Red Glasses for quilting great tool
 

I don't know if anyone has tried these but they are amazing and so helpful. I ordered them online and it has changed the way I pick out fabric. I found her website and I wanted to share it with you. http://sewredglasses.com/
Happy quilting

I agree that a color filter works great but you don't have to spend $20 on the glasses. I have used the file folder sheet protectors in red to view value and I also have a little viewer that is 2" x 4" that I can carry around with me. It is a great tool that only cost $5.

I think they are worth $20 but I bought the glasses when they were a daily deal at Missouri Star Quilt Co. The color film works but the glasses make it easier, both hands are free. I really like how I can see my whole quilt top when I have the blocks laid out to see contrast. Also I use a peep hole to look at my quilt top and I can see the whole quilt in black and white with the glasses on. They fit over my regular glasses and are very lightweight. I'm glad I bought them. I bought extra for some of my quilt buddies. I knew they would want to use mine when we go fabric shopping! They love them. We look a sight in a fabric store together.

yep, $20 is pricey but I applaud that entrepreneur ;-) I too, just have a rectangle.

Makes me think of the days when i loved rose colored glasses ;-)

My granddaughter borrowed my glasses to use in her art/design class. She said her instructor wore them more then she did. They used the red and green film there as filters a lot when not using the computer to design.

I got one of our restaurant chains that had 3d glasses for the kids meal pack magazines to give me a couple of pairs to use for looking at fabric values.

I have a pair and love them did not pay $20 for them, got them from MSQC as there daily deal. I have used the film often, but the glasses are so much easier, free hands!

nice up-cycle ;-)

Maybe a person could keep their glasses from a old 3-D movie and just close one eye? lol. I actually had some disposable ones here, one blue film and one red. I tossed them recently, since the new movies use a different type of glasses.

I am picturing you and your friends in a fabric store with a smile on my face and a chuckle in my mind. What fun you must have!

I like the hands free too. Its fun to see ladies with the glasses on in the store.

i have a 8by8 piece of red plastic used in an art class. The red really does work in viewing lights and darks, I would buy glasses if I saw them for sale. Maybe I will.

I have some of the 3D glasses, some all red, some red and blue and the new type are smoky looking lenses. Seems the grands leave all that stuff here. LOL. They don't work like the Red Glasses at all when looking at fabric.

Do any of you remember when water color quilts were so very popular....they sold an item then called "the Ruby Beholder"....i never got one....i used a red butterfly sun catcher that hangs in my kitchen window !!! ;) Still do when i want to judge contrast !!!

Do you mind me asking for some of the principles of value. I don't understand what you should be achieving with the glasses. Same number of each value (light, medium, dark) in a quilt. Should each value be next to eAch other in a quilt or should they be mixed up? Thanks in advance for the explanation.

I have some red plastic stuff, and I use it when I am trying to arrange fabric for a Bargello quilt...where I want 8 or 12 shades of one color, from light to dark. It really helps, as does taking a black and white picture. I am not sure how else they would be used. Something similar, probably. It amazes me how I can one shade is darker than another and then when I look through the red or at a photo that it is obvious I am wrong.

Dina

A vendor at the Mountain Quiltfest was selling the red glasses. She also said they were good for identifying truly dead spots of your lawn. Multi-purpose!

The glasses help you to determine what a fabric's value is. It can work either way: you may be working on a quilt pattern which looks best with distinctively different values in the pieces (usually that's what you have), or you may be working on a quilt pattern which looks best with fabrics of equal values in the pieces. Either way, sometimes it's confusing and difficult to tell for sure what the value is with a particular fabric. The glasses help you to see the true value. Another thing which works is to lay pieces of the different fabrics out on the glass of a copier and make a black and white copy. Removing the colors, and seeing them all in black, white and shades of grey clarifies values, too.

I have been amazed how many times two fabric I thought were contrasting they were not at all and two fabrics I thought were the same value were not after looking at them through red lens.

I use my iphone to take a picture of the group of fabrics, then edit, and use the tonal, noir or mono views to see how the tones match up. I find that taking a picture somehow gives a better view anyway.

Thanks for the explanations!

Jenny recommends them...they sell them on the Missouri Quilt site

I have an app for my phone that works great. The name is Snapseed. You can take a picture in color than change the picture to black & white. Works great to see color contrast.

watch Missouri Star Quilt Co, she runs daily deals and she ran these for a daily deal and they were $8 I think, any way they weren't $20, my friend and I are taking ours to Paducah with us.

Retreat night with Joleene
 

I'm so excited I got to sew with Joleene last night. She showed us the value of the red glasses and I think I need one for my purse and one for my sewing room they work so well. Now to go shopping for fabric.

They sure are more fun then a piece of plastic film.