Fabric Swatch Tags Tutorial!

Well hello there!

 I thought I would talk a little

 about how I audition and 

pull fabrics for a project...

and how I use these

 fabric swatches to do it:)

My latest fabric collection is 

Farm Girl Vintage

It's full of many prints

 in happy vintage colors 

that I love to use.

So of course...

I made a fabric swatch tag

 for each print in the collection.

These three prints are not in my

 Farm Girl Vintage collection

 but are the 3 new widleback (108")

 prints that co-ordinate 

with the collection.

The prints are called 

FARM LIFE 

and it comes in these three colors.

This is the print that

 I am using for the back of my 

Farm Sweet Farm Quilt

during the sew along.

I made the swatches and

 added them to my

 Farm Girl Vintage swatches

 because 

I do not use these 

for backing only...

but I love to piece 

with them as well!

These are the four prints from

 Farm Girl Vintage that I call backgrounds.

Here are the aqua prints...

The yellow prints...

The denim prints...

The browns...

The teals...

The reds...

The grays...

The oranges...

The greens...

and the coral and pinks.

I keep all alike colored swatch tags 

together so that when I'm 

looking for a certain color...

I know they are all there

 in my swatch collection.

I make swatch tags for each and every collection as soon as I get it.

These are my swatch tags from my

 Bee Backgrounds Collection

This is my go to collection 

when choosing backgrounds and...

I use these swatch tags

 all of the time when 

pulling a project together.

There are several colors to choose from...

in a variety of prints and 

I always find something that works!

I love having a little piece 

of my fabrics at my fingertips 

for quick and easy reference.

I must admit that when I'm 

going through my 

"swatch tag files"

I sometimes feel like a librarian lol

I've had several questions about

 how I make them.

So here is a quick and easy tutorial

 on how I do it:)

I use kraft tags that you can get

 in the paper crafting section

 of any craft store.

These are ones that I got at

 Michaels and they are 3.00 per pack.

I use fusible web to iron the 

fabric onto the tag.

Heat and Bond has several different kinds...

this is what I use the most:)

From the Heat and Bond...

I rotary cut one rectangle
 for each swatch...

 a little bigger than I want
 the swatch to end up.

For my size tags that means
 I cut the fusible web 2 1/4" x 4"

Most of you probably know this...

but if you have never 

worked with fusible web...

it has a smooth side which is paper 

where you would trace your pattern onto etc.

Of course for this there is

 no pattern to trace:)

Here is the "bumpy" side which

 is the fusible part that irons on.

PS. Yes I DO use vintage irons and 

NO it is not turned on and 

sitting on my cutting mat lol... 

scared you didn't I?

I grab a piece of the fabric...

I don't really take the time to cut it

 a certain size because I will

 just trim it down anyways...

 I just press the rectangle

(fusible side down)

 onto the wrong side of the fabric

 making sure that there is 

at least a little fabric 

hanging over all edges.

Then I use my little 

Cute Cuts Rulers and Mini Cutting Mat 

to trim it down to 2" x 3 3/4"

I trim 2 sides first and then 

turn the little mat around and 

trim the other two sides 

with out picking up the rectangle...

easy peasy!

I do these a bunch at a time 

so it's sort of like chain piecing 

but instead it's chain trimming:)

Next step is to peel the paper backing off.

Sometimes that is easier said than done.

I like to use my longer pins for this...

the ones that I usually use to

 bin borders and larger pieces

(Pretty Pins-Sewing)

and "score" a mark in the paper.

Then I can start peeling from the 

score line and not the corners...

which are hard to start peeling from.

Once it's peeled off you will

have the other fusible side exposed 

and can press the fabric swatch

 directly onto the tag... 

like this!

I like to mark the name of the fabric 

and also the SKU for easy reference 

when needed for ordering etc.

I use my Planner Pens for this...

of course they come in lots of happy colors!

I wrote on the info on the back.

Remember this Gunny Sack print 

from my Autumn Love fabric collection?

Now it is a Riley Blake Basic 

and comes in these colors so far...

more color combos than these will be 

coming in about 6 weeks.

It really is a big time saver 

for me to have a swatch tag 

for each print that I use frequently.

 I can mix and match colors 

and collections easily.

Like for example...

when I am creating and I need

 several reds and pinks 

for a valentines project...

I just go through my swatches 

of those colors in all different 

fabric collections and see which 

reds and pinks out of all

 go together well.

It's much easier than pulling out

 every piece of red and pink fabric 

that I have.

Once I have chosen the prints 

from the swatch I know which fabrics

 to grab and cut.

That is how I have chosen which fabrics

 to use in each of my 

vintage blocks for the

 Vintage Block Along

It's easy peasy...quick and fun!!

I hope that this explanation of 

how and why I use my Fabric Swatch Tags 

and also the Tutorial has helped to 

answer those questions that 

those of you have had about them...

and you may even want to give them a try!

Until next time...

Lori