If you don't like the sample quilt colors, are you interested in the pattern?
 

I frequently find myself looking at a sample quilt, and if I don't like the fabrics/colors I don't consider the pattern. I have seen some quilts on the board that I dismissed because of the fabrics that look fabulous because the quilter chose fabrics I like better.

Has this happened to you? For those of you who can see past the sample, how do you do it?
Thanks

it's happened to me many times, i just over look the colors. i can't imagine not liking a quilt because i was prejudice of the color. I just look at the bones of the bloc/quilt. That would be like not liking a friend because they had a different skin tone than me. You spend so much time with a quilt, you have to put your colors in the block and make it yours.

If you are unsure if it is the colors or the pattern, take that picture and use Photo viewer or some program to alter the colors. See if you would like it in a different color way.

I had that problem when I first started sewing (pre-quilting years). With sewing, I would try to come up with an idea of what I really wanted to do ahead of time & at first I would trace the outline of the garment from the pattern's package so I could just focus on the shape of the garment, rather than the color or fabric texture.
Now, thanks to technology, I often will pull out my iPhone & look at it through the tonal filter on the camera app so I'm not influenced by color when shopping.

My initial reaction is often based on color. If I like the colors, I'll usually like the quilt and pattern instinctively. I have the opposite reaction if it's in colors I don't care for. In both cases, I then look past the color at the pattern to determine if it's something I might want to make. So my answer is yes for the first pass but that doesn't make the ultimate determination.

I realize what you're saying, but I guess it's how a person's mind works. I never choose a pattern idea by the colors -but I don't know how to tell you how to do this. Bree123 has a good idea, take a picture with a black/white setting (first tell the LQS people or whoever owns the quilt you're looking at why you are taking the picture. With the color eliminated it will force you to focus on the design.

This is how I am. Exactly.

Actually, I usually don't actually take a photo exactly because of copyright. I just look at it through the viewfinder & make my decision that way. Since I'm not actually snapping pictures, so far all the shop owners have been fine with me doing that and I usually don't worry about asking for permission unless it's a store I've never visited or the salesperson seems overly aggressive.
Every so often, though, I do take photos. I sent some to my 3-year old niece once (via my sister) so she could pick out which fabrics she liked best from a selection of my choosing. I had tried live facetiming with her, but the connection was not strong enough so I kept losing her. The shop owner thought it was so sweet she said that even though she normally doesn't allow photos, that she'd make an exception. :o I deleted all my copies of the photos in front of her, but, of course, they always exist in cyberspace so some artists/business people universally prohibit all photography, whether of patterns, fabrics, samples, or whatnot so if you are actually taking photographs -- definitely ask & get permission first! :thumbup:

This describes me, as well.

I realized long ago that it's the colours of something that attracts us. When I used to search for machine embroidery designs, and now quilts, it was always the colours of the designs that caught my eye - at first. Now I can look beyond and imagine what 'I' can do with them

Usually it is the color in the pattern that attracts me, but I find it is often the fabric dictates the pattern to me. When Turning 20 first came out, I didn't care for it, all the fabrics seemed smashed together. Then a friend and I wanted to make a Halloween/Birthday quilt for another friend and I had so many different fabrics to use, it was perfect for what we wanted to do. So now I am more likely to find fabric then find the pattern to compliment it.

When looking at quilts, I don't think I register primarily the color. I think it's first an overall impression of the genre of the quilt that makes the impact -- that is, whether it's modern and bright, reproduction and traditional, etc. I'm able to separate the genre of fabric and colors from the pattern; I'm not sure how this works. Sometimes a color scheme will definitely make an impact and I'll admire it, but that won't incline me to make the quilt. It's the pattern that gets me.

I often look at design and envision it in a different color scheme. Sometimes I like the colors it is but I am drawn to design unless it's just ( perfect colors ) in my mind. I've found I used to purchase kits because I loved a quilt, but when the kit arrived I would swap out most of the fabrics. Dumb for me to buy a kit- I don't think I've ever made a kit quilt using the kit fabrics. So -- I see design, don't pay attention enough to the colors ( otherwise I wouldn't buy a kit I'm not going to use) :)

I am sucked in by the colors. It takes determination for me to get past the color to study/appreciate the pattern if I don't care for the colors.

Lands, long before all our fancy technical tools were even invented, I was 'seeing' quilts in terms of pattern rather than color. What I couldn't quickly see, I drew out on graph paper and colored in whatever way came to me. I still do this, but, now I often graph in the Paint program on my laptop.

I believe if you will train yourself to "find the block" it will be easier for you to see the quilt as pattern, beyond the color.

Jan in VA

Color is what catches my eye when I look at pictures of quilts--with magazines I will see a quilt and sometimes the fabric (seems they try to use every fabric in the line when making the quilt) seems to busy and lacks the needed contrast--or just plain seems boring to me. So I make a habit of always looking at the schematic drawing that shows all the blocks and is often in black/white/gray or solid colors--same with patterns--cause that lets me see what the block & quilt design really is.

I seldom have this problem since I never can follow a pattern exactly anyway. I always tend to change it up a lot and make it mine ...the last Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt I tried I did not like the colors together so I broke it apart and made two quilts...one black, white, red and the other browns and neutrals...they both came out very nice. If I ever made this quilt again, I would definitely use my own colors...Bonnie even encourages this.

I'm with joes mom. I pick a pattern by the over all aesthetically pleasing vision it gives me. And then I go home and change the colors and whatever I want as I go along. THe pattern is just a starting place, so to speak. It's hard for me to visualize the finished piece. I just keep going till it looks done, to me. I just know, somehow. I guess I'm just an old fashioned quilter with crazy ways.

Sometimes I have trouble choosing colors-especially when many different colors are involved. So, if I am drawn to a pattern because it is vibrant and nicely balanced, I like to take a picture (if appropriate), print it, enlarge it in black and white. Then I cut bits of my fabric choices and paste them on the black and white picture. This way I can work in the light, medium and darks and the scale of prints. I am always drawn to any picture that has green and purple-but i can't make every quilt purple and green.

Like Ckkowl and Jan, it is a pattern that catches my eye. I may like the colors it is made up in but usually not. For me, choosing and coordinating fabrics is one of my favorite parts of the quilting process.

It is definitely the color that attracts my eye but it is the contrast that holds it. Sometimes there will be a blues/green quilt pattern that I think I just have to make and when I examine it closer, it loses something because it ends up low contrast. I'm a high contrast gal.

All of the time. I can not seem to get past the colors and see the pattern for itself. Just a silly idiosyncrasy.

If I were brutally honest I would have to say I'm greatly influenced by color and with all the gorgeous quilt patterns out there I will look past those that scream of multiple colors I don't particularly like to something that jumps out at me and that I know I will enjoy making clear to the end because with fewer colors that work well together I can clearly see the pattern as well.

A lot of times, I don't like the original colors, but have a colorway of my own on mind. I try to see if I can picture it in the colors I want to use.

Same here.

Frequently I'm drawn to a pattern because of the colors and when I really look at the way it is constructed I don't like it so much. So color was the rule, but now I have found myself really looking at the pattern and the techniques used. This has been very much to my benefit as I've made some great (well I think so anyway) quilts using different colors than those shown. As I continue to learn, hey I've only been quilting for about 27 years, my acceptance of brighter colors has been a fun addition to my passion.

I guess i am one for deciding whether I like the colors or not. I figure there are tons of patterns out there and passing on one isn't going to keep me from moving on to something else instead. Besides, the next time I see that same pattern I originally passed on it might strike me differently! Might be a mood thing and not a prejudice of the colors!!!

I always look at the pattern and if I like that I start picturing it in different fabrics and colors. I have never made a quilt with the colors or fabrics shown.

Me too. I know it's silly, but it still happens.

I have seen patterns I don't like done with colors I like and vice versa.

Sometimes I can see past the fabrics I don't like and sometimes I can't. I sometimes look on google images at a design that looks interesting. Most quilts are on there done in different fabrics. I found a quilt on Pinterest I loved. Even after I followed the links back to the original pattern i had a hard time believing that it was the same quilt in different colors. I had to keep flipping between the 2 to make sure it was the right pattern. I would never have bought the pattern from the designers sample, but I love the quilt I made.

I import a picture of the pattern and recolor it in EQ7. Then if I like the colors I'll choose fabrics in that color scheme.

I use EQ7 for colors also.
A few weeks ago I saw a quilt at local quilt shop on the wall that I loved, but the photo on the pattern done in different fabrics was horrible. I asked to take a photo of the one quilt shop made and then bought the pattern.
karensue

It took me a while, but I can over look the colors that a quilt is in and appreciate the pattern.

I have bought more patterns at quilt shows because of the sample made up if I had just looked at picture on the pattern I would have passed and now I have a ton of patterns I have never used. I am learning a lot more self control at shows

Choosing colors has never been a problem for me. I am not intimidated by choosing colors other than what is on the pattern envelope.

No, I don't think I am like you at all. When I see a quilt, I immediately think of what different colors and ways I can change it. I never ever make a quilt like the pattern, I want it to be different and to be my creation.

I think I'm a very pattern-oriented person, so while I definitely like or dislike certain color combinations, I don't seem to have any trouble seeing the underlying pattern and imagining what it'd look like in alternate colors.

I like to look for patterns everywhere - I take pictures of anything I think might make for an interesting quilt. It could be patterns of shade on a sidewalk from a fence, could be the tile pattern on the floor in the dentist's bathroom, could be the way the morning sun falls on a pallet of bricks...it can be anything! Something I photograph probably most often, though, is wallpaper, carpeting and other fabrics found in hotels and other "corporate" spaces! A lot of them are what I would consider to be rather ugly colors, but a lot of them also feature interesting repeating geometric shapes and that's what I'm trying to capture. Inspiration is everywhere if you look in the right kind of way. :)

Yes, it's color that draws me. If I like it, I then look at the pattern and if the pattern doesn't appeal to me I move on. I already have too many on my "want to do" list. I think the more experience I get, the more I am able to look past "ugly colors" (to me) to imagine my own colors, but it isn't 2nd nature.....more like 5th or 6th nature :)

Oh yes, sometimes i love the design but not the colors or fabrics. Wouldn't stop me from making it my way.