One of the most useful tools in your embroidery box

In this modern age it’s getting increasingly difficult to find sources for our creative projects. Joann’s is gone, Michael’s and other craft stores have limited selection, and this often leaves online shopping the only choice. The drawback of online shopping is the computer monitor! It’s impossible to get accurate colors sometimes. If you live close to a needlework shop, that’s the first choice (and much more fun). But even those are becoming rare.

So what’s the solution? Invest in a DMC Color Card. I finally did and it makes planning my projects so much easier.

If you have a solid fabric, just hold a swatch against the different colors until you find a match. Then the surrounding numbers will have different shades of that color to blend in with your design.

For prints, first check the selvedge of your fabric. Sometimes there will be dots of color that you can use to match. Or for a plaid, you can unravel some of the threads and use them.

That’s what I did for the granddaughters’ Christmas dresses. I’m using a checked fabric that has red, green, and white. I pulled some of the red and the green and just moved them around the card until I had the right shade.

It’s such a gamechanger and it will speed up your planning process so that you can get to the stitching faster!