Thread: Mail order gamble

I used up all the red making the cowboy quilt ("Have a laugh on me" top finished) When I went back to my LQS to buy more for the binding, they were out of it. I found it online, but it came in two colors, red and dark red. As you know, online pictures are difficult to tell true color. I thought it was red, but it was a deep red so it could be dark red. The selvage did not help as the numbers were the same. Option 1: order red and hope it's right. If not, order dark red. Option 2: order both. You can always use red. Shipping was the same and if I was wrong, I would pay shipping again. I went with option 2. I now have some lovely dark red fabric in my stash.

Sometimes I check with the website of the fabric manufacturer. Could you have asked the LQS what fabric # color they carried?? It is difficult to order on-line and since I don't drive anymore, I find that asking questions help limits my mistakes.

Originally Posted by bearisgray

I probably would have ordered both. Did either of them match?

In this case, yes it matched. The selvage from the original fabric is draped across the matching red. It's binding, so an exact match wasn't quite as critical.

You can never have too much red!

This happened to me recently, I found the absolute perfect backing fabric for my latest quilt at my LQS, it was a really, really pretty dark teal blue batik. I bought the rest of the bolt, which was about half of what I needed, then went online and bought more. I am well aware of differences in dye lots, but I hoped that since it was a batik and the dyes are different throughout the yardage that it wouldn't be noticeable. NOPE. When it arrived, it was a completely different shade of blue and was muddy, not pretty at all.

Originally Posted by Peckish

This happened to me recently, I found the absolute perfect backing fabric for my latest quilt at my LQS, it was a really, really pretty dark teal blue batik. I bought the rest of the bolt, which was about half of what I needed, then went online and bought more. I am well aware of differences in dye lots, but I hoped that since it was a batik and the dyes are different throughout the yardage that it wouldn't be noticeable. NOPE. When it arrived, it was a completely different shade of blue and was muddy, not pretty at all.

I am so sorry! How disappointing and now you have fabric you don't like.