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Helpful Fabrics from Fresh Modern Fabric

I have been shopping with Fresh Modern Fabric for more than a decade. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was one of the very first shops I ordered from, when I just began as a quilter! This shop is known for stocking fantastic modern basics and low volume fabrics, which are really the bread and butter of my fabric stash. I am so glad that I found Fresh Modern Fabric way back when and that they are still going strong today!

This lovely stack is the last batch of fabric stash enhancements sourced during my trip to America. As you can see, it’s a right rainbow of basics or, as I like to call them, helpful fabrics. Helpful fabrics are those one-color wonders which work like solids but with more added interest. They’re endlessly versatile and make great scrap quilts too. In fact, if you’ve wondered how my scraps seem to work together rather than clash, it may be thanks to the prevalence of helpful fabrics in my scrap drawers - - -

Row 1

Snow Dots in Blush

Clover and Over in Pocket

XOXO in Lilac

Pearl Bracelet in Key Lime

A is for Alphabet in Blue

Row 2

Camont Cabana Stripe in Orange

Add it up in Mossy

Caturday Boxed in Rose

Menagerie Champagne in Periwinkle

Spark in Jade Metallic

I’m quite excited about these new blue fabrics. On the left are my new aquisitions; while, on the right are the most similar shades of blue from my stash. You can see that the Periwinkle Champagne fabric has a touch of purple to it, as befits periwinkle. That’s exactly what I needed! I also love that the Clover print is a very neutral blue, which you often see in more traditional fabrics, but not in modern prints. The alphabet print is admittedly pretty smilier to what I already had, but I still have a soft spot for text prints. I love the character that they add to patchwork!

These two new orchid pink fabrics play very nicely with the few other orchid pinks in my stash (stack right). The new additions don’t bring new shades, but I love their character and will certainly find them a useful boost.

My new green fabrics (stack left) bring each a special new tone to my fabric palette. That spark fabric is a gorgeous Christmas-y green, which I have never had before in a print. The pearl bracelet brings a fresh lime tint, which I somehow never buy but do like to use. If you compare my new greens to the most similar fabrics in my stash (stack right) you can see that they also bring new shapes and values to the mix. And that’s the goal.

For me, having a range of helpful fabrics on hand in all my favorite colors, plus a variety of shapes and values - well, that is the basis from which my creativity flows. If you are new to quilt-making or want to freshen up your fabric stash to feel more modern and versatile, invest in half yard cuts of good basics like these. They never go bad!

Well now, I am itching to start something new. =)

See this gallery in the original post