Getting More from your Quilting Dollar - from home.

smart money spent to help you save money - the Kona Cotton Panel from Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Quilters are drawn to fabric, and in this blog post I’m giving you my best tip for being able to maximize your quilting dollar, while not sacrificing the beautiful colors we love. My secret weapon is to use solids in amongst your beautiful fabrics to add layers of color. Many of your favorite fabric companies make a line of solids (or solid-ishs), and they can really add some pop to your fabric selections. I have a bin of Kona solids from Robert Kaufman Fabrics - but the real story here is how I make them work hard for me.

Once I had determined that I was going to work with the Kona line, the collection began - and so did the confusion on my end. Kona as a line has no markings on the selvedge to tell you which color you’re looking at. I solved this problem by ordering this swatch panel for the line online…they also make a card, but this was much more cost effective.

Field trip to the closest source of Kona Cotton I could find - on a quiet Tuesday morning.

When I began to research the idea of a color card for the Kona line, I found that (like most of the major manufacturers), they make one…which is expensive. But they also make a fabric panel with the colors on them, available for roughly 1/3 of the price of the card. When the panel arrived, I went to my local Joann Fabrics - the closest to me source of Kona cotton. I wasn’t shopping per se (and in fact, left this time without spending money). I wanted to compare the information on the panel with the colors on an actual labeled bolt of their fabric, to determine how close a color match they were.

Here’s why…there is no selvedge printing on Kona fabrics - so there’s no way to determine whether the color in your stash is Kona white or Kona snow. Buying it off the bolt is easy - and in fact, I’d recommend brining a fabric pen with you the next time you go shopping, so you can mark the fabric yourself once the shop has cut it from the bolt. IDing stash fabric is a little more complicated.

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Kona snow, Kona white, Kona Buttercup and Kona Medium Gray from the shelves

Joann’s was having a sale on Kona this week, and I wasn’t able to pull a lot of bolts from the shelves - but I pulled what I thought was a representative selection for me. I’m also operating on the assumption that since the bolts have the Kona logo and information on them, this is the same fabric you would see in a quilt shop or anywhere else that carries Kona. I was not able to get a look at Horizon, their COTY either - another time.

Kona Buttercup label on the bolt.

Kona Bolt compared to Kona swatch - it’s a good system (but not perfect).

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It’s always going to be easier to look at the bolts side by side when you’re comparing colors - but if you’re home, and you want to order more of brown A so that you can use it in your next project, you need to know what brown A is so that you can order more…that’s where this system works, and becomes another tool in your toolkit.

I toyed very briefly with cutting the panels up to label your stash - and I personally will print out Avery labels and leave the panel intact.

Most of the major manufacturers offer swatches for sale - either as a panel or as a card. It’s a great tool to have. And sticking with one quality line of fabric lessens the confusion on me.

This blog post is part of a series I’m doing on getting organized, and making the most of your quilting dollar. You can read part one here, and part 2 here. Do you have a moneysaving tip…please leave a comment and share!