I had 2 days that I could sew all day-what a luxury. I decided to make a patriotic throw for my loveseat (no one sits there). I had some nice navy with scattered white stars, white with thin red stripes, and a beautiful red Moda marble. Made a large center medallion-type block and surrounded it with borders. Finished piecing yesterday so I just left it on my sewing table knowing I'd get back to it today. Normally, I hang things on my flannel design wall.
Quilted and got binding on by this afternoon. Took it downstairs, draped it on my loveseat and stood back to admire it. What should have been a nice red, white & blue patriotic quilt is actually a red, PINK, and blue non-patriotic quilt!!
If you stand across the room and view it from a distance, the white fabric with the red stripes reads PINK!!!
Moral of the story: step back during the sewing process and view your work from a distance!!
I'd post a pic but I'm too depressed.

oh... a sad story..

I have been using a camera to be my eye.. some things look great at eye, but not through the lense.

So sorry !

at first reading of your heading I thought you were gonna tell a story like a lil one with sticky chocolate covered fingers or something..

however I an sorry to her about the quilt BUT i know, no matter what It will be lovely, pink or white..

Well at least its not red blue and pink, had that happen a few weeks ago for me after I washed. Wish we could see it I'm sure its no that bad.

cute!

I am sure it will look wonderful even the color is not what you thought!

Sorry for your disappointment. I bet its pretty anyhow.

i too have found the camera a great eye

Really??? Wow, thanks for the tip but sorry for you! I bet it's lovely anyway.

I thought you would say you did step away and your dog took it

I guess you're going to have to display it front and center so everyone will be looking at it up close!
Just kidding. Sorry about your optical illusion. Did you use a pretty backing??

post it anyway. I think we are harder on ourselves when we make things with one thing in mind and another is what we see. I hate to hear your disappointment, but just think, no matter what you were able to sew for TWO FULL DAYS and that is totally priceless.

Ah come on...show pictures...please???

hey! it's just "girly" patriotic.

Tea or coffee dye it maybe it will look like a primative R,W,B

I really like your idea of using a camera :D :D

Can you post a picture so we can see??? It may not be as bad as you think...you probably will get lots of positive comments if you can show us a picture.

Time to get out those fabric crayons and stay in the lines

You might try it in some different places in the room. It could be the type of light it is being displayed in.

I like the tea dye idea if it still bothers you.

Sorry. Sometimes you just gotta laugh and chalk it up to learning. I'm sures its not as bad as you think.

I just recently did something similar. I was doing a checkerboard type border and instead of putting the dark squares in the 4 corners I put the light squares. I didn't notice the "off" look until I took a picture of it for the quilt show entry. It isn't really "wrong", but it would look better with the dark in each corner. Will I remember next time? We'll see!

I was a a retreat and someone was helping me with the layout of my quilt and we used a camera for the final... it really did help! the camera doesn't lie....and you can tell if you don't like it and play with things before you put it all together. Maybe next time you should try this method

Good luck@

I like to take a picture to give a more concentrated view.
It seems to help me arrange colors, lights & darks.

I agree, my thoughts exactly...

:( What if you go back and uber quilt the 'reads pink' section with white thread?

Thanks all--you've certainly made me feel better. I'd take a pic but DH is at a conference and has the camera with him.
I am liking the idea of tea dying. I'll pull out some scraps of the fabrics I used and see how they turn out. I've done this in the past and like the antique look. I'll let ya know!

I use a peep hole thingy that you can buy at the hardware store (Lowes etc.) and it gives you a wonderful perspective. I use it after it laid on the flannel board then you can re-arrange the offending blocks. It's wonderful.

Have you concidered painting the pieces that look pink? I've bought some supplies to try painting fabric, but haven't done it yet. Just a thought.

Awwww....don't ya' just hate when that happens..:)..I'm sorry, but I agree that the tea dye idea will probably make it look just great! Design opportunity??

tea dye it. soak it in the washer or sink with strong tea for a few hours or over night. You will be surprised

I did something similar...my green and white striped fabric looked like blue in a quilt of greens and black.!!!

Me, too. And I am often surprised at the secondary patterns that emerge when I look at it through the camera!

I'd post a pic but I'm too depressed.
Oh come on Jan. Must see pictures. I"m sure its beautiful.
Now you'll be able to use it year round.
:thumbup:

Il found that my camera has better eyes than I do!

Maybe red fabric paint? I did that once with a red white and blue quilt - I used a red and white gingham that read pink from just 10 feet away. I took a star squilt course from Diane MacLeod Shink, (Dimac.com) a quilt evaluator 10 yrs ago - she uses a 2' and a 10' rule before every step - maybe a 20' - 30' rule should be added to that.

Im so sorry about your quilt throw. But to put a brite spin on it, from what happend to you and by sharing it with the rest of us; we may avoid the same mistake.

I have a pink tee shirt with a chenille USA flag on it. It all reads pink instead of white. I love it.
Please let us see a pic.
Pink lovers unite! We will love it.
Sorry it turned out not as planned. Lemonade from lemons........

A good tip I was given at art class was to stand in front of a mirror and view your work through the mirror. I have applied this to my quilts and I always use a full lenght mirror to view my work and it really works.

Great avatar. Great advise too. :thumbup: