Help, I Ran Out of Fabric!
Posted by Jen Lopez on Jun 10th 2020
The “go to” defense of quilters accused of buying too much fabric is quite often “I have to buy it now because later it will all be gone!” This is a very valid claim. The way the quilting industry works is, most fabric lines are printed once or twice and then they are “retired”, never to be printed again. What if this was your favorite fabric? What if you run out in the middle of an important project? What are you to do? Here are some practical suggestions:
- Find It at Another Shop – Obviously, you already checked the Local Quilt Shop where you made the original purchase. Now it’s time to look elsewhere, including online. You will need to know the designer and the name of the fabric line. You will find that information printed on the selvage. Many of the smaller shops, especially the online shops on eBay and ETSY, do not sell out as quickly as the larger brick-and-mortar stores. They are more likely to have inventory left long after the big shops have sold out. I was delighted to find fabric to make curtains from the same line as a baby quilt I made for my son this way.
- Reverse Google Image Search – Believe it or not, I have successfully used a reverse Google image search to find fabric but I only learned about this capability recently. Go to the main Google search page and in the upper right corner there is a link called “Image”. Click there, upload an image of your fabric and see what Google can find. This works best for very distinct prints, but it does work. I once found some extra green and red candy-stripe fabric that I “needed” to finish a Christmas project.
- Facebook – There are many Facebook Groups for Quilting and Sewing. Join some and upload an image of your needed fabric. You’ll be surprised at how many people not only know the name of the fabric line and designer, but also have some to spare. Quilters are inherently very generous people, they will share. I once found the very same vintage fabric from Denmark that my grandmother used to make a knitting needle case over 40 years ago!
- Make Do – Well, you tried all of the above and are still out of luck. You are going to have to make do without it. Either find something “close enough” to finish your project, or deliberately mix it up and thereby “hide” your fabric shortage with some fabric that is completely different. Sometimes the most beautiful quilts are the improvised ones. Remember, that is how quilting got started – by cutting up old garments, flour sacks and other random bits and scraps.
Running out of fabric isn’t the end of the world. But, remembering those times that you did will be good justification for buying “just a little extra” next time!
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