Importing

Getting your fabric into BloqLoft is the first step toward seeing your real stash on screen. You can photograph fabric directly, pick images from your photo library, or import image files and ZIP archives.

Import sources

Open Fabric Studio and tap the + button. You'll see three import options:

• Camera — Photograph fabric directly from your iPad. Good for capturing swatches from your physical stash.
• Photo Library — Choose one or more existing images. Select multiple photos to batch import an entire fabric line at once.
• Files — Import image files from your iPad's file system, iCloud Drive, or other connected storage. This also supports ZIP archives, so you can drop a folder of swatch images into a single ZIP and import them all at once.

Import steps

1. Open Fabric Studio and tap +
2. Choose your import source: Camera, Photo Library, or Files
3. BloqLoft crops and processes each image into a tileable swatch
4. Fill in the metadata for the import (see below)
5. Assign the fabrics to a collection and save

Batch import metadata

When you import one or more fabrics, BloqLoft presents a metadata screen where you can fill in details for the batch. These fields help you organize and find fabrics later:

• Designer — The fabric designer's name
• Manufacturer — The company that produced the fabric (Moda, Robert Kaufman, Riley Blake, etc.)
• Line name — The name of the fabric collection or line
• Fabric type — The material type (quilting cotton, batik, linen, etc.)
• Swatch/repeat dimensions — The width and height of the pattern repeat, in inches. Check the selvedge for this information.
• Tags — Custom labels for filtering and search
• Collection — Which collection to file these fabrics into

Metadata entered during batch import applies to all fabrics in the batch. You can edit individual fabrics afterward if some details differ.

Tips for good photos

• Flat and smooth — Lay the fabric on a flat surface. Wrinkles create shadows that distort the swatch.
• Even lighting — Natural daylight works best. Avoid harsh directional light that creates glare or uneven color.
• Neutral background — Photograph on a white or gray surface so the fabric edges are easy to separate.
• Fill the frame — Get close enough that the fabric pattern fills most of the photo. You don't need the whole yard. One repeat is enough.

Auto-palette extraction

When you import a fabric, BloqLoft analyzes the image and extracts its dominant colors into a palette automatically. This gives you a ready-made set of coordinating colors without any manual picking.

The extracted palette appears in your palette library and can be used across any block or quilt. See Palettes for more.