Things I Love: Polka Dotted Fabric

Polka dotted Fabric: It's simple, at the moment its easy to come by, and it is nothing new. But I still love it. Always have and probably always will. I have a lot of it and I use it often. Some of my favorites are discontinued, but they are always new variations of dots  on new fabrics. Over the last five years, dots are so common almost every designer has a version and every fabric store has a section.

My polka-dot obsession is apparent in my doll clothes, my own clothes and my house. My kids now choose out their own clothes and have escaped the dots.

For doll clothes dots are perfect. There's a range of scales that work and the pattern is the same horizontally and vertically, so laying out your pattern on small pieces of fabric is easier. 

Polka Dot Obsession

I own a lot of polka dot fabric. But these fabrics varie a lot once you start really looking and I'll explain why. Here are some of my favorites:

Why i Love Dotted fabric

First and most obvious is color. Often polka dots are just two colors, foreground and background and this graphic simplicity is what is appealing. Sometimes they are more than one color dots which changes the look and feel--it amps up the playfulness. The dots can be colorful, the background can be colorful, or both, which is a bit much unless the tones are similar.

Colorful Dotted fabric

Colorful Dotted fabric

1. Sarah Jane Fabric by Michael Miller, swoon for everything she does

2. Bonnie and Camille from the Calliope Collection from Moda, most of their stuff has a retro but colorful feel

3. Amy Butler Lotus Collection, available everywhere. This dot pattern shows up all over the handmade world. I love how close together the dots are and that it is cream not white or off-white.

4. Aunt Grace by Marcus Brothers. This particular one is discontinued, but they still make a lot of retro polka dot fabric.

5. Funky Monkey Dots by Moda. Still available.

6. Calliope again. Several of you have Phoebe smocked dresses from this one.

7. American Jane fabric. These dots are discontinued but they often have dots in their newer lines.

Not so colorful, a different look

Not so colorful, a different look

The lack of color gives a different look and feel.

1. and 3.  Michael Miller Ta Dot. Available everywhere in a zillion colors.

2 and 4 . American Jane again.

Size of dot and how close together the dots are changes the look too.

I like big dots.

I like big dots.

1. American Jane

2. Michael Miller Ta Dot

3. Ta Dot again

4. Amy Butler Lotus

5. My new favorite (and organic) Jay-Cyn from Birch fabrics

where is the best place for cute Polka dots:

Here are a few of my favorites (clicking through will bring you straight to the dot section):

Fabric Worm

Cias Palette

Hawthorne Threads

Fabric.com (warning over 1000 but not all cute)

Coming next. Polka Dot Style--some polka dotty clothing combinations. 

PS. there is no clear explanation for why they are called "polka" dots except that the polka was popular the first time they were trending.