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?

3 comments

3 Comments

brian_hart25d ago

Heard a podcast say swatch books are a secret weapon for small designers.

grace_kelly4525d 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.

john_kim4925d ago

Totally! @brian_hart is right, it's like a cheat code for real life.