April 1, 2011

Revelation in colour!

Did you know..?

...what a HUGE difference it can make, if you get your screen calibrated to show the true colours in webpages/pictures etc.?!?

I have often been somewhat annoyed, when a long awaited fabric-yummy-pack arrived at my doorstep and I may or may not tear it open like a little kid at Christmas only to find out, that what I thougt was a specific coulour fabric, bought to match other fabrics in a project, does not match the colour I saw on my laptop when ordering it.... DANG!

Do you know that feeling?? huh?!? I know you do - just admit it!

As a recent example, I want to share with you what I saw on my screen and what I really received:
It is the Anna Maria Horner line called Little Folks, the Pastry line in marine.

So... what I thought I ordered was blue with just a hint of green, and what I in fact received was what I would call 'sea green'. I love the colour in itself, no doubt! Just not for the project waiting to be finished....


Well, I realized, that either
1. the e-shop made a crappy job in displaying the fabrics and their true colours
or
2. the fabrics did not show up right on my screen.

ad 1: why would the e-shop do that, based on the fact that it depends on its sales of fabric, and most often the pictures can/are provided by the manufacturer. It is imperative that the colours show up right on their webshop!

ad 2: I have heard about it before: screens need to be calibrated if you work with photos and graphics. But hey! I am just a happy-go-lucky quilter... Why should it apply to me too??

This is why!












But what to do, you may ask?
Luckily for me, my bf plays around with photos and had just purchased this calibration thingy.
A cheaper version can be found here.

Yiakes, that is expensive, you mumble. That is several months of my fabric budget...

Well yes and no... because if you are a "specific projects" buyer, that you can actually save yourself a lot of time and trouble by calibrating your screen.
Or if you, as I, live in Europe and have to have the new fabrics shipped from the US, then the shipping costs easily adds 30 to 50% onto the fabric prices!

It is just an advise, as I am by no means an expert, I just had an AHA-moment when seing the huge difference it made on my screen! Consider it, folks :)