is a jolt when it happens--because it is so unexpected...you think that print is going to be around whenever you need to order more and then suddenly...you can't find it anywhere because it is not being printed any longer.
Variety is the spice of life! Staying up on the newest fabrics and changing the prints you use will not only add more choices, but will bring you new customers who prefer "fresh" fabrics rather than the same old same old.
By all means if you have a fabric you use to make items and it sells and continues to sell made with that fabric, keep using it! But please, I implore you to add new fabrics to your line up every season so that you are not in a bind if one day your favorite is discontinued!
In line with this and my "USE A NEW FABRIC" vow, when I sat down to make gifts, I used only fabrics I've never used before--to keep it fresh, new and fun. I've decided to use a new fabric on a minimum of 80% of the projects I make in 2013!
I mulled over it for awhile because not being "familiar" with a print makes you unsure of how it will look in your final project. When we use a print we've used 1,000 times, we know what to expect and can pretty much know exactly what it will produce and/or look like. But I realized that part of the fun in creating IS the surprise of using a new fabric and the sheer delight of how DARN CUTE it is when you're finished!!! Here's a peek at one of the dresses I made for my friend's daughter:
I used 2 fabrics from Joel Dewberry's new "Notting Hill" line: Primrose in Magenta and Tartan in Tangerine....prints I was not exactly sure about what the final outcome would be--but I tried them anyway because the colors really caught my eye. And in the end it was BETTER than I imagined!
I LOVED this dress when it was done! Soooooo cute! Who would have known?
I also made this outfit:
I used L'Amour de La Vie Eiffel Tower in Red from Timeless Treasures Fabrics for the main print and Dumb Dots in Black from Michael Miller for the trim!
I was so pleased with these fabrics when I was done!
Try a new fabric for your next project~broaden your fabric horizon and embark into the creative unknown...if you are a "Hypernoodle", it is a newness you will absolutely adore!
Happy Sewing! ☺
