Every stash has one: the fabric you can’t let go of, but also can’t figure out how to use in a project. Mine is a Nani Iro print, and it’s been sitting in my collection for nearly a decade. It never even makes it out for audition when I’m pulling fabrics together. I love the dots…but that orange? Nothing else in my stash comes anywhere near it. 

In the past, I might have donated the fabric to clear up space for something that would actually get used, or at least considered. But these days I like to use Palette Scout to “rescue” neglected prints like this one. Here's exactly how I do that.

Step One: Find your anchor color.

I started by trying to find the closest match to the orange dots. Right away, Palette Scout caught something my eye had missed. This “orange” actually has a lot of red in it. Maybe that’s why I could never figure out what to pair it with. The match isn’t identical, but Flame 3 was clearly the closest fit. 

Step Two: Consult the Palette Ideas Card.

Next I pulled the Palette Ideas card for Flame. I decided to go with the split complement idea, because I know I have lots of blue and green in my stash. 

After playing around with the deck, I had my palette. Tbh, I was skeptical at first. I never would have put these colors together on my own. But I decided to trust the process. 

Step Three: Shop your stash (and maybe the fabric store) 

Next came the fun part. I started by pulling matches from my stash. I had a couple of gaps to fill in, so I popped my palette in my notebook using the Palette Scout Sticker Pack and headed to my local fabric store to find matches (any excuse to go fabric shopping, right?)

I laid everything out together, and…it totally worked. I was so excited I immediately got to work on some improv piecing. Colors I never would have paired together suddenly made perfect sense side by side, because they all traced back to my anchor fabric. Eight years in my stash, and this fabric finally earned its keep!

Now, your turn. 

If your stash has a fabric like this one - the print you love but can’t figure out - Palette Scout might be exactly what it needs. Our Quilting Bundles include Color Match Guides for Kona, Pure Solids, Superior Solids, Aurifil, and more - so you can easily shop for any colors you might need to bring your palette to life.