Global Attributes to All Products?

Hello,

After reading through the docs and this forum ... Attributes appear to be a hot topic ... I just cannot seem to get it nailed down and was hoping for a clear-cut explanation ...

Scenerio ...

Multiple Categories and Products (Cribs, Blankets, Bedding, Pillows, etc ...) to be custom made ...

All products require a fabric pattern to be chosen ... similar to choosing what color or what size ...

So ... user would select Category: Bedding and select Product: Blanket ...

The user is sent to the detail page with a generic picture of the Blanket and description ... the user THEN needs to select a fabric/pattern (Currently 23 and growing) that the Blanket is to be made from ...

What I would like to do is provide a gallery of sorts ...

1. this could be achieved via a new window displaying all of the fabrics/patterns and the user would simply click the thumbnail of choice and the window would close and insert Fabric/Pattern into text field ... THIS WOULD BE IDEAL in my opinion

2. this could also be achieved by displaying all of the fabrics/patterns in the detail page with radio buttons to select before continuing ... NOT SO IDEAL BUT COULD LIVE WITH

User selects Fabric/Pattern ... fills in the quantity ... and they should be off an running ...

However ... with option one ... I could possibly re-use that tool throughout the site to display the Fabrics/Patterns at any time ... say on the home page introductory ... I could say that we make custom bedding, etc ... take a look at the fabrics and patterns we offer ... or something to that effect ...

Bottom line ... we need the user to select a fabric/pattern before the can move on ...

Any Ideas ...

Thanks in advance,

cmj2kul

Actually ... thinking further into it ... would it be just as simple to create a new category for the Fabrics / Patterns ... upload photos ... set the pricing to none ... and instruct the user at the product detail page that they need to choose a pattern ... so that the invoice would have 2 line items ... one for the product .. and one for the fabric/pattern???

Seems to me that there wouldn't be validation if the product and fabric were not joined ...

argh ... too much fun ...

Another via option could be to land on the detail page ... upon clicking add to cart ... the user lands on the fabric/pattern page to select ... then on to the finish ...

any help with this would be awesome !!!