My quilts are always designed in EQ and mostly I use fabrics already in the EQ libraries that are similar to the fabrics I intend to use.  Since so much of what I use is tone on tone, it’s real easy to get a close red or a close blue but for the Palette Challenge, some of the colors are so similar that I figured I’d best import the fabrics I intend to use.   If you’ve never imported your own fabrics into your library or sketchbook, it is so easy with EQ7.

I used this photo of all the fabrics together so I didn’t have to photograph each fabric separately.  Call me lazy! 

Using your favorite photo editing software (I use either photoshop or paintshop, depending on which computer I’m using), crop out a square of each fabric.

I crop out one, “save as” something like EQ1 and then EQ2 and so on. Name them anything but remember what you’ve named them and if you name them something that falls in consecutive order on your computer, you can simply click once and add them all at once.  I’ll explain thus more when I get to that step.  I don’t keep these files on my computer once they’re imported into my sketchbook.  If you’re saving fabrics you want to keep and use in other projects, set up a folder and name them something that helps you find them for later use.  Once I’ve cropped out one fabric square, I go back to my original picture of the fabric and crop out the next fabric and keep doing this until I have them all cropped and saved to import.

You can also right click many fabric images from the internet and save them and the following steps are exactly the same.

Once your swatches/squares are saved, click on “Library”, then “Fabric Library”, then at the bottom click on “Import” and if you’re adding fabrics you have just photographed, click on “From Image Files”.

Here’s where having them all saved together helps.  Click on the first one and if using a PC, click and hold “Shift + A” and using the arrows, highlight the fabrics you’d like to import.  Macs probably have a similar (and better) function but I use a PC and know nothing about a Mac except my  husband says NO every time I mention getting one.

Once imported, assuming the sketchbook that is open is where you want the fabrics added, click “Add to Sketchbook”.  This is where you can  click to add them to your own library and have them for future uses if desired.

If this is too much to remember, any time  you’re in EQ, click “Help” and then I click “Search” and put in “import fabric” and their instructions come right up.

From start to finish – taking the photo of the fabrics, cropping, importing – all takes less about 3 minutes if you’re familiar with your photo editing program.