50 shades of black
 

After making several quilts using black fabric...
BOY! Have I learned the hard way there are MANY shades of black fabric. Thinking it might be a good idea for me to find the darkest black fabric available and buy a bolt. This is where your experience comes in. Can any of you recommend a source? I'm tired of buying 2-6 yards at a time and then not having enough.

Help. Please & thank you. :cool:

I always prefer Robert Kaufman Kona cotton. I believe that Hancock of Paducah will sell you a bolt and I think they are running a 20% off discount promotion during the holiday.

Moda Bella and Kona solids are less expensive than regular quilting cotton (usually about $7/yard instead of $12-$13/yard), and once you know which manufacture number you want, you can buy more and be assured that the dye lots will be the same. I have done this with Moda Bella black and white bolts.

I've seen bolts and half-bolts of Kona on sale at Fabricdepot.com. Usually they offer red, white, and black. You could check there. :)

I prefer and use many shades of black..I think it makes a quilt a LOT more interesting.

Even if you are using all from the same bolt how will you know the right side from the wrong side?
Are you willing to keep track of that, plus that each black component is going up with the straight of grain, or all going sideways with the grain?
Because they will show those differences in the finished quilt.

sometimes we just have to sit down and sew :)

I always buy a lot of black batik when I find it. It's usually a really great dark black. I hand appliqué with it. I might try Moda Bella black after just trying their white.

Thank you! I've always thought that many shades of white were good (at least on some quilts) but I never thought about many shades of black. This possibility is so liberating. And I never fully considered the directional aspect, even though I just finished a 2-fabric quilt with black being one of the fabrics. (At least with my fabric there didn't seem to be any right side/wrong side.) From now on I think I will just sit down and sew. So much simpler.

I was given some yardage of Michael Miller Jet Black, and I really like it. It does live up to its name. I also like Amish Black which is sold by Keepsake Quilting.

I love the richness of the color of the MIchael Miller Jet Black fabric.

However, in my experience (from three different bolts) it has a lot of crosswise shrinkage (over two inches) - so I highly recommend shrinking it before cutting it.

The best black I have ever found is Michael Miller Jet Black. I'd take a bolt of that any day! It is a deeper black than others. Have always wanted to compare it to Amish Black, which is supposed to also be a good black.

I lilke the Amish black that Keepsake Quilting sells.