World Wide Quilting Page
Question of the Week
Question for the week of February 22, 1999:
Our question this week comes from Diana Vo
I'm a beginner to intermediate quilter, but I'm still trying to understand color and how colors work together in quilts. I need tips (do's & don'ts) when choosing fabrics.
dawn mcphillip@webtv.com :
first of all you have to find your pattern then find the main color that you love,love love love because you will have to live with it forever if you are making for your self[or if you are making for someone else] -then you will find the companion pieces with the help of yourfriend at your guilt shop hugs Dawn
Mindy Marik :
Contrast is important to me when choosing colors for a quilt. I also choose colors based on the intensity of the colors and general look I would like to achieve. Lastly, patterns will change the look of the colors in the fabric. A good way to judge, is to squint your eyes and back up to get a general look at the fabric overall. I also have used a viewfinder (index card with a hole in it) to isolate the fabric and view it as a small piece.
Laurie R in Roscommon, MI :
Since I have a habit of not being able to see the forest for the trees, I find that laying various fabrics out next to each other and viewing them from a distance helps me to see if they go together. Try not to be too fussy in matching tones--sometimes the quilts that I spent the most time matching colors were really a mess!
Rhonda T :
Start with a fabric YOU like. Choose
other fabrics that compliment that fabric. Try a project where you don't worry and plan about the colors and see how great it turns out. Even if the colors don't "match" I bet it will turn out great. Once you have all the pieces cut up and all the colors thrown together, you'll love it!
Elena :
After you have made your blocks and you discover that it is too overwhelming in color, you can always tone it down by placing the blocks on a nuetral background - like white, off-white, black, gray, or even navy or chocolate. The background will dimish the colors for you.
Linda :
I have a friend who does a lot of quilting. When I go to her house, the first thing I notice is strips of fabric hanging here and there in all kinds of light. She says that hanging them up, she gets a chance to look at them side by side. She can substitute other strips to make other combinations or take them all down and start again! She likes to spend time pondering her colors before she actually sews them up.
Schatze :
I recommend scrap quilting, especially Sharon Craig's Northwind design challenge. It is great fun, and a great way to find how colors go together without all the fretting
Andrea Peeler, Easton MA :
I have found that using a color wheel or chart from your local paint store can help determine the suitability of different shade and tone combinations. Ralph Lauren Paints, for instance, print collection of different colors that complement each other. Also, clothing fashion books such as "Color Me Beautiful" can help determine which colors look good together. Remember that making quilt colors "mesh" is just as much fun as decorating your home or choosing a palette for your clothing or make-up. Good luck!
Betty in NH :
#1. I took a class on Kaffe Fassett knitting and our instructor gave us an idea on working with color that works equally well
with quilting: collect post cards and color pictures from magazines that you like or feel drawn to; you don't have to know why
you like it, just that you have a response to it. Then use the picture as a source for a "palette" for your quilt. Yesterday I visited
quilt shops with my friend who wants to make a quilt with colors from frescos by the Italian painter Giotto - these colors were
aqua, turquoise, gold, mustard, burgundy red, and rich brown - the colors looked beautiful together, but I never would have
chosen a palette like that out of my head.#2. Another idea I heard about was to save the strip of color dots that are on the selvages of fabrics that are silk-screened.
Each dot represents one of the colors used to print the fabric and the colors will work together in a harmonious scheme if you
use them as a guide to select colors for a quilt.
#3. I think one of the important aspects of working with color is to have a variety of "values" (a mixture of lights, darks, and
mediums or varying shades of a specific color) which will make your eye move around the quilt. Also, in combining color with
design, I like to use "chaos theory" as a model. In chaos theory, as I understand it, you have a predictable pattern, which you
then alter slightly, which leads to great unpredictably (like the weather). In other words, set up a pattern, but then don't stick to
it completely - to me the most interesting quilts are the ones like this - for example antique quilts where you can see that the
maker obviously ran out of a certain fabric and had to change the color pattern they had established.
#4. Feel free to experiment with how colors go together by building a "stash" of fabrics - pull various fabrics out, put them next
to each other. When you find a combination you like, clip small pieces and staple together on a page of a notebook. You can
collect various color combinations like this as a source for quilting ideas. Or you can play with cutting out construction or art
paper or paper that you paint yourself with watercolor or cut from magazines and make various arrangements or follow the
pattern for a block or quilt.
#5. Don't be afraid to make mistakes - you learn by doing, and if you try a combination of colors that you decide you really
don't like, you can always change it.
#6. One of the greatest colorists and teachers of color is nature - when you see a scene that strikes you with its beauty of color,
notice what the different colors and values are and what propportion they are in.
Teresa :
A hint I saw on TV was--if you make a "mistake" and have a color that is overwhelming in your quilt, use that color in the border also. For some reason, when you add more of the color, it causes the lost color to come through again!
KGMANLEY@aol.com :
If using a beige background stick with that. Don't mix white and beige backgrounds. Basically its whatever you like together. Stick with colors that please you.
margaret :
I'm also an intermediate quilter. I love colour, but have the same struggles with it as many other quilters do. Three tips: 1.) Observe, observe, observe: take a good look at what colours occur in nature, and in what proportions, throughout the seasons (you'll be surprised). 2) Don't limit yourself to your local quilt shop: check out other shops, and especially your local art gallery/museum - consider a painting course in either watercolour or oils to help you learn about the effects and use of colour. 3.) Choosing fabrics? Don't buy fabric that you are only half-hearted about. I find I have to love all the fabrics I use. Sometimes it's just a bad day for choosing fabrics, so I go and do something else and go back at the fabric selection another day. No point knocking yourself out when it's just not working... keep it *fun*. Good luck!
Norma :
Look at as many quilts as you can to see how others have used color successfully in surprising ways. Take classes and ask other quilters for advice. I have learned an amazing amount about color by watching a television show called "Simply Quilts" on HGTV. My quilts improved greatly once I became willing to take more risks and to not fret too badly over mistakes. I have had some success recently in making scrap quilts using as many different fabrics from one color family as I can find, e.g. blues ranging from greenish-blue to grayish-blue to true blue, etc., and sorting them into darks, mediums, and lights. Good luck.
Sara :
Ask a friend to help you. I have a girlfriend that has a good color "eye" and I ask her to shop with me.
Also I just bought a small color wheel that I keep in my purse. Read " color for quilters" it is helpful, and you can read at night when you are too tired to quilt.
Sara :
I have trouble also , tend to like teal and hot pink, but too much of it can be overwhelming. I have a girlfriend that I ask to help me. She seems to have a good "eye" for what goes together, and has been quilting 10 years longer than I have. Also I just bought a small color wheel that I keep in my purse, and plan to use it when frabric shoping.
If you have a public library near check out "color for quilters" and other related books they will give you confidence, and you can study them when your are too tired to quilt.
TERI :
Choosing colors is my favorite part of quilting. I love to see how they react to one another. I make some mistakes but I don't worry about them. The quilt I am working on now uses 12 different fabrics the only common factor was most of them had some shade of blue in them somewhere. The tones were different and when I had it all pieced together I didn't like it very well. So I solved the problem by over-dying it with a tea dye of sorts. It worked great. All the colors are muted now but the beauty of the fabrics is still there. Be brave and don't be afraid to use your imagination.
Phyllis :
I pick a print and match a tone on tone and solid or smaller print to that. I do pretty well with three or four colors, but over that I also have trouble. Practice makes perfect.
Felicia :
I too am an intermediate quilter. I have found that your color selection will really depends upon the quilt you are making! Sometimes a specfic color scheme is called for in the pattern and many times a 'light, medium, dark' application applies. Mostly, I decide on the pattern, read over any instructions, decide who will be getting the quilt or where it might me hanging and let those things be my guide. Also, I like to wander around fabric stores and let a color "call" to me and I use that as my jumping off point for my fabric selection.
One thing I have discovered about myself and have been told that this is common among novice quilters is that I tended to use tone on tone colors which makes for a dull quilt! So my teachers and experienced quilters have taught me to select something unusual and unexpected and above all, be brave!!
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