Do you have an 'Eye for Color'?
05-07-2013, 03:32 PM
#73
Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: NE Oklahoma
Posts: 73
Choosing colors is my big hurdle right now. I see a pattern I would like to do and think about a print and coordinate with solids, but look at choosing prints that I think go together and I get stuck, especially if they are not from the same fabric line or collection. I see the patterns that fabric companies put out for their pattern lines, but a lot of them look too busy to me, and I really don't like the fabric combinations together. It looks like it is hard to pick out the pattern in the middle of all the chaos. A bargello is on my "as I get better" list, but thinking of the different color and shade selections makes me keep moving it to the bottom of the list. I like the paint sample card and crayon ideas. Those might make it easier for me to choose fabrics.
05-07-2013, 03:37 PM
#74
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: S. W. Indiana
Posts: 7,484
I don't. If I go to a quilt shop and try and pick out fabric for a quilt that isn't a fabric collection, I make bad choices. I choose warm and cool colors that don't go together. I choose reds that are purplish and orangish. I choose greens that are bluish and yellowish. I can't seem to tell how wrong they are unless someone points it out to me and even then I don't see it.
I usually have to have the gal behind the counter help me pick out my fabric and lots of times I don't care for what she selects, so I'm stuck with lots of fabric I'll never use.
I am one of the people who buy quilt kits because I can see them and know i like the pattern and fabric. But I would like to choose my own fabric and pattern and make my own quilt sometime. So I have to buy fabric lines in order for my quilts to look nice.
Is there a way to 'learn' to have an eye for color?? Any tips? Anyone else out there that doesn't have an eye for color?
I usually have to have the gal behind the counter help me pick out my fabric and lots of times I don't care for what she selects, so I'm stuck with lots of fabric I'll never use.
I am one of the people who buy quilt kits because I can see them and know i like the pattern and fabric. But I would like to choose my own fabric and pattern and make my own quilt sometime. So I have to buy fabric lines in order for my quilts to look nice.
Is there a way to 'learn' to have an eye for color?? Any tips? Anyone else out there that doesn't have an eye for color?
My problem is that I'm too picky at times. I want exact matches-----------and it's not always necessary. I was born this way so I can't teach you anything.
05-07-2013, 05:42 PM
#76
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: League City, Texas, USA
Posts: 625
I don't over analyze it. I usually spot a fabric that just speaks to me, then I try to coordinate or contrast with that. My LQS used to have a teacher that had a great eye. I always liked to get her perspective on my choices. She usually pointed out that perhaps a white was too white for the other fabrics, or that a green I had picked out to go with a bunch of browns and beiges were too monochromatic, suggesting a red, that turned out making the quilt pop! I usually try to pick out various colors in the main fabric, and gravitate towards them.
05-07-2013, 06:07 PM
#78
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Northeastern Indiana
Posts: 2,800
My father was red/green colorblind. So much that when digital instrumentation came out in airplanes, he lost his pilot's lic. I know I carry it. My neighbor says I'm terrible at color, but I had a successful career in the weaving business making rag rugs and dying the fabric. There is conventional thinking and then there is the edge.
05-07-2013, 06:45 PM
#79
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Northern Wisconsin
Posts: 7,991
I know exactly what you mean. I do that too. I usually buy what I like. Most of the time, I have NOTHING to go with it. It does get frustrating at times. Most of the time, I just use the focus fabric with solids or a blender.
05-07-2013, 06:49 PM
#80
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Georgia
Posts: 58
I like to pick a fabric I love, and then using the selvage dots I like to find 2 colors that tend to not be dominant or highly noticed in the fabric. I always make sure to have one medium, one dark, and one light. I then build on my choices if needing more colors. Black, white and neutrals can be a great help in choosing.
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