How Do You Shop For Your Fabrics?

I found these photos this week as I was scanning through my old pics. This was a project that I was asked to do for American Patchwork and Quilting a while back. The project was published but they only showed the design by the author of the article. I thought that you'd like to see this and be inspired to make something for yourself. Sorry the photos aren't so terrific. You get the idea anyway. 

I was sent a spiral bound book with manila envelopes on the inside of the book instead of pages. We had to design a book for you to take with you when you go shopping for fabric. You could hold little swatches in each of these envelopes.

I added a fabric cover on the front and back, and tied ribbons to the spiral binding.  On the inside, I couldn't take the plain manila look so I decorated each envelope with a different piece of scrapbooking paper. This was no easy thing to do because I had to work around those circles. I think that I had to remove them and then glue them back on again all the while being careful not to puncture the envelope. In the end, it was a fun and easy project. 

How do you shop for your fabrics? Do you take along swatches of your existing fabric?

xo, L