Here's a photo of the brown/mauve/purple combination I dug up. The fabric on the left is "the ugly" (for me, anyway) that started this whole conversation. I love the browns with the mauve. I still don't like the "ugly" and it saps the strength of the rest. I guess if I had black and purple batiks it might work. But it's inspired me to maybe make a quilt with the other mauves...;-).

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I like the first one the best.

I like your "ugly". LOL!!

I couldn't imagine mauve with purples but I like it. I kind of forget the mauve is mauve. Lol. I have some 80's mauve scraps that were painful to use in a scrappy but did anyway and it's going to be okay. Not a huge fan of it. I'm going to google the mauve with yellow, oh the thought.

If mauve is really coming back in style I will have a hard time jumping on the band wagon.

Yup gray and mauve. I didn't like gray when it first came out but now kind of like it. These things grow on you after a while so mauve again - maybe.

I have used light pink and light yellows together very successfully. Mainly the 'color of the year' doesn't do it for me, as that dates things. Mostly I use classic combos, but have learned to put a pop of lime green in when I can. It works like a neutral...counterintuitive, but it works.

I was teaching a friend how to make a quilt and started her on a scrappy diamond where you leave a diagonal strip in the middle of the block and add your colored strips on either side, then attach your blocks as you want to make up your flimsy. She went thru my scrap box and pulled out all the scraps in the yellow and pink families. This included golds to almost orange and the pinks includes up to but not including purples and reds. I thought "OH MY!!!!!" But whwen she put it all together and had me quilt it in a fuschia thread, it came out beautiful. I was impressed and she was very happy. So don't think mauve is out just yet. Sorry I don't have a photo of it, wish I did though.

TeresaA,
I really love the colors you have. I'd also maybe add just a touch of black to really make the colors pop. Yes, I agree that the first one doesn't fit. All the others are a muted palate, but the first one is highly saturated (mauve, white & black). I'd use the rest together for one quilt & save the first one for a different quilt. It's such a strong fabric, I would either use it sparingly throughout the quilt, or as a 1-2" border on a quilt that's a totally different, but coordinating color. Maybe something in the blue or purple range.

I just learned how to pronounce "mauve" from youtube.com

It rhymes with "clove"!