How Much To Buy?

A reader left this comment:

Hi Judy! Just curious…when you purchase linen to stash, how much do you typically buy? I think when you’re trying a new dyer, a small piece makes sense…but when you know that you love the dyer? Or the color? What if its a new color from a proven dyer? I suppose it depends at least a little on the thread count. Anyhow, thanks for sharing.

Kathy

Here’s a blog post I did back in March about how I buy linen. To summarize – I almost always buy a full yard if it’s a dyer I trust and a color I know I’ll use. Even with a full yard costing between $110 and $140 for the most part, it’s much more economical in the long run to cut a piece out here and cut a piece out there, cutting only what I need vs. buying a 18″ x 27″ piece of fabric when all I need is a 14″ x 19″ piece. Also, I can order an 18″ x 27″ and pay $3 or $4 (or more) in shipping twice or pay it once for the full yard. If I’m ordering a fat quarter, I pay shipping four times.

Another thing to consider these days is that linen is hard to get for the dyer, and sometimes a color can’t be found for months. I mentioned yesterday that I had a small piece of Fox & Rabbit’s Up in the Attic and used it and had a hard time finding it. Factor in the postage and that often brings down the cost of ordering one yard of a color that will work for several projects.

Rachel at Needle & Flax warns buyers that it’s at least an 8 week wait on most of her 40 count linens.

Often when I’m auditioning linen for a project, I’ll pull 10 or more pieces out of the bin and I’m always amazed at the different shades I see in a stack of fabric I would have considered tan. The truth is . . I could pick any one of those colors and maybe change a couple of colors of floss and have it work just fine. There’s never one color of linen that’s the only right color.

Specifically to answer Kathy’s questions:

Knowing the Dyer:

If I know and trust the dyer, I never mind buying a full yard if it’s a good sampler color.

The Color:

Mostly what I use are shades of tan. It’s amazing how many shades of tan there are. Some have some pink, or green. Some are more yellow. Some are more brown. Often it’s hard to tell in the online photos but if it’s a dyer I trust, I’ll still buy a whole yard.

If it’s a new color from a proven dyer, I figure my best chance of getting a full yard of it is to order it the minute it’s released. I’ve never been sorry. Sometime I may get a color that I have a hard time using but, without a doubt, I’ll eventually find a use for it.

In fact, I’m in XJu’s Linen Club and I get 1/2 yard of surprise fabric from her once a month. Almost every month, I’ve asked her to dye me a full yard of that color.

For me, I can’t imagine XJu, Fox & Rabbit or Needle & Flax dying anything I wouldn’t love.

Thread Count:

It totally depends on the thread count for me. My preference is always 40 count but my eyes are begging for 36 count.

New Dyers:

For new dyers, I do buy a small piece.

One more thing to consider is this and there isn’t much most of us can do to resolve this issue. Once a very popular designer uses a particular color – say Fox & Rabbit’s Saltbush . . try finding that! Try getting anything dyed by R & R! Probably not happening.

Again, there is no one right color linen for any project. Don’t be afraid to use what you have and make it work. Change a floss color to a lighter or darker color if something isn’t showing up on your selection.

I often think about the designers and how many skeins of floss they must toss out before they find the perfect selection. I’m quite sure that there are several colors they keep trying to decide between and any of those colors would be great so please don’t limit yourself to ONLY the called for colors, especially if you feel you need to change a color or two (or all of them).