I’m no longer selling cut fabric in my shop.
I go into lots of detail about the reasons why in this post, but the nutshell version is that cutting the fabric has gotten too painful for me.
For the most part I’m replacing my fabric bundles with new bundles from Spoonflower – designed by me especially for applique. It’s very exciting!
But that doesn’t replace solid bundles like these People Colors.
Never fear! These are actually REALLY easy for you to order from any shop that sells Kona Solids – which is almost every fabric shop.
All you need to know are the colors. Skin tone fabric can be tricky. Too pale and they look ghostly. Too pink and they look feverish or sunburned. Too yellow and they look sallow. Too dark and the black safety eyes I like to use don’t show up well.
It’s hard to rely on your monitor to give you an accurate color, because every monitor is calibrated differently. So I compiled the lists below by looking at actual swatches of fabric in natural light. It’s really the only way to know what you’re getting!
Here’s the list of colors that you see in the stack at the top of this post, from top to bottom.
- Mocha
- Latte
- Honey
- Scone
- Lingerie
Of course, you’re not limited to these colors!
I would definitely not go any lighter than lingerie. My skin has been accurately described as “fishbelly white” and the Scone is the closest match to it. If you go lighter than Lingerie, your doll will look very ghostly!
On the other end of the spectrum, lots of people are actually darker than Mocha, but using a darker fabric can make it hard to see the eyes. 🙁 If you want to make sure the eyes will show up well, there’s a tutorial here to help you out. A lot of people have the instinct to ring them in white, but that just makes them look scared.
So here’s a list of lots more official Kona colors you can use for realistic-looking people in your Dress Up Bunch dolls and Paper Dolls quilt.
- Tan
- Parchment
- Khaki
- Champagne
- Raffia
- Wheat
- Honey
- Leather
- Biscuit
- Earth
- Brown
- Chestnut
- Coffee
- Cobblestone
- Bison
- Taupe
- Sable
- Cappuccino
- Chocolate
If you’re shopping for skin tone fabric, you can order any of these colors and be confident that you’re not going to make a doll that looks alien or ill. 🙂
Happy stitching!
