I take my threads, undo a few feet and lay them in different spots, going across several colors to get a real feel for the effect it will give. the color on a cone is just too concentrated to be a judging element....pull some off and see what it does. then, if all else failed, i would go to joanns, get a cone of their 'gold' .... it is one of those colors that looks gold, beige, pale sage and even a bit yellow, depending on what it's on top of and is a standard for me.... it simply looks wonderful on almost anything....