Flying_V_Goddess

For those following my massive Zelda quilting project, I am very close to color matching all ther various colors in one of my wallhangings...10 out of 14.

A lot of the help of color matching was achieved with http://moda.fabricmatcher.com/. I had made color keys of each of the windows and then ran it through the fabric matcher website, selected Moda marbles as the fabric line, and out of the results that were given to me I looked through them to see which fabric was the closest match to the color. When I found one that looked close to what I was looking for I'd pull up the image of the stained glass window on Photoshop, delete the sections of that color from the left side of the window, put the image of the fabric on a layer underneath the window image (it would peek through the sections I cut out), and see if it matched the color on the right side of the window. If I got a match I wrote down the 4 digit fabric product ID.

In other words, this took me a long time to do. At least a full hour total on the one I almost completely matched. Probably more like two.

So I just went onto Hancock's of Paducah to see the availability of some of these fabrics. Out of the ten I had found for this image I could not find a single one. HOP has the biggest selection of Moda Marbles that I know of (12 pages, 80 results a page) so I'm shocked. I typed in the number. I typed in the number with "moda marble" or "marble". Nothing. I went back to the fabric matcher website and looked at the fabrics again to see if maybe they listed the color's specific name...it didn't get more specific than "red" or "yellow". Nothing like "burgundy" or "sunshine". The website with the fabric matcher doesn't actually sell the fabric or can tell me where I might be able to buy the fabric. Just to be sure the website wasn't giving me the wrong numbers I went to their line of Moda Marbles, pulled the number on the first fabric that popped up, and typed it into the search box on Hancocks........."Christmas red" comes up on Hancocks and both images match.

I want to cry. The hardest part of this project is trying to match the 10+ colors found in the eight stained glass quilted wall hangings I'm attempting to make. And it was EXHAUSTING to find the ones I did find mostly because the windows are centered around one color and have so many different shades of that color its ridiculous. The one I was almost done with kind of makes me want to never look at another shade of pink or yellowish brown ever again. When I was looking for colors I'd have to take breaks because my brain would get worn out from looking at a lot of the same color in different shades. So I want to break down because all of this mentally exhausting work I did for my project was for nothing.

gzuslivz

Oh, I'm so sorry. It sounds like you need to step away and get a good night's rest. Trying to match that many colors would make me INSANE. Bless you for even trying.

patricej

you are correct. trying to match colors exactly is exhausting and frustrating. that's true even if you're lucky enough to have an in-person place to shop for them.

consider changing your strategy a bit. remember that works of art inspired by other works of art are nearly always "interpretive". that is to say that they don't have to be exactly correct in order to be beautiful and appreciated.

as long as the colors you use create the appropriate look, it won't matter if they aren't super-precisely accurate. cross my heart. ;-)

is there a place near you that sells paint? they might not mind if you collected paint sample strips that show the colors you need. then, contact HOP to see if you can mail them the chips so they can go through their bolts to match those colors for you. if they can't, try contacting Mary Jo's. i don't think they carry moda, but they have a huge selection of tonals from a number of designers. (i'll bet it's the same at HOP.) it's possible that drawing your fabrics from different collections will add interest to the quilt you hadn't expected. :-)

you might also consider buying a supply of fabric paints and some nice plain white muslin. you can mix and paint your own. i could be wrong, but considering the price of the fabs you've been considering, i believe painting your own will save you piles of money in the long run.

when you've made what you need for your project, you can also experiment with faric painting for its own sake. there's a huge market for hand painted fabs. if you find you have a talent for producing beautiful fabs, you will most likely be able to sell them. :-)

liminanc

Try calling there customer service and tell them what you want with the numbers, a person might be able to help. Keepsake quilting (I go to the store) also has a lot of moda that is not in their catalog, you might try giving them a call also.

plainpat

Sorry that happened.That would tire me out pretty quick.Here's a site that carries all Moda Marbles. If you don't order on line, it does show all colors by number & name. Good luck in finding what you need.

http://www.craftconn.com/Main.asp?Ta...CategoryId=110

littlehud

How frustrating. I sure hope you can find those fabrics somewhere else.

SuzyQ

You have probably already tried this but google the fabric ID number and if the same shop comes up on multiple numbers you could try calling them. You may have to end up getting the fabrics from different vendors. I had to do it that way once when I was buying a particular line of fabric. Good luck ... it's a lot of work.

Susan

QBeth

SO disappointing when best laid plans fall flat, isn't it?!! Sorry you couldn't find what you wanted at a store, no less, that everyone raves about.

One suggestion... have you looked at the Robert Kaufman fusions line? It's all the same (subtle) tone-on-tone pattern but comes in a great many colors. I use them all the time, especially for borders where I'm trying to blend with several other colors. Here's a link... scroll down...
http://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/fusions_5573/
Good luck!

stitches_ia

Try looking or contacting Webfabrics.net. They have tons of Moda Marbles and when you order from them, they all come with a little sticker on each piece with the color number on it. I hope you find what you want here.

ghostrider

Be very careful trying to match colors on a computer monitor. Chances are excellent that if you matched a color perfectly to something you want on your monitor, it would not match in person. Fabric color matchers are made to match other fabrics, not graphics. They go by dye content, something you cannot duplicate.

Also be aware that Moda Marbles vary greatly between dye lots and today's Christmas Red will likely be tomorrow's Almost Made It. Patrice's suggestions are excellent, as always, and I would only add that Craft Connection generally has a larger selection of in stock Moda Marbles than HoP and they do carry all the colors.