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-   -   Do the fabrics ever talk to you? (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/do-fabrics-ever-talk-you-t35966.html)

IrishNY 02-07-2010 07:59 AM

I thought fabric only had a vocabulary of two words - "BUY ME". That's all I've ever heard from it but almost every piece I see says it. Some quietly and it takes me a minute to hear it, some screams and I hear it right away. Once in a while, a piece whispers and it takes me a while to find it but it's usually worth the hunt.

It only seems interested in conversing when it is trying to pry money from my hands. As soon as the transaction is over and we're in the car, it clams up.

gmamoochie 02-07-2010 10:27 AM

i work at Joann's and a lot of fabrics seem to scream to me. i have learned to tell them NO until they are on a really good sale. i bought the rest of a bolt of fabric with a gold-ish background with navy and green floral on it. i dislike GOLD, but it called to me, and now i am collecting fabrics to go with it and hopefully tone the gold down.
i did hear a voice as i was working on a baby quilt for my grandchild-to-be. it said 'YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE A BOY, DON'T YOU?" so i gave the pink one i had made to a little girl born just before NATHAN was born and the just-in-case blue one was his by default. the ones that seem to talk the loudest though are the ones that are the focal point ones, and then i have to come up with something to go with them.

oops 02-07-2010 02:22 PM

Definitly, the fabric talks to us. Last year I made a lap quilt and as I was working on it , it told me to give it to Linda. I really was just trying out the pattern. It made three trips to Penna and when I didn't see her, I brought it home. Others looked at it and liked it, but it kept telling me don't you dare give me to anyone else. Finally this past month, I came across it again. Again it said LINDA. I haven't seen this lady in many years.
She got it and said it was on her table as she wanted to enjoy it for a while everyday. :P She was so pleased that I thought of her and so I wrote back and told her that it told me to give it to her.
Fabric has to talk to us before we can make something. We might start it and not want to finish it. Two years ago I had started a quilt (lap size but big enough for a single bed.) We were getting ready for our family reunion, so it finally told me to take that UFO and make it for a door prize. So yes, fabric talks to us or we wouldn't have so much. Isn't it fun to dig in a stash and finally have it tell you what it wants to be? :roll:

zennia 02-07-2010 02:29 PM

Sure does. Sometimes it jumps right off the shelf and into my cart.

oops 02-07-2010 02:29 PM


Originally Posted by tkhooper
I'm new, this hasn't happened to me yet. Usually a design will say I'm for "this person," please make me. Then it's just a matter of finding the materials that are required to bring the design to life.

It will happen to you. Just wait. When you can not resist a fabric with nothing in mind, it is talking to you

MadQuilter 02-07-2010 03:21 PM

I'm dealing with that topic right now and I am waiting for some of the Boomerang swap F8s to talk to me. Some are practically jumping up and down and telling me exactly what they want to be, but some have their arms stubbornly crossed in front of their fabricky chests and refuse to give it up. lol

dljennings 02-08-2010 04:41 PM

i walked into my lqs, and this black fabric with a teeny tiny floral viney kind of print said "i need to go to Anne" she's my oldest friend...and i finally figured out what to do with it...cause you know i bought it!! when i get it done, and mailed to her..then i will post it...cause she reads this too!

Zoe 02-08-2010 05:18 PM

Hi Folks, Here's another twist on the topic "do fabrics ever talk to you?" I was helping clear out a dear friend's sewing roo, and my husband and I were carrying out boxes of old papers, magazines, and other odds and ends. I asked my friend if she had checked through all of this before discarding it. She replied that she had. It turns out that she had not checked all the boxes, because from within one huge cardboard box I heard a small voice crying out "help me!" I freaked out but I started to sift through the top layers of papers and magazines when I discovered almost 300 (yes that's right!) hand sewn squares of Sunbonnet Sue, Amish Dahlias, crazy quilt squares and others. All were sewn using fabrics from the 1940's and 1950's. I couldn't believe how close these treasures had come to being taken to the dump. I was so distraught that I asked my friend had she forgotten them? She said yes she had forgotten and here's the part that almost made me weep; all of these squares had been sewn by her late mother. My friend wanted me to have these squares knowing how much I love these old treasures, but I could not do that. She asked if I would see that they be given to the ladies in my small quilt group and that is exactly what I did. I kept 24 so that I could make a quilt top of Sunbonnet Sue for my own memories, and the rest I gave to those ladies who knew my friend's mother. More poignant memories...for all of us.

QuiltingGrannie 02-09-2010 04:08 PM

I just returned to work today after 8 days off and found that fabrics also leave messages! My co-worker had bought me about 5 pieces of different fabric because she said "It told me that you could use it"!!! (We work in the fabric dept of Walmart)

abacus 04-14-2010 12:37 PM

But ain't it a fun crazy?!!!


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