Fictional Story:
A customer enters the shop. In her hand, a photo from Instagram. A cottagecore quilt, muted tones, lots of tiny flowers. "I want something like this now too."
Three months prior, the same customer. Back then: colorful Ruby Star, rainbow patchwork, the louder the better.
Sound familiar? Perfectly understandable, right? I think so too. It's normal. But it's also the reason why many of you have a fabric stash full of unfinished projects and still feel like you can't find anything right.
A quick interjection, because otherwise this might sound preachy: I'm exactly the same. Sometimes I stand in front of collections and think, this is mine forever now. I'll never sew with other fabrics again. Often I look at the fabrics later and think: hmm. Passé.
So let's talk about the difference between trend and style. Because it's expensive if you don't know it.
A trend is what everyone is doing right now.
Trend is the collection Moda just released this fall. Trend is the block that's popping up everywhere on Pinterest for the past three weeks. Trend is Modern Quilting, trend is Scrappy, trend is Foundation Paper Piecing, trend is Cottagecore, trend is Coastal Grandma.
Trends aren't bad. They're exciting. Trends make you try new techniques and look at fabrics you probably would have walked past otherwise.
But trends have an expiry date. Six months, maybe twelve. Then the next one comes.
And if you base your purchases on trends, this is what happens: Your fat-quarter pile becomes an archaeological study. Bottom layer: 2022, sixties prints are back. Middle layer: 2023, earth tones. Top layer: 2024, suddenly neon. In between, fabrics you wouldn't buy today, but they're already paid for (expensively).
Style is what remains when the trend is over.
Style is the color you always come back to, even if no one else is wearing it right now. Style is the seam you choose without thinking. Style is the quilt you sewed five years ago that's still on your sofa today because it still fits.
Style isn't loud. Style doesn't need to prove to anyone that it's modern.
You recognize your style because it recurs. Not because you plan it, but because you can't help it. You reach for the same blue. You cut that strip width again. You add a dark border again, even though it would be "trendier" without one.
That's not a lack of creativity. That's your fingerprint.
How to recognize the difference.
One question helps: Would I still do this if no one was watching?
Not: "Do I like it?" — that's too cheap, because we like things just because we've seen them twenty times on Instagram. That's called the "Mere Exposure" effect.
But rather: Would I buy this fabric if I couldn't post it? Would I sew this block if I could never show it off? Would I choose this color combination if I didn't know it was currently "in"?
The honest answer separates trend from style.
Of course, you're allowed to buy trends.
Don't get me wrong. Of course, I sell Ruby Star Society. I love selling Art Gallery. I certainly sell the new Fableism collections as soon as they come in. That's how the shop thrives.
And you're allowed to buy that. For one, your style might even be served by a trendy collection. A trendy fabric in an otherwise style-oriented project is often exactly the kick that makes the quilt top vibrant, placing it in the present. The problem isn't even the individual trendy fabric. The problem is when your entire wardrobe consists of Melody Miller and no personal style shines through. Unless you are Melody Miller.
Rule of thumb from the shop: 80% style, 20% trend. The 80 are your basic colors, your favorite basics, the fabrics you've been buying again and again in different collections for years. The 20 are for experimentation. If you get bored tomorrow, you haven't lost anything.
What this means for your next purchase.
Before you send the cart, take a minute:
What are you buying because you need it? What are you buying because you saw it in someone's Reel yesterday? And: If you still have the fabric in your closet in three years and it's out of fashion then — would you still want to work with it?
If yes, then put it in. You're probably on the track of your style.
If not, it's a trend. Then feel free to buy it anyway, but maybe half a meter less?
Trends are cherries on the cake. Style is the dough. And if you only eat cherries...
🦊
If this text helps you make a decision during your next shopping trip, then it has done its job. And if not: Still treat yourself to the fabric. Life is for that too.
