Share
Benzie contributor Laura Hopper of @sonicstitches dreams in color palettes. As a professional quilter and felt crafter, she thinks about color every day. That’s why she is so excited to teach you how to transform Benzie’s swatch chart into magnets to make your personal color selection a breeze.
The Benzie Design rainbow has been updated! Because there are five beautiful new colors - Meringue, Pewter, Cinder, Violet, and Concord - Benzie’s wool blend swatch chart has also been updated. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own felt palettes or select the perfect colors for your next felt project with ease, keep reading to learn how to make magnetic Benzie swatches!
By using magnetic swatches, you can see how colors that are far away from each other on the chart look, plan precisely which colors you need for a project, and play with Benzie’s colors! This tutorial focuses on the wool blend swatch chart, but you can also create magnetic swatches using the Bellwether swatch chart to have the entire collection at your fingertips.
Skill Level: Beginner
Time: One hour
Additional Supplies:
Magnetic Sheets with Adhesive Backing - If you are making magnetic swatches for both charts, you will need TWO packs
Paper Cutter or
Ruler and Scissors
Directions:
Trim Swatch Card Into Rows
There is very little space between swatches on the card, so you don’t need to worry about precise measurements. Once they’re all cut as described below, you won’t notice a significant difference between any of the magnetic felt swatches.
1. Trim all three sheets of the Benzie swatch chart into six rows each. This can be done with a paper cutter or a ruler and scissors. To get rows that are approximately the same size, start by trimming the Benzie logo off the top, cutting directly underneath the logo. Next, trim each row directly below the DMC number.
2. When you reach the bottom of the card, trim excess paper below the DMC number, the same way you trimmed the other rows. There will be a very small strip of paper to remove.
The Benzie swatch chart will now look like the picture shown below.
Trim Individual Swatches
3. Begin by trimming the excess cardstock on the right side of a row. Next, cut each felt swatch approximately in the middle of two circles.
Just like before, you don’t need to worry about precision - slight variations will be hard to notice. And because Benzie swatch charts are made by hand, the space between each felt circle may not be exactly the same.
4. When you reach the left side of the row, trim the excess cardstock off just as you did at the beginning of the row.
The swatch chart should now look like the image below. Now you’re done cutting the chart apart!
Attach Swatches to Magnetic Sheets - Each magnetic sheet will fit 20 swatches easily with room around all four sides of each swatch.
5. Peel the paper off the back of the magnetic sheet.
6. Press the felt swatches onto the magnetic sheet, leaving room around all four sides of each swatch for cutting in the next step. Be sure to press the center as well as all four corners of each swatch down firmly to ensure it adheres completely to the magnetic sheet.
Finish Magnetic Swatches
These sticky magnetic sheets can be cut using regular scissors. It’s as easy as cutting cardstock! Do not use scissors that you use for felt or fabric to cut the magnetic sheets. They will dull the scissors blade very quickly.
7. Cut the magnetic sheet into rows. Next, cut each individual swatch apart, leaving a border of the magnetic sheet around all four sides.
8. Cut as closely to the edges of the swatches as possible without cutting onto the swatch chart, and you’re done! The front of the swatches will look like individual felt circles, and the back will look like magnets.
Now you can mix and match any color in the Benzie rainbow, including our newest colors!
If you choose to make magnetic Benzie swatches using the Bellwether 100% Pure Wool Felt Swatch Chart as well as the wool blend, I recommend using a pen to make a small mark on the Bellwether swatches to easily see the difference between felt blend and 100% wool colors. Some Benzie colors have subtle differences, like wool blend Meringue and 100% wool Crema. On the Crema swatch, you can see that I added a small dot after the DMC number.
Create Your Own Palette
Creating a Benzie color palette is an art that the shop has perfected. But you can play around and create your own palette with your new magnetic felt swatches!
For the examples below, I chose three colors to start then filled in the remaining areas around those colors with similar shades. Here’s a modern, playful Christmas palette.
Here’s a floral palette that combines pink and red for flowers, green for leaves, and blues for the sky.
And last is this earthy palette inspired by a stormy sky over a beach.
What palettes will you image with your magnetic felt swatches?
Thanks to Laura for designing and writing this tutorial! You can follow her on Instagram @sonicstitches or visit her website. Stay tuned for more tutorials!
