I just wrote about Moda’s new feature, where you can download their fabric swatches to import into your quilting software. It occurred to me that EQ6 users might like step by step instructions on how to use this feature, so here it is:

Here’s a link to their new fabric lines. Under each line is a series of dots. The light tan opens a PDF of the fabric swatches. The white takes you to a page with all of the fabrics and you can use another new feature, the FabricMatcher, to see what they look like in some of their free quilt patterns. (The white dot is the fastest way to preview the fabrics, but the tan dot gives you the best view.) The darkest dot downloads a zipped file of all of the swatches.

Click the dark dot and a window will open asking what you want to do with it. Choose Save to Disk and click OK. Another window will open showing the download progress. At the bottom of the window it will tell you where the files are being downloaded to (usually the desktop). When the download is finished, go to the download location (desktop) and double click on the new folder. It will be called something like “jpg_fabric-line-name”. You will see the files but you can’t see the images yet. On the top left, there’s an option to Extract All Files – click on this. A wizard pops up – click Next. If you want to change the location of the extracted files, click Browse and navigate to your new location. I created a folder called Fabrics in the My EQ6 folder, in My Documents. Then I gave each new fabric line it’s own folder inside the Fabrics folder. That way I’ll be able to remember the name of the line. Once you have the folder chosen, click Next. It will extract the files and pop up another window. There will be a check box to Show extracted files – make sure this is checked, then click Finish. A folder will open with all of the swatches visible. Scroll through the images and make sure they’re all swatches. Sometimes there are photos of charm packs and jelly rolls mixed in. Delete these – you don’t want to import them into EQ6. The very last image will be named something with “hangtag” – don’t import it, but you can leave it in the folder if you’d like. Go back to your desktop and delete the original zipped folder – you don’t need it anymore.

*** If you want to import swatches from other fabrics you find online, you can save the individual images to a folder on your computer and follow the rest of the instructions to import them. It’s much more labor intensive than downloading an entire line, but sometimes that’s the only option. If you do this, make sure the swatch is large, clear, undistorted, and doesn’t have anything else in the image (like those annoying rulers at the bottom). Right click on the photo, click Save Image As, navigate to your folder of choice, and click Save. ***

Now to import the swatches! Open EQ6 – you can go into a project or start a new one, it doesn’t matter. Click Libraries – Fabric Library. At the bottom of the fabric library window, click Import and select “from image files.” (You don’t have to be in a specific fabric library now – that comes later.) Navigate to your new folder and open it. Click on the first file in the list (it’s a series of numbers). Scroll to the end of the list, hold your shift key down, and click the last number file (not the hangtag one). This selects all of the files. Click Open, and it will import all of the fabrics. It takes a minute, so be patient. When it’s done, click the first fabric swatches and then press Ctrl-A on your keyboard to select all of them. Click “Copy” at the bottom of the window. Now you get to create a new library style. On the left side of the window, click My Library. Select My Custom Library and click “Add Library” at the bottom. Type in a name for the library (I created a folder called Moda Imports, then put each line in it’s own style under that) and click OK. Click on the first empty Style under that folder, then click “Paste” at the bottom. Click “Save Library” at the bottom – this is important! It takes a minute to save it. When it tells you your fabrics have been saved, click OK. Now RIGHT click on the style name and click “Modify Style.” Type the name of the fabric line an click OK – you’re done! Now you can go into that style and use it in your projects.