I don’t know about y’all, but my fabric buying habits have dramatically changed since this whole pandemic shit started. While I strongly prefer to buy my fabric in person, I’ve had to learn how to shop online again. It’s been an interesting learning curve, to say the least. How often have we purchased fabric that ended up being wildly different than what we were anticipating? Sometimes this is due to bad photos/monitor situations (like with incorrect colors or very strangely-scaled prints), and sometimes the company just does a piss-poor job of describing their product accurately. Either way, it’s frustrating – not to mention expensive!
For this reason, I love ordering swatches. It’s so handy to get an actual piece of the fabric, that you can, you know, actually get your hands on. This, too, is a little risky though – since there’s no guarantee the fabric won’t sell out before you make your decision!
Today I’m going to tell you about a new way to swatch, as offered by The Confident Stitch and their new Swatch Service!
The Confident Stitch‘s Swatch Service is pretty straightforward – every 3 months, you receive a card with a selection of fabric swatches for the upcoming season. There is a variety of fibers and weights included, everything from swimsuit lycra to rigid bottom weight. The fabrics are chosen to coordinate with one another, which makes it easy capsulate your wardrobe if that’s your thing.
One thing that I really appreciated is that the swatch cards are available in 3 different options: warm tones, cool tones, and quilting cotton. No more getting a box of swatches in all cool blues when you’re more of a warm red kinda person, or vice versa! Furthermore, the card is limited to 8 swatches, so it’s more of a curated experience and less of an overwhelming “let’s throw everything in the box and hope something resonates!”
In addition to swatches themselves, the cards also include care instructions, fabric facts, and pattern suggestions. For even more in-depth fiber nerdiness, Swatch Service also provides emails (sent after the cards are shipped) with more details about each fabric. There are videos so you can see how the fabric handles (also great for checking out print proportion), links to different color options, and blog posts with more information on each fabric, including tips for cutting and sewing.
Oh, and you also get a discount on all the fabrics featured in your swatch book, which is valid for 90 days!
The Swatch Service starts at $15 per card/quarter, with discounts for ordering multiple cards and/or months.
The folks at the Confident Stitch sent me both the cool and warm tones swatch cards, so I could get a good look and feel of them in order to write this post!
The first thing I noticed was how professional they look – heavy cardstock, full color printing, and the swatches themselves are firmly attached to the card (sorry mine are a little beat up – I was carrying them around in my backpack all week!). You can flip up each swatch to reveal essential information (fiber content, care instructions, suggested needle size, fabric width and price per yard). On the left-hand side are pattern suggestions and line drawings, which can be used in combination with the swatches to create a small capsule wardrobe that is suited for the season.
As you can see, the fabrics all coordinate with each other quite beautifully. As someone who struggles with creating a cohesive color palette (I end up just making things in every single color and then wonder why nothing coordinates with each other), it’s pretty magical to have the colors and prints already chosen for you!
One thing I really love is that the swatches are all fabrics that are reorderable (if you’re like me and you tend to sew designer end-cuts, I know you feel my pain in regards to non-reorderable fabric lol), so generally these same fabrics will be available even if you take your sweet time deciding on which swatches to pick. This also means that many of the fabrics come in multiple colorways! So maybe you love the feel of the Robert Kaufman Essex Linen, but that blue isn’t doing it for you – just know there’s probably something even better (hint: there is. Essex Linen rules, btw!)
I think my favorite thing, though, is the little sewing tip under each swatch! Each fabric has a professional pointer to help with sewing, fabric care, or choosing a suitable pattern. They are fun to read and would be super handy for any beginner who needs a little extra guidance.
The Swatch Service is great if you’re the sort of person who needs a little guidance with choosing fabrics for your upcoming sewing projects, or prefers a more tactile shopping experience. I also think this is a wonderful option for new sewists who are still trying to navigate the crazy world of fabric hand, drape, and fiber content – and may not necessarily have access to a local fabric store that carries a wide variety of options. It’s also just a nice little way to support a small business, while also getting a fun (and hopefully inspiring!) piece of mail a few times a year! Are you a mood board / visual sewing planner sort of person? This card already comes with pre-cut swatches and line drawings that you can use! Yes!
Here are the warm and cool cards next to each other! Personally, I’m really feeling those warm tones – but the cool is pretty nice, too! Which one do you like?
** Just a note: This is a sponsored post. The Confident Stitch sent me these swatch cards for free, and I was compensated for this post. All unbiased views and opinions are my own!
LLADYBIRD 
I love this idea! With navy as my neutral and blues and greens my jam, I love the warm/ cool options. For me the value comes in the fibre content and descriptions. I tend to get overwhelmed and confused with fabric content ie: what is crepe? silk de chine? modal? …the little swatches would be great in that respect. Great post, Lauren, thanks!
Yeah, I think the swatches are super helpful! Makes it a lot easier to understand the differences in fiber content, as well as fabric type. Especially if you don’t typically have access to a wide range at your local fabric store (or, in the case of COVID-19 – don’t have access to a local fabric store, either)
I look far better in warm tones but I vastly prefer the vibe of the cool tone swatches this time. I think I’d look to see if they had the cool fabrics in warm tones and choose that way.
That’s a great idea! I didn’t even think about looking for the opposite tones/colorway for each card.
Looks like a fabulous service, I love getting things in the post!
I am very intrigued by the washing instructions for the rayon. Do not hand wash do not line dry! Does anyone know the reasoning behind this? I hand wash all my woven rayon items as I feel like it’s kind of delicate and the seams might rip in the machine. And I line dry everything – because I don’t have a drier! I’d love to know more.
I was curious about that, too! Rayon is definitely really delicate, especially when it gets wet. I always wash mine on cold (in the machine, but in it’s own little bag) and generally line dry. I’m not sure the reasoning behind those particular care instructions, but i’m guessing it is at the recommendation of the manufacturer? Maybe their rayon is different in some way?
I hadn’t thought of washing my rayon items in the machine but in a bag! Going to try that with my least precious one and see how it works on delicate. Thank you
Ummm… ok, I was like coordinated swatches, that’s cool and then saw the detail on the card… and then you flipped the swatch up and I heard angels singing about fabric care and needle size. Seriously? Where has this been my whole life? Going to their site… right now. I always order weirdness online. Thanks for the review! And thanks for the disclosure about being paid – I know you always say your mind, but it’s good to know.
I agree – the info under the swatches is seriously so, so useful! Really nice to have it handed to you instead of having to figure it out through trial and error haha. And yep, I always mention when I am compensated! Not just so people know the review is an advertisement, but also so you know who is actually *paying* for their advertisement (don’t eeeeven get me started on that whole argument – advertising should be compensated! Fabric is not compensation! Ok that’s all I’ll say lol). I think that’s just as important!
This is a really clever idea. I buy a lot of patterns and then struggle to select appropriate fabric. I’ve made a lot of mistakes when buying fabric for projects and the wrong fabric just ruins a garment.
I’ve made those mistake, too – I feel your pain! This is a great resource for helping avoid a wrong fabric match 🙂
Even as a non-beginner (who is not ordering a lot if fabrics at the moment because… stash) I would love this just for the learning aspect! Great way to get a feel for different fabrics and their best applications, and thoughtful tips too. Very cool service!
What a useful service! Thanks for sharing. My lovely, local natural fiber fabric store went out of business this spring and I have not been super thrilled with moving into online ordering. It also seems hard to find cool toned fabrics in my neck of the woods, so two birds one stone with this. I am looking forward to getting my swatches.
WOW! Great fabric design! I found another fabric store which is https://broadwayfabrics.com/.