Some of the on-line shops will send you fabric samples. I believe Fabric.Com is one that will do that. It will take a little longer to find your fabric though, but may be worth the time. On the other hand, I recently had to return fabric to them because the colors in person didn't work for me. They are very easy to work with. I did have to order a minimum of yards one of the fabrics. I was ok with that because the fabric was relatively inexpensive and it was flannel which I use a lot. I have also ordered from MSQC. They are very helpful also, so you might call them about samples or even advice on colors.