Kona/Bella/Confetti Cottons
 

I usually use Kona cottons for my solids in quilting, but this morning found a notice in my e-mails for Confetti Cottons. Has anyone used them? Can you tell me the difference in the weight, thread count? Also do you often find that referring to a Swatch Card is helpful? I have the Kona swatch card and am wondering if I should invest in one from Confetti Cottons also. Thank you ladies for your knowledge!

I have not used the Confetti cottons, but I do use that Kona swatch card a lot. I wish Kona had a set of larger swatches on a ring ie. 5" squares. It is hard to reallly see the colour on the small swatches.

Using a swatch really helps when you are doing a long distance collaboration or round robin.

Can anyone compare and contrast the quallities of the major lines of solid fabrics?

I love the Confetti Cottons. They get amazingly soft after washing, and have a lovely range of colors. Kona is a little heavier than I like. I also enjoy the Michael Miller couture cottons (very silky, high thread count) and the Art Gallery range of solids (pure elements?) I think the swatch cards can definitely be helpful.

I find Kona to be somewhat weightier than the others and haven't used it much; Bella solids seem to me to fray a bit more than the others, but a wonderful range of colors; Michael Miller cotton couture line is a higher thread count and very silky; the Art Gallery line of solids has that almost papery feel that all of their fabrics have, and I would guess their thread count is also higher, and their colors are more avant garde, as are the Free Spirit line of solids; I think Confetti cottons is the Riley Blake brand, so, happy colors, and they get very soft after washing; Centennial solids is the Marcus reproduction line of solids, if you're looking for toned down versions.

For me it comes down to -- who has the exact color I want? I shop for them at Fat Quarter Shop; I just choose 'solids' from their 'fabric by theme' option and put a ton of selections of various brands in my cart; from there, you can then view the thumbnails and compare between them to fine tune. Once I've narrowed it down, I'll often order the minimum 1/2 yd. of a few; just to be sure it's what I want (they are not always as they appear on the monitor).

I really like Marshall's Dry Goods Dream Cotton solids. I can't tell any difference between them and Moda Bella. There is some raveling, just like Moda, is the only con. But the price is under $2.50 a yard by the bolt of MDG

The Bella solids are beautiful colors. But I really had a lot of trouble with one of the reds bleeding. I washed it and washed it, probably 4 times, and always with a color catcher. The color catcher was still coming out pink at the end. I wonder if all the Bella solids do this or if it just depends on the colors. I know reds are difficult as far as color fastness goes.

Like Joe's mom if I am not working from a swatch card I buy a bunch in a specific color range. I recently did a re-heavy quilt and needed to restock all my red prints. I thought I had tried to keep it in the scarlet range, so more of a blue red than an orange red, but ended up with both. The photos are not terribly accurate across a single colour.

Century Solida
 

I have been using Century Solids from Andover and like them very much. They are similar to Bella Solids, but do not ravel, & they are not thick like Kona. Not everyone carries them, but they have a very wide selection of great colors.
https://www.andoverfabrics.com/Grid....ntury%20Solids

A couple of months ago, I did a test of several different white solids. I was finding Kona to fray terribly. This is what I wrote about them:

Comparison of 8 solid white quilting fabrics - I bought 8 different solid whites. Five of them, as well as two other solids not shown here, came from FQS (so 7 from FQS). They were all stacked and all had the jag in the edge (3rd picture). How does FQS cut fabric before packaging? 7 cuts would be 14 layers, so can't be with the usual ruler/cutter... - Pulled thread is what fabric looks like after a weft (selvage to selvage) thread is pulled. You cut the selvage off and start picking out a thread about an inch from the edge. Pulling thread is what the fabric looks like during that process. NOTE: When I was pulling a thread at 3/4" to an inch, I had already straightened that edge using the "normal" straightening technique that quilters use. - Some fabrics refused to have a thread pulled. The worst was Kona; the thread I was attempting to pull would just shred after less than an inch. I finally decided to do it with all fabrics, just for the fact that it is a LOT faster than trying to pull a thread. So I made a cut and tore it, then pressed that torn edge and lined it up. The torn edge then needs to be trimmed. This would have been done before pic 2 or the video. - Four fabrics felt quite similar: Bella Solids, Kona, Northcott Colorworks and American Made. One, Painter's Palette by Paintbrush Studios, felt a bit heavier. Not quite broadcloth, but approaching it. The other three - Art Gallery Fabrics Pure, Bella Silky White and Riley Blake Confetti were smoother - white Art Gallery Pure being the most so. - There were slight color variations. Kona was the absolute whitest, with AGF, Bella Silky and Riley Blake very close. All looked white by themselves, but next to the whitest, had almost a yellowish tint. Each fabric has 2 pictures and 1 video clip. My method was to straighten one edge using the normal quilter's method: Selvage to selvage and slide until the fold hangs straight. I then trimmed that edge and ruffled my thumb over it a few times before taking the 1st picture. This shows the raveling that happens even after we straighten fabric. The 2nd picture shows the amount the fabric was off after I got a true straight of grain by either pulling a thread or tearing as explained above. Remember, I had already used the usual method to get that straight edge on the other side! This is why we have so many loose threads even if we have straightened the edge before starting to cut our pieces. The 3rd item for each fabric is a short video clip of each fabric being ruffled again. (This ruffling is what I did before taking the 1st picture.) You can see that there is a lot less raveling going on! (I'm sorry, I can't get the Northcott Colorworks and Paintbrush Studios Painter's Palette videos to move up to the correct places, you will find them after the Riley Blake Confetti one.) Fabric width is listed below. First number includes selvage. Second number is actual usable width. Note that while the AFG Pure has a wide printed band, it is still wider than most and only narrower than Kona.) American Made 45" / 43-3/4" Art Gallery Fabrics Pure 45-3/4" / 44-1/4" Bella Silky White 44" / 43" Bella Solid Bleached White 43-3/4 / 42-1/2" Kona White 46" / 45" Northcott Colorworks 45" / 44" Paintbrush Studios Painter's Palette 45" / 43-1/2" Riley Blake Confetti 44-1/2" / 43-1/2"

Well, I've tried to attach some of the pictures several times, but am not getting them to attach. Sorry about that. I don't know why - they are jpg files and I have attached pics successfully in the past. :(