Color Blind Quilter Needs Some Suggestions
 

I am color blind and although I have never really seen it as being a problem when it comes to choosing my clothes, shoes, and things for the house it has certainly become a problem when it comes to buying the right color fabrics for making a quilt. I have color wheels that I do use when shopping for fabric but much to my embarrassment some of the colors that I thought looked nice together look much better on my dog's bed simply because they don't care. I have so much fabric I could probably open my own fabric store and I have read several books on colors that has helped but on the rare occasion that I am able to get to a fabric store I have a tendency of buying beautiful fabric with a specific pattern in mind and after all is said and done, the buying and cutting etc. I find out that colors I chose would look best on a clown not on someone's lap quilt or bed. Is there anyone else who is color blind and chooses there own fabric that wouldn't mind offering a few suggestions as to a good and safe way of matching up the right colors? I'm starting to feel a little stupid when I get asked why I would choose "THOSE" colors to make quilt. Help !!!!

I am not color blind, but I have had several family members ask me that exact same question " Why would you use THOSE colors together ? " At first, I was devastated, then I learned a very simple trick.

" Because I felt like it ! " and " Why Not ? " became my responses. I also stopped asking those people for their opinions on my art. If your choices look nice to YOU, do not let someone else tell you you are wrong ! Ever !
Van Gogh and Picasso are both thought to have been color blind, and you can be sure no one is complaining about their color selections !

If you belong to a guild, I'm sure there's someone who would spend an afternoon and help organize your fabrics into 'happy families'. Or go with black & white prints, then choose any other color fabric for pop.

You have lots of friends here who are willing to give advice any time.

You can always go for a fabric collection and make your purchase from within the collection. Also even though it is hard to admit a handicap you will find just asking someone for a little help will bring out the nicest, understanding & helpful people in the world.

Looking at some of the newer offering in mags/books this should not worry you..... Don't know anyone who is colorblind..can you explain..do you see any color or is it all shades of black, white, gray. taking a friend with, or telling someone at the store to help certainly is something I would do....you are not alone in this fun thing.

I have always asked for help choosing fabrics from the people I got to know at my LQS especially if I knew it would be in competition. When doing my bargello, I ask anyone behind the counter what they think. Bring a fabric and ask for help in selecting coordinates. If you make a connection, then later on, you can tell them in private that you are colorblind.

I have a quilter friend who is color blind, and I must say she occasionally makes some interesting selections, but she puts together some fabulous quilts. She laughs about a pair of green pants she made for her father (who was also color blind). He loved them and wore them all the time. Of course they were really orange, and the rest of the family had fits about it. Just ask your friends if you want help, but don't stress over using colors that are unconventional. Sometimes that's just the ticket to wake up a boring quilt.

Maybe approaching it in a different way might help. I am not color blind, but I have myopic macular degeneration, and I don't see straight lines like other folks do. (What looks straight to you looks curved to me.) I still enjoy quilting, and the lines look fine to me when I am done. :)

What if you select a fabric that has lots of colors in it as a "map" for a quilt. Surely those colors go together if they are already in one fabric. Then select other fabrics that go with the colors in that fabric. If you see the two colors as the same, they are, right? And if they matched in the original fabric, they should go together, right? Is that making any sense?

Other than that, I'd just tell folks I was color bind and the quilt looks fine to me...or I'd ask the person who questioned your colors to help you select the fabric for your next quilt, either at a store or from your stash. Couldn't take too long for someone to help you select fabrics that go together? And they could do it right then....?

Don't let this ruin your quilting enjoyment. I suspect that we don't all see colors the same anyway, and how would we know?? :)

Dina