stand back
 

When selecting fabrics, put them together and then stand back several feet.

What sometimes looks "perfect" up close, doesn't always look as wonderful when one stands several feet away.

Good advice, I will try that next time I'm picking fabrics.

thanks for the tip

You are so right! Thanks for the reminder.

Thanks, I will have to remember that.

Taking a picture also helps. It gets you farther away and colors that don't work often show up that way

And if your camera has a black & white setting, use it to check values.

I always try to find an out of the way spot in the fabric store (not easy) to lay fabrics out and stand back from them. It takes me FOREVER to decide.

When I worked at a quilt shop we would do that with our customers. We'd also have to check the store to make sure we didn't break up a 'planning session' when reshelving bolts:). Not easy to find space but really does help.

I just got a reducing glass because I needed it for a class. It looks like a peephole for a door. That really helps, as if you're standing way back from your quilt/fabrics.

I usually audition my fabrics on my design wall so I can always give it a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ETC glances until I find the right combination. Photos do help especially if you want to go back to a previous selection.

I "audition" fabrics in different light settings. I have both fluorescent and incandescent lights in the quilt studio; halogen lighting in the adjacent room where the cutting table is located; plus I take the fabrics outside in natural light. I don't have the best eye for color, so I need all the help I can get!

This is very good advice, IMHO, which can be used in many situations. I learned it with the first upholstered couch I ordered--loved the fabric in the sample book which I looked at in my lap. Boy, was I surprised to see it on the couch across the room when it arrived!! And WandaVa's point is good, too: fabrics look different in the light inside my home than in natural sunlight. Takes a bit of time to test and check, but well worth it. I've found that I have better results when I take some time in the selection process, rather than charging ahead just to get sewing (which is what I usually want to do lol!!!).

good tip thanks!

Guess i am the odd quilter out. but i buy materials because i like them. and then find a quilt i want to make later lol sure does build up your stash this way :):):)

When I was a decorator I would help customers picking wallpaper patterns by taking the book and walking away from them. I know they thought I was crazy! But that teeny tiny little purple flower that exactly matched their bedspread just disappeared when I moved it 4 feet or 8 feet away (which is how we view our walls, not with our noses against them). Same for quilts. Even if you put the bolts on the floor, it helps to be 6' tall, but a different prospective than right under your nose. Walk back a few steps and move them around until you are pleased. Not one shop has ever even commented on me doing this, much less disapproved!

Ninnie, I do the same thing. When I get fabric in hand, I get so inspired by it and always end up doing something totally different with it than what I started out to do.

We added on to our house and I have this sewing/guest room. We put in a 4x8 ft windows on the west side, and and there is a huge window in each of the other ouside walls as well. The daylight makes it so much easier to see the colors. I take off my glasses too if I happen to be wearing them. I know that glasses aren't suppose to change the color of what you see, but I swear mine do. Fortunately, I only need to wear my glasses when I'm tired or have a headache.







Ninnie

Just another note for the decorator side of me, when customers sat in the showroom and picked out possible choices for carpet, I always went to their home with that sample and several similar. Very often they would not like the one the had picked in the showroom, as the lighting is very different that where they were going to live with that carpet. Then came the predictable call, they had gone out to the truck to see their new carpet and IT WAS WRONG! I had to tell them to trust me (never was the wrong carpet) and let the fellas bring a piece inside. In the sunlight the color is completely different than in the house. So those of you that insist on taking it outside at the quilt shop, better to take it into the bathroom if there is incandescent lights there, as you won't be using your quilt outside. What matches outside may look horrible in the light of the living room. I have been known to take the fabric into an area of the store where I can put it in the shade (away from florescent lights) so I can get a truer read on the color.

I do that when adding borders....it does make a big difference....

Just had a thought. Why couldn't fabric have a "window" of the red plastic so we could put our fabric behind it to see the value. It could hang near the cutting table or in their classroom. A small piece would work, too, say 5 X 7. Maybe!

when i'm in "hunting" mode, there are three things i bring with me: a clear red clipboard to put my shopping list on, that also serves as my "red window" when i'm comparing values. i have a fresnel lens sheet made for quilters that is a rectangle, with 20 smaller "windows" of lens in it that gives me an idea of how a pattern of fabric will look as a quilt; and my good old measuring tape--so i can assure myself of pattern and repeat sizes. they all stay on the clipboard, along with my fabric needs. (i love the red clipboard--it's handy, useful, and hard to lose or leave behind.)

It is helpful to also have a GREEN value "window" to evaluate reds better.

Amen to that! Same goes for picking wall paint.

I learned a tip from my guild ...... Look through a peep hole that fits in a door (got mine at Lowes)....looks like your looking from a distance and the pattern and colors are very clear. I do it all the time now.......

That was a strange one. I usually re-read my posts, but I messed up this time. What I wanted to say was that a fabric store could have the red window in their fabric department.

You can't just leave it at that, lol, where did you get your red clear glass clip board? I haven't tried this method but hope to someday as I'm learning.

*chuckle* sorry--didn't even think that someone else might give it a try! i went to a big office supply store--at work, one of the guys came up with blue ones for charting in our work area, red ones for important announcements in the office, white ones for doing ordering, etc. this time of year might be good--school's starting, and the office supply places will be filling up with "goodies". it's a clear red acrylic/plastic--and i might try to find some green cellophane to make a portable "window" for evaluating the reds. it's never really been an issue--but it's worth a try. one more thing i can pop onto that clipboard!

This is something that I forget to do and then discover after it's all sewn together that I don't have enough contrast in some areas. Good reminder, to use a design wall and stand back before sewing together.

There is nothing "wrong" with an item being made with similar values - it's just another thing to be aware of and to do "consciously".

I recently made a purple quilt with 7 different purples - all purple - all very close in value. From a distance it looked like a whole cloth - but up close, you could see the different fabrics. It was exactly my intent and the new owner was delighted - it was one of those that evoked the thot that we're all the same, we're all different, we're all tied together, yet separate...which has a very deep meaning for her and I.