Using Technology for Quilting...

[Bernadette]

I've just had a brilliant idea, but I don't know how to go about actually bringing it into reality. Is there a way for me to scan my quilt fabric swatches, in order for me to have a catalog of them and to be able to group the colors together while having them labeled? I'm having trouble figuring out how to plan my color schemes, and I'm wondering if this might be a good solution. Sort of a drag-and-drop thing, or maybe even typing in the color name, and having a list of compatible colors show up? I'm particularly wanting to work with my own fabrics, so that I don't have to buy software that "locks me into" a particular designer's line. Lynne? Possible, or no? Right now I'm doing it the hard way, with a color wheel and an Open Office spreadsheet, where I enter the color names in the combinations that I lay out in front of me. I think a program would be more efficient and convenient.

[Lynne]

There's quilt design software programs like Electric Quilt. I'm searching for other programs too. That one is expensive ($189) and somewhat complicated...

[Bernadette]

There's quilt design software programs like Electric Quilt. I'm searching for other programs too. That one is expensive ($189) and somewhat complicated...

Sounds like it would do the job:

Over 5000 scanned fabrics are included. Scan your own fabrics, then crop and "tweak" them right in EQ7. Save them and "notecard" them in your own My Library to use and re-use. EQ7 scales the fabrics for you — no matter what size your quilt or block — so what you see in EQ7 is what you'll get in your finished quilt.

But it also sounds like I'd be paying for features that I have absolutely no interest in. So there's that.

[Lynne]

I see it for about $148 on Amazon. 

Quilt Pro is another program but I don't see that you can use it to scan your own fabrics.

[Bernadette]

I see it for about $148 on Amazon. 

I've added it to my "Save up for" wishlist. 

[Akavit]

It can be done with the free version of Sketchup Make.  I know Sketchup very well and this is easily done but am not familiar with those quilting programs and cannot compare the two.

[moneil]

I have Electric Quilt (EQ6), though I haven't used it much yet.  You can scan in your fabrics and sort / categorize them.

Next week I am going to the Sewing & Stitchery Expo put on by Washington State Cooperative Extension; it bills itself as the largest such event in the country www.sewexpo.com.  There will be a lot of vendors there and if I see anything interesting along this line I'll pass the information along.

[Bernadette]

Next week I am going to the Sewing & Stitchery Expo put on by Washington State Cooperative Extension; it bills itself as the largest such event in the country www.sewexpo.com.  There will be a lot of vendors there and if I see anything interesting along this line I'll pass the information along.

I'm jealous, but I also pity you for having to endure such a huge crowd. 

[Daniel]

I don't know of any such software, but it probably wouldn't be too difficult for somebody to write a program that could do this sort of thing. Maybe I'll give it a shot...

[Bernadette]

I don't know of any such software, but it probably wouldn't be too difficult for somebody to write a program that could do this sort of thing. Maybe I'll give it a shot...

It would be particularly useful if it could match and group colors. I'm not sure whether that's actually possible, though. 

[Daniel]

I don't know of any such software, but it probably wouldn't be too difficult for somebody to write a program that could do this sort of thing. Maybe I'll give it a shot...

It would be particularly useful if it could match and group colors. I'm not sure whether that's actually possible, though. 

Yeah, it's possible. Google's image search has that feature.

My guess is that this can be done by going through every pixel on the image and making a frequency table based on hue. So you end up with one frequency table for each image, and you can then search through the various frequency tables to find others that are similar (i.e. others which have similar coloring).