We’ve all got colours that we love and feel good wearing. Pulling those colours together into a wardrobe colour palette can really help unify your me-made clothes and make sure that fabric you buy will get made into clothes you love and wear!
Here are my updated 2020-present posts about building my own wardrobe colour palette, and how you can create one for yourself!
- How to make your own Wardrobe Colour Palette
- Can a wardrobe colour palette change over time?
- What season am I? Using your wardrobe colour palette to find out.
- Sewing basics in Soft Summer and Soft Autumn colours
- Presenting about Wardrobe colour palettes to the Ottawa Garment Guild
- My new wardrobe colour palette: Matching my pastel hair!
- My “Pastel Forest” colour palette in action
- What if we ignore colour and focus on contrast and depth?
And here are my older posts on the topic, from 2013-2017:
- Why have a wardrobe colour palette, and how does it work?
- Making a colour palette for my sister: Did I get it right?
- Building my own wardrobe based on my colour palette
- Create your own wardrobe colour palette!
- Jumping back in with wardrobe colour palettes!
- Breaking your own colour palette “rules”
- How do accessories play into your wardrobe colour palette?
- Checking in on your wardrobe colour palette with Me-Made May!
Crafting A Rainbow 
How do you stick to your color palette when shopping online? The only fabric store within 50 miles that sells apparel fabric is Jo-Ann’s , so I often purchase fabric online. Because screen displays and color descriptions very it can be hard to know what you’re getting. I’ve ordered swatches and had the fabric sell out before I could order fabric. Sales don’t allow for swatching either. I’ve used things like the design wall at fabric.com before ordering and had fabrics not go together (including items that only had black/grey/white combinations). Do you have any tricks or tips you can share for shopping a palette? Any advice would be helpful.
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Oooh, interesting question! I have done a lot of online shopping in the past, and it’s worked out well, colour-wise… I think it helps to be accepting of a bit of range within each colour. I tend to make dresses or tops from a single print, then wear then with solid colours, so it doesn’t matter to much the exact shade of turquoise or red, etc… but if you are mixing prints, then maybe buying within the same manufacturer line would help? (An art gallery solid with an art gallery print, for example!)
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Sticking to solid print combos could work. I tried the same line through the design wall and it was a bust, but it was probably only because they were heavily patterned flannels. Thanks for the tips.
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This is where using Pantone colours would be invaluable – however getting everyone on board using this system and then everyone spending the money to get a colour deck are both huge challenges.
Pantone is the answer – unfortunately money is the limiting factor.
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Money is always the limiting factor, isn’t it? I have all my seasonal swatches from the various companies I visited (so hoping to be an autumn but nope). I always carry one packet with me, but even though JoAnn’s is close, in the last two years I have found only one fabric that I could wear (natural fiber) and would actually buy – a beautiful soft floral cotton voile). We used to have wonderful fabric stores locally but now only JoAnn’s and quilting stores. I would have to go into Philadelphia to Fabric Row now and am not keen to do that. Just don’t get around as well as I used to. I am hoping someday to make it to Mood.
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