Addicted to Fabric Swatches

Organizing my last swatches

A while back I was lacking in feeling creative. I was in a rut. No ideas, no exciting projects. I decided I needed some new fabric to help spark ideas. I went online (there are very few fabric stores where I am) and discovered I could get free fabric swatches from several different websites. I may have gone a little overboard and I ordered a LOT of free swatches. I tried to get a variety of color, patterns, and fabric selections. I think I ended up with around 100 fabric swatches varying in size.

It was a rush to get them all in the mail, sort through them, and see which ones could work well together. I decided to do a few small projects with the swatches. I made a few small makeup bags with the colors based on the zippers I already had in my stash. I also made 2 dog beds for my pets. I created my own fabric by piecing the swatches together for one main side and then sewing a pillow out of leftover fabric scraps. I then filled the beds with leftover tulle from past projects. Another project I did was make a small throw pillow for my living room. I took a nice white patterned cotton and then used 4 of my blue swatches to create a funky statement piece on one side of the pillow. I then purchased a small pillow for the pillowcase. 

It's been fun to just work with the swatches and create my own fabric in a way. I like mixing the prints and textures together. I will write more about the projects mentioned above with a few progress pictures. I still have some swatches left and I will probably end up making a few more makeup bags since they're so small. But, I may make another pet bed since my pets really enjoy them.