Similarly this owl design was a perfect fit for my pink and owl loving friend Jane. I think it's important to choose fun prints and useful designs. For me crafting is about using the products and I very much hope my friends will be using theirs!
Ebay is a great source for unique fabrics, but searching can be quite difficult as there are tens of thousands of prints and no consistent naming, labeling or photoing conventions. Here are the steps I used to find the prints I ended up with.
(1) Material: I knew I wanted to work with cotton, so this eliminated a large number of fabrics right of the bat. Using the search term "cotton" can be too restrictive (unless searching the description as well). Cotton also pops up as an ebay characteristic if you are in the fabric sub-category.
(2) Topic: I found it easiest to start with an idea in mind. I actually began my search for a Russian Doll print, followed by some animal related searches. I think this was helpful to give me a sense of the types of fabrics that were available on ebay.
(3) Designer: I actually ended up finding both fabrics via designer name. I had seen the names "Alexander Henry" and "Robert Kaufman" pop up several times among fabrics I found to be attractive for the projects I had in mind.
In the end I chose a cupcake print by Alexander Henry and an owl print by Robery Kaufman. In determining how much fabric you need I think it's always wise to get a little extra because once it's cut it's cut and shipped and on its way to you. Also when buying multiple increments (i.e. by the yard) make sure the seller is selling you a continuous piece. Lastly a tip for the total novice a "fat quarter" is simply a quarter of a yard of fabric, but cut once length wise and once horizontal wise (thus you have a squarish/rectangular piece, rather than a very thin and narrow piece of fabric). Happy online fabric shopping!
Ebay is a great source for unique fabrics, but searching can be quite difficult as there are tens of thousands of prints and no consistent naming, labeling or photoing conventions. Here are the steps I used to find the prints I ended up with.
(1) Material: I knew I wanted to work with cotton, so this eliminated a large number of fabrics right of the bat. Using the search term "cotton" can be too restrictive (unless searching the description as well). Cotton also pops up as an ebay characteristic if you are in the fabric sub-category.
(2) Topic: I found it easiest to start with an idea in mind. I actually began my search for a Russian Doll print, followed by some animal related searches. I think this was helpful to give me a sense of the types of fabrics that were available on ebay.
(3) Designer: I actually ended up finding both fabrics via designer name. I had seen the names "Alexander Henry" and "Robert Kaufman" pop up several times among fabrics I found to be attractive for the projects I had in mind.
In the end I chose a cupcake print by Alexander Henry and an owl print by Robery Kaufman. In determining how much fabric you need I think it's always wise to get a little extra because once it's cut it's cut and shipped and on its way to you. Also when buying multiple increments (i.e. by the yard) make sure the seller is selling you a continuous piece. Lastly a tip for the total novice a "fat quarter" is simply a quarter of a yard of fabric, but cut once length wise and once horizontal wise (thus you have a squarish/rectangular piece, rather than a very thin and narrow piece of fabric). Happy online fabric shopping!
