I have a quilt i've been working on for a friend. My friend picked the colours, i didn't, but im really not happy with how it looks. There is burgandy, gold and hunter green, but i have a lot of white in the background, and looking at it now, it's just waaaay too much white, and its looking like a Christmas quilt. Sooo, i want to add in some earth tones, like some tan colours, onto some areas of the white, to tone it down. So this is my question. I'd like to applique some tan colours over some of the white squares to tone it down a bit. I will be hand stitching these on, so hopefully they wont look like they've been added on. Should i use tan thread or white thread? When your hand stitching one colour onto another, how do you choose the colour of thread. I guess i would have to really try and stitch underneaqth the block a bit, so non of the stitches show.

I have always heard that you match the thread color to the applique color. That way the stitches blend in with the edge of the applique. We would love to see pictures :lol:

If you match the thread color to the applique color, it will visually disappear, especially from a distance. Have you considered overdying some blocks to mellow them out? Decorative stitching can introduce a neutral color, and stencilling is another option, too. It all depends on the look you're going for.

Thank you Moonpi and 2 Doods. I will def use colour thread of the applique now, thanks for telling me that. Here is a photo of it. I have changed the gold chain squares to navy, to offset the christmas look to it. It's a quilt i'm making for a caregiver friend. So i chose the sunshine and shadow pattern, and inbetween i have stars. The sunshine and shadow blocks are bugging me. I shouldn't have made the centre of those blocks white, so i am thinking of changing those to tan, i think it will tone the quilt down a bit. Then i think on the borders i will use more earth tones too. Right now it's collecting dust cus i'm rather frustrated.

Well, looking at it now, i can see if i applique a tan colour in the centre of the shadown, that would tone things down nice. But if i really want to get rid of the toooo much white, i could also applique another shadow row around the outside of each shadow, and do that in a tan colour too, but that would be a LOT of applique, but i think it might help it look nicer

I love it Barb, but then too I'm a guy so what do I know? HA!

One of the first things I read on quilting advised that if you make a quilt for a friend you don't let them pick the fabric or design (maybe the colors if you are feeling generous). The point being you quilt, they don't, and often times what someone wants is either impractical or uninspiring to the quilter. Heck, look at our group here, honestly would you like to 'work' on everything you've seen, even if you enjoy the finished quilt?

You've a lucky friend who's getting a heck of a nice quilt, and if she doesn't like it I'll give you my address! :wink:

LOL Well i'm glad you like it Steve, cus actually it's for a guy friend, his wife has HD like me, and is in a nursing home, and i made the mistake of letting him pick the colours! lol

Okay, First of all I do not know what I'm talking about. That's my disclaimer right up front!

Now, have you considered a tea bath for the whole project? I don't think it'd alter the darker colors but it would tone down the white. I have never worked with tea but have seen the results and they are lovely. Several ladies have used the tea bath to dye fabrics. Put it out there and see what they think. It'd sure be faster than a ton of applique.

Of course, I think it's just lovely the way it is but I like white with most anything. That's just my quirk!

Wow, that is an idea Yvonne...so if something is dyed with tea, does the dye last, wash after wash?

I also thought 'tea dying' -- it lasts, but not sure how long. Guess it depends on the amount of washing it gets.

Another thought: could you change the sashing? instead of the white/gold maybe use the green from the star blocks?

Beautiful blocks. You're a good friend to take on this project!

rf

Yes, the gold squares were just laid down in this photo. I tried laying out green, and looked even more christmassy, so i sewed in navy squares where the gold ones are. I am very curious about the tea dying idea though, would love to know more about it. Maybe i will google and get some ideas too. All your ideas are sooo helpful!

I did some googling on tea dying. It says that if i press the fabric with a hot iron after, that will set the dye. So this maybe looks like a great idea, i think i will try some tea dying on some scrap fabrics, and see what i think of it :)
Here are two quilts i just found online, one is tea dyed, the other is not, and i think it looks good, and i think you're right Yvonne, it wouldn't effect my darker colours, i will def try this with some scraps later

Like Yvonne, I need to put out a disclaimer - I'm not a expert.LOL

But, my first thought was to tea dye the quilt top. I'm currently working on a star swap and the idea is to have it look antique/old. Some have tea dyed all the fabric.
I dyed some muslin the other day and would like to share something I learned. I should have thought of this beforehand, but.........
I used hard water to brew the tea and you know how a film forms on top? Well, that left dark marks on the fabric. I will get this floating in my teacup too if I don't use the softened water. Next time I will use soft water to avoid this. Just my thoughts........

BTW, you do beautiful work. I really like the star blocks.

My first thought was--tea dye. I have done several things with tea dying and have been very pleased with the result. If you iron it the color last.

Wow, im so happy with all the advice, and yes, i have soft water where i am, so that will be safe.

I think tea dying would be an excellent choice. I don't think it looks Christmassy but I do think it is too white for me. I've never tried tea dying but let it dry and iron it and it will last for years. You have a beautiful quilt and know they will love it.

It is a lovely quilt! Have you thought about quilting the white areas with contrasting/complimentary thread? I think that would solve your problem without making it look like you've added something else to solve a problem. I speak from experience.......just yesterday I had a quilt returned to me...one that I hated when I sent it to the quilter. It had too large of a contrast in color in several areas of the quilt. The quilter made that quilt into a gorgeous work of art by using contrasting/complimentary thread in the large 'ugly' areas. I wish you could see my quilt now!!