The potential of a sewing craft is determined to a large extent by how well its colors, patterns and prints are coordinated. Several techniques make sure a combination is always attractive. You can also go completely by your own instincts, as many seasoned crafters do, and that is part of what makes their work unique.
Use Ready-Made Designer Combinations
A good tip for beginners, and for everyone else, is to use ready-made designer combinations. The designer who creates a fabric line also suggests how to combine the fabrics in it. Newcomers can use these suggestions to make sure their first few projects look good, and keep using them until they are more confident about their own choices and have learned what works together best.
Seasoned crafters can use the same method when they are short on time or have no novel combination in mind. It also works well when sewing for a particular project or event.
When you want harmony between different crafts in a set, a pre-designed combination is a good idea.
Use Your Own Ideas
The other way to coordinate fabric is to use your own creativity. Most sewers are ready to strike out on their own after a learning curve that teaches what works and what customers like best.
Using your own ideas to coordinate fabric is highly recommended, because that is what sets you apart.
A niche is of great value to craft sales, and a niche craft is anything unique. The unique element can be the way you coordinate fabrics. Do your best to develop an identity and a style of your own. When creating eye-catching combinations, it helps to have the actual fabric on hand to mix and match. For more on this, see how to make your crafts niche.
Five Steps to Your Own Combinations
- Come up with themes for a project. For cushion covers, for example, work with themes such as “stripes and squares,” “bold prints” and “solids.”
- Come up with complementary products that can be made in the same fabric combination. A close counterpart to cushion covers is pillow covers. This usually lets you use fabric more efficiently and has a positive effect on sales.
- Go to the fabric store with a precise idea of what you want to make. You may also find new, attractive themes there.
- Collect small swatches of all the fabrics you shortlist, and mix and match them at home.
- Let the combinations settle for a couple of days before you start stitching. If you still like them after a few days, you are good to go.
Keep a Stash of Base Fabric
When coordinating fabrics, it pays to have a stash in your sewing studio. There is likely to be one kind of fabric you use often, usually as a base for your projects, and it makes sense to keep plenty of it. The next step is to choose a pattern or print that makes the project pop. You can choose it from your existing collection or from new swatches. For buying and storing fabric, see how to buy and manage fabric.
Keep It Simple
Do not overdo fabric combinations. Beginners can get overzealous. Neutral colors with a dash of color or a great print work well for many people. If that suits the craft you are making, start your projects that way.
Plan for Reorders and Bulk Buying
If you expect future orders for a craft, make sure the fabric you choose will be available later. When a combination does well, you will likely want to make more of it. A successful product also lets you buy the fabric in bulk, which lowers your cost of production and increases profit. Record the name, maker and color of each fabric in a combination that sells, so that you can reorder it exactly.
Build a Product Line Around a Combination
One fabric combination can carry several products. A tote bag, a zipper pouch and a pillow cover in the same combination can sell together as a set, and they use fabric more efficiently than three unrelated designs. Test a combination with a small batch before committing to a large amount of fabric. See sewing crafts that sell for products that suit this approach, and what to sew to sell for how to check demand first.
Learn About Color and Design
Learning more about garment design and color is highly recommended. Certain formulas are known to give great results. Read about them online, or buy a couple of books from a local or online bookstore. Eventually the right combination will come by instinct, which leads to unique crafts with your own signature mark on them. See also how to do more with patterns.
Experiment
For perhaps the most unique results, experiment. Break away from the common rules and follow your instincts in a more daring way. You can try making your own prints with simple stamping and hand printing. If printing your own fabric works for you, you can invest in more advanced printing equipment that allows you to do much more.
For all the posts in this section, see how to start a sewing business from home.
