lorli

I have basted a lot of diamonds for an EPP penrose tiling quilt, but I haven't started to sew them together because I don't know which of the colors to use or how to place them. The second picture is to give a rough idea of how the diamonds will go together; there will be a row of the narrow diamonds in the brown/grey fabric in between each row of colored wide diamonds in a sort of lone star arrangement. The only fabric I am really "wedded" to is the brown/grey (I have 5 yards of it).

I showed these to someone at work who is artistic and he said I should use the muted colors only. I tend to be very dull in my color choices and overmatch fabrics so I don't know whether he is right or not.

Please help, those with good color senses! I would really appreciate any guidance!

Thank you.

mom-6

Love all your colors! They look great together.

Just play with them until you like what you see.

I'm curently doing that with a quilt I'm designing for my youngest son. Not moving forward very fast, as some ideas have to percolate for awhile before they come together! But eventually it will be what it needs to be.

Prism99

I think your artistic friend is wrong! If you use only the muted colors, the quilt will end up very dull. I would venture to say you could even add in additional lights and brights if you want.

Arranging each color from dark to light could be very interesting. You actually did this with the first 4 color rows, but then it sort of died off in the last 3 color rows on the right (colors are more mixed there).

Personally, because there is so much gray in the brown you are using (which I love!), I would not use gray as one of the colors. All rainbow colors would work great!

Cedar

I'm trying to figure out why your friend said that and what they meant. The only thing I can think of is that more muted colors make your brown/grey look richer and more bronze. However, I'm loving the rust color it takes on in your sample square. It's got a contemporary rustic feel. If you stick to that same level of brightness (meaning color saturation not light vs dark) for the other circles and stars I think it would look very bright. I don't really think any of your fabric could be garishly bright because of the marbling anyways.

The big question is what are you putting around your circles

DOTTYMO

I think I would do light to dark in all and think of rainbow order if you want to alter.

cjsews

Wow, that is going to look so good. Yes, I would use all the colors. Much more interesting that way. All those muted colors would look very boring.

QuiltNama

I think your color choices are very nice. Every quilt needs, a leader, several followers and a few renegades to keep the mix interesting. Love the touches of red and the yellow renegade!!!

lorli

Thank you, everyone. I have to say that the colors are brighter in real life than in my photographs. What color would you use for the center star? (I chose that light purple randomly). I have heard that its better to use a darker color in the center so that it doesn't look lie a hole.

soccertxi

I love your colors. The muted and bright differences give the eye LOTS of places of interest! I would use a color with more contrast in your center star. I cannot see much of a difference in value. If you need more perspective, I take a picture with my phone or camera. Somehow that points out areas I need to work on! I can't wait to see what you decide...

PS I have been to Cooperstown...as I am a baseball FANATIC! :::grin::::

Cedar

i don't see how a darker color would look less like a hole than a lighter one. If anything a darker color is more likely to recede than a lighter one. For the center star I would use something with at least as much contrast with your rust color as the purple, the purple is close in value to your rust (if a black and white photo were taken the star would be hard to see) but it works because the purple and the muted yellow/orange of the brown are so different in color.

The rule I was given in color theory is that colors are divided into three parts: color (red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple. Brown and grey are just variations of these. Your brown and grey fabric is muted orange and blue. White and black are extremes used only for total lack of the main colors -- white is white, but cream is yellow), value (if the would were black and white would it be lighter or darker), or chroma (the brightness vs mutedness of the color -- robin egg blue vs steel grey). If you match just one of these areas your colors will match. It's a rule from a teacher we called the art natzi and doesn't always work but its a useful way to figure out why something is or isn't working.