Let's Talk About Solids: A Guide to My Favorite Fabrics

I get asked a lot about what fabrics I use in my quilts, about what manufacturers I stick with and to be honest, since I'm all about exploring color, it's not so much the the fabric line that I'm loyal to (I'm actually not loyal at all, though I am partial to Handloom right now for obvious reasons), it's about what color I need.

Not every manufacturer has every color and there are so many different colors in the world, with different saturations, hues and values. I used to shop a lot in person, but local shops have fewer brands of solids available in store, so I often now turn to online shopping to buy favorites from multiple manufacturers.

When I talk about solids, I consider anything from a standard solid broadcloth, to shot cottons, cross weaves & linens to live in the "solid" category, including Handloom. While Kona was the most common solid brand available in stores, due to changes to their manufacturing, I'm hoping to see more brands flowing into local shops. I love the texture of different shot cottons (like Artisan, Peppered Cottons & Handloom) and I love the funky colors I can often find from Michael Miller Cotton Couture.

When you're shopping online or even in store, it's helpful to have a way to keep a swatch of fabric for reference, whether you want to buy it again or use it like a paint chip to help build a palette.

In my studio I store 5-inch fabric swatches on a d-ring. I cut a little hole, so I can thread them on the ring & I write the name of the color and the manufacturer so I can reference it later.

This is how we always did it when I worked at Pottery Barn Kids and Michael Miller. Having the bigger swatch of fabric helps you to really see the color and lay it against other fabrics to see how they interact.

While I do like to freely move the colors around to help me build color palettes, color cards do absolutely have a place in my studio. I have a large collection of them and I use them for reference when I'm looking for a general color to order online or attempting to color match something in my stash that isn't on my swatch ring.

 Check out how I organize my swatches ↗

The glue on the cards can change the color a little, but they're such an amazing resource, I started carrying color cards in my shop to share with you! 

A great way to build your own colors swatch ring is to either be committed to the process, by cutting a swatch from each and every solid you buy, carefully notating what the color is or buying charm packs from manufacturers and using those to make a swatch ring. Unfortunately, not all manufacturers make solid charms or have packs with their entire collection of solids, so that may be a little hit or miss depending on the brand. 

I do carry Handloom precuts that have the full collection of colors (and my shop is the only place you can find precuts with all 65 colors!).

All the bundles I use in Blocks Studies (which are sometimes also available in my shop if I have extras and I'm planning to expand bundle offering in the new year) are mixed manufacturer. Even though they may vary some in texture or thread weight, I've never had an issue cross mixing brands in my quilts (though admittedly, I am a pre-washer).

Do you mix manufacturers or are you a brand loyalist? Either way, I hope this post might open up some new brands of solids for you! Below is a list of the solid fabric lines I use most often. There are plenty of other excellent solids available that aren’t listed here—I’m only sharing the ones I know and use regularly myself.

 Shop Color Cards ↗