The other day, I was wishing that I had the Kona solids as coloring options or fabric choices in EQ7. It wasn’t the first time that I had wished that, so I decided to look into it. And guess what? It’s been an option since 2014. I had missed it completely! Maybe you did too?
If you like using solids in your quilts like I do, you might be happy to hear that today EQ is having a flash sale and for only $5 you can download the 303 Kona solids that were available in 2014 along with a bunch of other designer print collections. Just follow this link for Stash 2014 Download 4 (all the other fabric collections are on sale too!). The promo code is STASHFLASH4 and it expires tonight 4/7/2017 11:59pm ET.
I never use the fabric options for coloring from the “Fabrics” default setting so I followed a tutorial by Angela Pingel to delete the default fabrics and replace them with the Kona solids. If you hover over the fabrics, you can read the names of the colors which is really helpful too.
For the project that I am currently working on, I chose my Kona solids from my color card. Because I had their names, I was able to hover over the colors in the Fabric folder and find the exact colors that I was using and recolored my quilt top layout. I can see myself also working in the reverse in the future, choosing colors based on the digital images and then looking for the fabric names. To do that, you can also go to File then Print, then Fabric Yardage, and finally, Preview. You will get a list of all the fabrics by name, along with the yardage required for your design
When I choose my solids from a color card, I am sometimes surprised at how they look in larger pieces. I compare it to choosing a paint color from a color card and then seeing it on the wall. But it still remains a helpful tool. Similarly, I think that these digital images read differently on my monitor than they do in the flesh. But it still provides me with a decent representation of the finished product.
I haven’t really customized my EQ settings too much so far. I tend to mock up my designs just using the “color” folder and then select my prints or solids. But I already love having these fabrics in place as my defaults and will probably add some more “go to” prints to the folder soon.
