Garden Gnome

I got each of the nine-patch blocks sewed to an off-white block, for an Irish chain quilt, and then realized the off-white blocks don't match the off-white in the nine-patches.

How can an error like this go from being overlooked, to glaringly obvious?

I thought I was working with Free Spirit Cream, but it must have been some Robert Kauffman Bone, maybe, from a previous project. To make matters worse, after I discovered my mistake, I looked in my stash and found several yards of the Free Spirit cream, and I know I have 5 yards on order. Grr!

One tone is just a bit greyer than the other. The better the natural light, the more obvious it is. I know one of my problems is that my vision is getting worse. I don't see slight differences in color like I used to. I will be 68 this month, and my mother had macular degeneration to the point she couldn't read any more, by the time she died. And I have the beginning of cataracts. This plays heavily in my mind when I make these mistakes.

I know I could alleviate these errors by only using one color, and sticking with it. Which I thought I had done.

I have just about decided to rip the blocks apart and re-do with the correct fabric. I'm not on a time constraint. Just ripping is not my favorite thing.

bearisgray

Which would bother you more?

If you spread the two different fabrics "evenly" throughout the top, it might look intentional and make it look more interesting.

My vision is not quite what it used to be, either - so i understand how that could happen.

The lighting in your cutting and sewing areas might not show up the differences very well, either.

Dina

I think I would try to live with it. But I have just spent too much time with my seam ripper, so I may not be one to listen to.

I have macular degeneration and lost the center vision in one eye 19 years ago. (I am 69.) So I understand your vision concerns. But....hang in there and don't be too hard on yourself. Just do what feels right with this fabric.

Dina

mtkoldra

I have done similar thing, mixing white muslin with Cona white, so frustrating at first, but then I decided that only I will know that, (I do not make Quilt Show quality quilts) most people will not notice that or will think that it was done on purpose, so I let it go.

MadQuilter

I have mixed white, offwhite, cream and barely yellow in background and they work well together.

toverly

Try it together, it sounds like one set is one color and one set is another. That may work. Those whites drive me insane too especially when they are scraps from another quilt. I never can tell if it's Kona, Moda or Northcott. So I try to use as many as possible in the same quilt. Not helpful this time but maybe next time.

Tartan

​You might be able to unify the colour difference with your quilting thread choice.

SHELTIE'SMAMA

I second Tartan's suggestion as it was what I was thinking all the way thru reading the thread. If you are quilting with a colored thread, for example blue , it might quite easily unify them.

LTeachergeorge

This is probably not much help at this point, but I thought I'd share my solution to the varying "whites." I usually stick to Moda because that's what my LQS carries. BEFORE I leave the store with it, I write the number of the piece on the selvedge (from the bolt). If it gets cut off for use, I will rewrite it again on the selvedge. I, also, put two different whites in one quilt, but decided to leave it as it was because it was a charity quilt for a child.

zozee

So are you saying that all of your 9 patches are sewn with one white, and all your plain blocks are another? If that's the case, it sure sounds consistent, which comes across as intentional to anyone other than the one who made the "mistake." A friend of mine just recently did the same--didn't intend to mix whites. I told her that I couldn't tell (in pictures) and because they were spread randomly throughout, I would've thought it intentional.

My first quilting instructor has a king size 9 patch on display. She said it probably has 40 different whites in it. I couldn't believe it when I was a newbie. She encouraged making 9 patches with whatever white you have on hand, and they will all work together. I agree. Also I think Tartan's suggestion makes a lot of sense. If you choose a thread that's "the other white" on your "mistake" white, I think you'll like it.