I have been watching this board for a while now and have come to the conslusion that alot of what makes a quilt pretty, beautiful, or gorgeous are your color combinations. Seems like most of you can take the simplest pattern and make it stand out by your color combinations. Mine on the other hand are .........yawnable, if there is such a word. I've got the light, medium, and dark down, but how do you decide which colors will "pop"? Please let me in on the secret. Apparently color coordinating wasn't one of the genes I picked up.

I so know what you are talking about. Whenever I go shopping for fabric, I take my daughter along to help me choose the colours. Just can't seem to get it together like some of the beautiful combinations I see on here.

I am so much like you on this. I always try to take some other person with me when I am purchasing colors. My son - who hates to shop and knows if he points to a bad one that I buy he'll have to go back with me is best. But friends or anyone will do. If I need three colors, I can find two and never the third, etc. etc.

I recently made a quilt for a friend fighting cancer and took 2 friends with to pick out the fabric. I needed three each of two different colors. In less than 5 minutes the two friends had picked out all 6 and they all played nice together in the quilt. It would have taken me two hours and I would have ended up with at least 2 clunkers.

Our quilt shop has at least one class in color so you definitely are not alone.

Plus an advantage to using a local quilt shop has been their assistance in helping choose colors...

Distance really does make a difference in your fabric selections. I line them up in a cart, then walk over an aisle away. When I take that farther look, the ones that do not belong, will pop out at you. They also make a de-magnifying glass that will provide that distance if there is not enough room for a spacial viewing.

Since I now have a portable design wall, I can audition my stash fabrics from across the room. The "stinkers" for this project just might be the "rose" for the next one.

Practice, practice, practice, and your color choices will improve. I couldn't match fabrics at all when I started quilting. Some people are born with the gift, but others (like me) have to work at it. Color from the Heart, by Gai Perry, is an excellent book to help with color.

http://www.amazon.com/Color-Heart-Se...2106394&sr=8-1

Choose a print you like. Then look at the selvedge to see if it has those little color dots. This will show you all the colors used in the print and they're designed to look good together. Also, some paint stores have color cards with coordinating colors schemes. Use these as a reference.

That is why I copy pic of color combinations that strike me and put in a folder on my computer. I can always go back and search for inspiration.:) Many of my saved photos are from this board.

It's not just colors that make the quilt. The scale of the designs also make a difference. Too many of a large print and they compete with each other (unless you use plain sashing). Too many of a small scale or solid can be boring. You need to mix them up. Use some of each color and scale for variety. To get ideas on colors, look at the designer collections. You can get ideas of what looks good together.

Here's a blog with lots of great color inspirations. http://www.design-seeds.com/ Just scan through it, find some that speak to you, and create a folder (or print out) those palettes for future inspiration. From there, you can either work from your stash or buy fabrics that will go with that collection of colors.

Another way to come up with current and pleasing color selections is to use magazines or catalogs -- look for colors you like, and the combinations that are currently seen a lot in decor.

A third way -- use some of the pre-cut collections as the base colors for a quilt, pulling in the same tones from your stash until you feel more confident yourself. The jelly roll and charm sqare collections of fabrics already coordinate nicely, and most often, they are popular colors that tend to work well with home furnishings currently in stores.

Mostly, don't be afraid of color, and be willing to be wrong once in a while. In my opinion, most quilters make the mistake of playing color too safe and matchy matchy. The other common mistake, and one I often fall into myself is not having enough "white space" -- not necessarily white literally, but neutral, calm spaces that allow the design areas to shine.

RST
RST

OMG!!! I had no idea why those dots were on the selvedge! I do pick blenders to match the colors in the print, though.

Thanks for some interesting info!

I agree that practice will help me....

Not sure if it is still available - but - a few years back I bought a lovely little gadget at Sherwin Williams called a fandex. It is one of those fans with all the paint colors like you see at the paint counter in the stores. At the time it was about $10 and well worth it. I can look at the colors in my house in the room I plan to use them and know they are going to march perfectly. Works with fabric colors too!!

Here's a site that's fun to play with:

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

Thank you for sharing this with us, what a great site :D:D:D

I do this. I have made quilts with these colors and not used the inspiration fabric, just used it for color selection.

ROFL - while it's a nice thought that they put those dots there to help quilters pick coorinating colors, but that's not the reason they are there. It's part of the printing process, they're color registers. Every color on the fabric uses a different print plate, printed one at a time. The dots tell the operator that he has the plate registered correctly on the fabric.

1. Contrast (light and dark, not too many mediums
2. Complementary colors (see color wheel)
3. Black or white (you said you wanted it to pop!)

When I go to a quilt show I always pick one quilt that jumps out at me. It's usually one with only two or three fabrics, and lately those fabrics have been solids.

I bought Jinny Beyer's book Color Confidence for Quilters. I highly recommend it. There are tips in there I haven't seen elsewhere. Left on my own, I see colours in my brain that look great together, but in reality they look really bad. LOL

Thanks for all your help. I knew I could count on you!

Maybe you have just been drawn to the neutrals. Now that you see the other options, your creativity is blossoming. Just wait and see what you will come up with. Give yourself a chance.

Use a color opposite on the color wheel to add that "pop" factor.

I made myself use colors I really don't like: lime green, orange, and other such colors. I had to force myself to buy them. Guess what? After that I had no problem using different colors because that quilt was awesome. It was a child's quilt because it was easier to start with.

I also used my EQ when I taught a beginning quilting class so students could have a line drawing of their quilts and then color them in. Each one used different colors and all turned out great.

Going to quilt show also helps. You can see how others use color and scale of print to make their quilts. and ... of course you might see some quilts that absolutely turn you off. Going over what you like and don't like about the quilts will help you a lot. Just, please, if you don't like a quilt keep your opinions to yourself so you don't hurt someone's feelings.

ali

I choose colors by how they make me feel. Do they move me in some way or not. The nots do not get used.

There are two bloggers that are doing a series on fabric selection right now.

http://greycatquilts.blogspot.com/
http://piecemealquilts.wordpress.com...art-2a-fabric/

Sometimes it is just "A Leap of Faith". I usually stay with colors I like, then choose several interesting fabrics and try them one at a time until I find the one that "jumps" while not offending the other fabrics but emphasizing the other fabrics. It is had to explain. But it gets easier with practice and if you shop in groups, ask others to assist. Of course, occasionally I just throw caution to the wind and pick. Start small -- a table runner/topper, build your confidence. You will probably surprise yourself.

My first experience was watching someone choosing two border colors and I was thinking "WHY?". But once they were added, it was like "WOW!"

I agree--I bookmarked it for future use. Thanks a bunch.

I did not know what those dots were either. Ohhhhhh I learn soooooo much from all of you . Thanks

When I was first learning to quilt, my teacher kept telling us to remember that we weren't getting dressed. Your fabrics shouldn't be all matchy-matchy. I think the most important feature is CONTRAST. Dark brown with orange & lime green. One of the other thing that needs to change is value - lights & darks. Again, this is really like contrast. Black & white is so hot right now & you can't get any further away from one than the other. Now take that B&W & throw in a wild & crazy pop of color!

A lot of fabrics have circles of color on the selvedge - the color of inks or dyes usd in the printing. These can help you with color selection. When picking out prints, keep in mind that you don't want all focus fabrics or your quilt will be shouting, "Look at ME!", "No, look at ME." and the eye will go crazy jumping around all over the place. The design also gets lost when all the same type(size) and value of print is used.

Look at quilts you really like & break them down into their different fabrics - color & type. See what works & what doesn't work. Learn from the quilt world celebs! With their works, they don't show the ones that didn't work, but we know they all had them!

Good luck and have fun!

I sometimes roll out fabric and lay it across another display so I can back up and see how they look from a distance. Not always easy in a store--------even in JoAnn's.

Another thing-----------something I learned by accident when trying to pick a yarn for a sweater to match a plaid skirt. The colors don't always have to be the same if you are trying to coordinate a bigger print with smaller prints or tonals.. This skirt had pink and yellow in the plaid. Turned out that a pretty apricot was a better match than either pink or yellow.

When it comes to choosing colors, I tend to look outside the box. I throw the color wheel out the window. I go with what I like even though, And it depends on what or who I am making a quilt for. I have chosen fabrics that people have said they wont go together and when they see the final quilt, it is like wow it does work.

Remember going outside the box can be hard for some but give it a try. Get your inspiration from everything you see. Look around you, you see color every where you look and can be an inspiration.

I find it helpful if taking a piece of floral fabric and take the colors as in it...very seldom you will go wrong then because in the picture you see them all together.

If you have a pic of the quilt you want to make its usually the colors that caught your attention take the pic along its easy to pick out like fabrics and eventually picking color schemes becomes second nature

can you post a picture of your portable design wall. I would love to see a picture of your PDW. I have the same problem with color.

It's not just color combinations that make a quilt, contrast can make a big difference too.

Personally, I think using those color dots on the selvedges to pick all your fabrics makes for yawnable quilts. (I like that word) Using those dots makes for a very matchy-matchy fabric combination. The most vibrant quilts have color combinations that vibrate off of each other and if they were singled out might even clash.

It does help to get the color wheel fixed in your mind so that you at least know the basics of what's across from each other and what's next to each other.

One tip I received:

If you're not sure of the distinction between color value, fold, align and place the fabrics (or samples) on a scanner and scan in B/W.

Note: I purchased some fabric I thought would work for a quilt(after spending hours sweating over the selection). When I got home (away from the shop and in different light) I wasn't pleased with my selection. I went to my stash and found a great substitute. The fabric I pulled worked in my next quilt.

Thanks for the links. I have a shortcut folder on my tool bar "Color Theory" and added them.

Ya'll are the greatest!