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Just spent $200 on a fabric swatch book and it's already saved my butt
I was working on a new jacket design and kept hitting a wall with the outer shell material. I had a vision for this specific shade of olive green with a slight texture, but ordering sample yardage from different mills was getting expensive and slow. On a whim, I bought a big swatch book from a textile supplier for about two hundred bucks. It showed up yesterday with like 200 small fabric squares, each labeled with the content and weight. I found the perfect cotton canvas in there in about ten minutes, and I already placed the order for the full roll. It felt like cheating compared to my old guess-and-check method. Has anyone else tried using a physical swatch library instead of just online pics? What's your go-to move for picking materials fast?
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brian_hart6mo ago
Heard a podcast say swatch books are a secret weapon for small designers.
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grace_kelly456mo ago
Wait, a podcast actually said that? Feels like something my grandma would have known about. @john_kim49 calling it a cheat code is pretty funny though. Can't believe people need a show to tell them about basic stuff like swatches.
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john_kim496mo ago
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kai_ramirez384mo ago
and honestly @john_kim49 that's the thing, right? it's not just about the swatches themselves, it's noticing the tiny shortcuts people have had for years and acting like they're new discoveries. @grace_kelly45 i bet your grandma had a whole system for this stuff that would blow these podcast people's minds.
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