Fabric shopping! Seeing the new bolts on the shelves, the quilt books with amazing photos, the new class samples hanging, maybe even a new Block of the Month or the next Row by Row, getting inspired, it’s better than chocolate. Well, maybe as good as chocolate!

Visiting your local quilt shop is a great experience, but do you walk out with what you need for your current or next project? Or is it all just a bit too much and overwhelming? Or do you get home and realize that you had fun (and that’s great!) but what you bought isn’t really what you went in for and now you’ll have to “make do” or go back and try again?

Here are four hints to try to rein in both overwhelm and impulse buying.

• Make a list. Do you make a list for grocery shopping? It doesn’t matter whether it’s on paper or on your phone, you can do the same for fabric shopping. Plan out what fabrics you want, preferably no more than 5 per shopping trip – unless you can spend the whole afternoon at the quilt shop!

  Your list should have some reference points. Are you looking for a whole project of fabrics, or do you already have one or two you are planning to use and you need to look for companion fabrics?

  If you already have a fabric with which to start, take the time to list out what other fabrics you want. Try to be specific about what colors and values you want.

  If you need to find all of the fabrics for a quilt, think about what you want the quilt to look and feel like, and write that down. Then, imagine the perfect fabric for that look and feel. What colors are in it? What is its pattern and temperature? Write that down on your list. You likely will not find exactly what you are envisioning, however if you’ve thought through the colors, values, and characteristics of the perfect fabric, you have a place to start. Maybe you’ll find two fabrics that, together, exhibit what you imagined. You never know!

• Shop from your stash. Before you walk out the door to head to the quilt shop, check your list against what you have in your fabric stash. You might have just what you want already, maybe even a fabric that works as an inspiration fabric, or one that has a combination of colors that you want to use in your quilt which will help you narrow down the possibilities when you get to the quilt shop.

  Or, maybe you plan to include a yellow, and don’t have the yellow you need in your stash. Perhaps, though, you have a fabric with the “right” yellow in it, which could help you narrow down which yellows would work when you get to the quilt shop.

  You might already have the right value but not quite the right color, or vice versa. In fact, you might just find fabrics that you had forgotten all about that would be perfect – or close enough – to use in the quilt. Saving money, using up fabric from your stash, and being part way to choosing all the fabrics you need for your quilt - success.

  If you don’t find anything in your stash, this was not a wasted effort. You don’t have to wonder before you buy new fabrics if you possibly have them at home already. You will know, and what you do have will be fresh in your mind, so that if you see something at the quilt shop that sparks joy, you will know whether you already have pieces in your stash that might just work with it. Happy day!

• Shop with blinders on. Shop from your list. Don’t look at anything else.

  If you are looking for batiks, go right there. Do not pass Go. Reproduction fabrics? Go right to that section. Otherwise, pause near the front door (without causing a traffic jam).

  Start by shopping by color.

  If you are familiar with the quilt shop, walk in the shop door and go directly to the section where you will most likely find the first fabric on your list. Is it pink? Go to the pinks. Don’t stop along the way to admire and ooh and ahh. Go to the pinks.

  If you are not familiar with the shop, take a moment to scan the layout and see where the pinks are located. Likely, there will be a couple of places, in the tone-on-tone area, the batiks, and others. Walk to the first pink section, search, and then move on to the next pink area if you didn’t find what you want. Don’t stop off at the greens, because they are next on your list. Stick with the pinks until you’ve checked them all out.

  Did you find what you need? Great! Cross that one off and look for the next item on your list. If not, put that one on hold for now and move to the next fabric on your list.

  Once you’ve found all of the fabrics on your list that you could, take a minute to think about what your next best move is. How can you think about the one or two fabrics on your list that you didn’t find in a different way?

• Expand your search. Now you can go beyond color. Think more about value, about pattern, scale and temperature. This is where you could look for that fabric that you imagined when writing up your shopping list.

  This is also where fabric shopping gets fun – just try not to be overwhelmed at this point. You’ve done a great job finding the fabrics on your list, now you are taking the next step to make your quilt fabulous. You’ll need to do some detective work.

  Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Put two colors together – look for a fabric that has the color you still need and one of the colors you already have

  • If you couldn’t find the pink or the blue you wanted, try looking for a lighter or darker value of that pink or blue

  • Try a floral – florals can include a multitude of colors and values

  • Try a polka dot or a stripe – the dots and stripes can highlight the color you want to find

  For example, if a floral of some type would work for your quilt, go around the quilt shop looking at floral-like prints. Florals have a background color and then a design on top of the background. What color background would work? White or cream? Black, navy, pink? Now, walk around and only look at the floral-like fabrics with the background colors you chose. That helps to narrow down the possibilities considerably. Can you find one that has the color or colors that you were looking for and didn’t find? Do you like it with the other fabrics that you already found?

  You can try this with polka dots and stripes, too, and other designs. Make sure that the background or main color works with your other fabrics, and then test the design with all of your fabrics together.  

• Have fun! Now that you’ve found what you need, you can take those blinders off and just look and touch all of the amazing fabrics. If you decide to buy something, it is now your choice, not because you couldn’t find what you need. This is the dessert – you can reward yourself for doing a good job by looking at everything – just because it’s fun!

Fabric shopping can be fabulously fun and inspiring. It also should be productive and not overwhelming and frustrating. Try out these four hints and see how they work for you. Let me know in the comments below if they helped to cut down your frustration level while fabric shopping.

Take a look around my website - my book Conquering Color and Fabric recently published!

Remember:  fabric is a palette of possibilities.