The Learning Curve, Part 3

It’s been quiet on the blog front for me this past month. Lots going on, leaving little to no time to focus & write. This weekend finally offers a bit of breathing time.

I received the second go-around of Strike Offs on my first collections last week, right when I was already higher than knee deep in figuring out colours for my next two.

I am so glad we did a second set before committing and printing yardage. There are now full colourways that I am beyond happy with. There are some that are decidedly better, but still need minor tweaking, and there is one that I was prepared to say “scrap it completely” a few days ago, but I have found what I hope will be good fixes.

So, what have I learnt this time?

– Picking colours is far from being an exact science. I can send a swatch, but that doesn’t mean that that colour is what I will get. The swatch is read by a computer that produces a formula. That formula is then looked at by a pair of human eyes that makes minor adjustments to tweak it to be closer to the intended colour to print. Not being able to control that part from this end is frustrating at times, but, in the end, just has to be accepted. “Perfection” is virtually impossible. Learn to let it go.

– There is a better chance of getting an accurate colour match if a fabric swatch is sent rather than a swatch on paper. Thus far I have been sending paint chips. The head office sent a few fabric swatches to the factory for me, and this had better results.

– This time they sent strike offs with printed selvedge. My name is on them. Very exciting!!! It was a bit tough making the decision of what name I wanted to use. My last name, Serrao, is often mispronounced, so I decided to forgo the traditional route. While few people know my middle name, in the end I decided on “Tamara Kate”. I think it has the right feel for my design style.

And now I cross my fingers and send as many positive thoughts as possible as I send back my final adjustment suggestions, as next time I see them, they will be printed yardage, never to be changed again. They may even be ready for Quilt Market.

And finally, I will be able to share.