Color Value tip
 

A few days ago, someone posted a link to a pair of glasses for seeing color value in your quilts.

Here's a trick you can use with something you might already be carrying with you:
If you have an iPhone or an Android phone, download the free app called "SnapSeed"
Take a photo of the fabrics with your phone.
Open Snapseed and select the photo you took
Tap "Black and White"

This will give you a really good idea of what the color values are.
I just tried it with the quilt I'm making for DH and I know now why I felt like the colors didn't "pop" enough. There's a light and 2 darks. The darks are too often next to each other.

I don't know about android phones but the new iPhone update 7.something allows you to change colors in your pictures without an app. Just in case someone was a whackadoodle like me and hates downloading apps lol.

I was amazed at the difference my quilt really looked in B&W compared to the color picture in terms of value. What I thought was med against the light was really two lights.

What a great idea. I need all the help I can get with colour selection and especially values so have taken your advice and downloaded Snapseed onto the ipad. Now to get on with those quilts! Thank you for this information.
janet

If you are at home and have a printer, you can copy your fabrics in B&W to see their value. I don't have a smart phone, and I carry a small piece of red acetate film when I go fabric shopping - turns colors into shades of grey.

Anita

I use the see through red film when I buy fabric. An old red file folder is excellent if you are lucky to still have one or find one. It's big sheets of the red film. Green film is for finding value in red fabrics together.

Awesome, thank you!!!

I have a android phone and I have the option to take photos in black & white. ;)

I don't worry about color values. I just use colors I like together.

Ha! I bet I'd know that if I hadn't ignored that update and wasn't still on the iOS 6. :) I was waiting for it to be stable then promptly forgot about it. ;)

Snapseed does come highly recommended for those who don't like "sparse" phones.

The thing about printing them is that they are very expensive to print (toner or ink). If you're going to have the photo on the computer anyway, try opening them in something like Irfanview and select "grayscale" and view them on screen.

I've also used an old red filter for a camera from my B&W photography days. I'm pretty sure that's where the original version of this must have come from. The filter I can forget or break though. :) I also ended up with the red and green acetate sheets in a pattern I bought (New York Beauty) but they're bigger than my purse and I didn't get around to cutting them down.

I think I remember this too. I have an "old" Android tablet that doesn't see enough use, but she does take a good picture and I remember some options.

Either way, there are options while at the fabric shop, as long as they'll let you take photos. :)

This "SnapSeed" works great. I was actually able to figure out how to use it. Thanks! :)

Years ago I took a quilt watercolor wallhanging class- they recommended buying a cheap pair of red glasses at Valentines season, or in the painting section they sell a red/green tinted plastic that is the size of a 6 inch ruler. Same effect!

You can also take a photo, load it into your photoshop or whatever photo editor you use and then select b&w to see what you have. I also have a pair of the red and green filters that I purchased from Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FQZC8I/...l_7ejb1u2s1j_e

Great tip.

I also have an android phone and never thought of doing this. What a super idea! Thanks for the suggestion!

There are tricks to every trade!! The more I quilt the more I learn!

Thanks for the tip, I just downloaded it and will try it out.

Those work, but my purse is full enough. I'll never remember to take them with me when I go shopping. My phone is always with me. :)

Absolutely! I do things like this all the time. Irfanview is free for those who don't have Photoshop. I'm sure there are others too that will do simple tasks. I've use IV for years, I think it was version 1 back when I started with it. I don't carry a laptop with me anymore, and the thought was that a phone / tablet may be with you anyway, so when picking the fabrics at the store you'd have it. I just grabbed my phone in the "Studio" because it was there, and thought ... hmmm. ;)

That's exactly what lead me there too. I thought they're all the same fabrics, why am I so "blah" about this?

They're 3 of the same fabrics, 3 different colorways. (I didn't pick them, DH did) I looked at them in "Black and White" and it stuck out like a sore thumb. :)

I just like tools that can do double duty. I won't remember the red filter, but my phone I will.

In fact, my phone might be my favorite quilting tool. I take photos of everything - stuff I want to look up to see if I "need" it, stuff I have at home so I don't buy it again (like stencils and patterns), a fabric to match, a fabric I love when I see it somewhere, quilting design ideas (those are -everywhere!) and of course lately all the photos I take for the web are on my phone, because it's easier (at hand) than setting up my camera.

The other thing I use extensively on my phone is the notes. I have lists in there of everything - groceries, stuff I need in the studio, attachments I'm still looking for and for what machine, books I want, project ideas, gift ideas.

A photo album, a note pad and a color value tool all packed into one,.. and I can make calls on it too. ;)

I have purchased a red vinyl piece in a cardboard frame to use for finding the value in fabrics. For red fabrics i just use a green vinyl page pocket sleeve. It works fine.

I wish I'd known about this earlier today while I was at the fabric store. I just found out that my smart phone takes B&W photos, what a bonus. I guess it's smarter than I am! :-)

This board is awesome!

Something else that can help is to stand back and squint until the colours look blurry. If you're reasonably short sighted, you can achieve those effect by simply taking off your specs.

I use a lot of fabrics, say thirty. I like to fold them up and put them in a stack, ordered by value and/or colour. The tricks of photographing them or taking my specs off help with that, too.

Thanks, I just used it. I took a picture of an quilt I made already and saw my attic windows look more like windows than they do with the color!

me too. Thanks.

Thank you so much for this tip. I did download it took a pic of a quilt that I'm working on now with a few of the neighborhood kids. After it is altogether on my design wall I'm going to let them see it too & see if they want to rearrange some of the pieces before I sew all the pieces together. Thanks again

I love apps so this is great! Thanks.