Hello crafter, do you find your art room having huge stash of craft supplies piled up, some of them you buy at random and end up not using them? High five.

Fabric makes me drool. Walking into a fabric shop gives me Disneyland feels yet it can be too overwhelming with all the endless options and color types and subcategories and functions and ABCs of fabrics. Like a kid in a big candy store, I can only wish I can bring half the store home 

When I was new to mixing and matching fabric, I was totally overthinking the variety of patterns that must be multi-layered on my doll’s skirt. The challenge is that, a doll’s skirt only needs to be 3.5 inches in length. If I am to combine 4 different fabrics, it’s almost impossible to appreciate the variety. I still love to mix it up according to my flow but I also balance my preferences with  the general concept of color matching.

1. SIMPLIFY THE MIX AND MATCH

Over time, I learned that you can’t just break the basic concept of plains and prints. Not only is it easy on the eyes, the neutrals actually allow your prints to stand out. In my example below, it can be tempting to throw in another layer of colored fabric but then doing that will take away the attention from the pink-striped skirt. Neutrals and prints – the basics, our moms know best.

2. PICK YOUR ALPHA FABRIC

Yes there will be endless fabric combinations, it’s best to pick an Alpha. Here is my version of LBD (little blue dress) with blue as my alpha color combined with a subtle touch of floral prints and laces.

3. OR GET CARRIED AWAY

Now this is pure me. I love variety and scale and going with the flow. In the skirt below,  there are actually 5 layers of different fabrics stitched as a single pleated skirt and attached to a black top. In this case there was no Alpha and I still think it works just fine. The combinations make the skirt look interesting and busy.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you get inspired to work on your crafts this weekend. Let me know how you mix and match your fabrics or whatever creative piece you use color/print matchings for. Stay passionate lovelies!