Color advice?
 

I'm about to embark on this dinosaur quilt for my three-year-old, but I'm having some trouble choosing colors. I got three prints from a line of dinosaur fabric but to me they don't really look like they belong together. I got some greens to go along with them and then I shopped my stash for some blues, but I'm still not sure.

I know it's tough to tell exactly what colors actually look like from a photo, but I think you can at least get an idea about how they compare to each other? Anyway here's what I've lined up. Any advice? Any fabrics you would take out of the line up or any colors you might try to add?

Thank you!!

Do you know what pattern you will use? What size of block?

It is hard to tell from the photo, but I would add a red, orange or pink. It looks like some of dinos are colored that way and it would "liven" it up.

cute fabrics! If you have a bit of warm colors yellow/orange/red to pull from the dinosaurs, that would be fantastic! I happen to like contrast, but not everyone does. If you aren't sure about fabrics during the design phase, take your main print or potential block fabrics and place them together on your washer. Every time you go in to wash, take a peek, rearrange as needed and edit when you're ready. It's amazing what a little distraction and time does for the creative process. Your little one is going to love your project!!

I think so, like this one though not this exact same pattern: http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projec...f-color_1.html. The blocks are 8".

I agree. I would definitely add a splash of the dinosaur color. You can see how great it would look with your other choices because the background color in the photo is perfect and makes the others really sing! :)

You might want to reconsider that striped yellow one. All the others are very organic and that's the only hard edged geometric one. Just something to consider.

i'd probably take out the stripes. i like all of the others.

To me, some of the blues have too much gray in them. Gray "dulls down" the color whereas usually you want bright and/or vivid colors for a child's quilt.

The greens seem too much in the same range for me -- all middle range greens. If at all possible find a really light green (or even better, a bright yellow) to add to that group, and also a little dash of very dark saturated green.

But honestly I think my biggest problem is with the two blues next to the blue dinosaur fabric; they are too grayed down. I would use the blue dinosaur fabric as the "main" fabric and then pick colors from that fabric to add to the mix -- especially some orange, red and maybe a dark brown (all colors that are int the dinosaurs themselves).

I would also take out some of the greens -- there are too many of them compared to the other color(s). I agree about taking out the green stripe for sure.

Just my 2 cents and how I would approach this at home......

I just took a look at the pattern. For that particular pattern, I think the stripes would actually be fine. I would look more towards balancing the colors so that there are more than just blue and green, and also so that there is not too much of any one color (green) in relation to the others. I think if you add some orange, red and brown, that will help a lot in terms of achieving balance in the colors.

I really agree wit Prism99. I think it would balance everthing and pull it together just right!

I am with the others....pick out some colours from the dinosaurs.....it will add the splash you are looking for. Great fabrics you have there. Keep us posted:)

I agree with adding the orange and red maybe a yellow. Go wild...lol. He will love it.

I think your issue with these fabrics is the lack of value difference. If you add some much darker values -- there's a great darker green in those prints, for instance -- it will jack all of them up a bit. Also something in the warm family as mentioned.

Jan in VA

Definitely more warm colors, the ones you have seem to go together well and I think it's a great start but the overall looks seems a little bland. Adding the warmer colors will liven it up a little bit!

I like what you have so far, the only thing I think I would add is a red. Also a neat little trick to see if colors go together is to look at the colored dots that you find in the salvage end of the fabric. If you find colors the match or as close as possible than the colors will work in the quilt.

Rosie

I agree with those who spoke about a warm color. I am not crazy about your yellow-greens. I think for a child, they need to be more in line with the true green in the dino print. I would add the brick red color (almost like the color you chose for the background of the photos). I would also agree with those who think the blues are too grey. Again, you want more "true" colors to match the intensity of the colors in the blue dino print. This dino print is really adorable.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice and suggestions. I got some warmer colors (an orange, a yellow and an orange-ish kind of brown). I didn't get a red though because (it's hard to tell from the photo) the dinosaur that looks red is really more of a pink. I didn't think my son would really go for pink, though he does actually kind of like purple, haha. I added a couple of other blues to the mix, too, because I think I will do one set of blocks in green, one in the warmer colors and the other set in the blues.

Anyway here's the new palette. There is one color that is a lighter blue green that doesn't really seem to go when you look at the photo, but it matches one of the dinosaurs almost exactly and it has flecks of that darker blue that is in the blue dinosaur print, too, so I think it will work.

Thanks again for the help! Choosing color is not really my strong point, so I need all the help I can get. :)

These look good to me! Your son will love his quilt!

Dina