Who Else Wants to Unlock the Mysteries of Color in Fabric – and Reduce the Amount of Time You Spend Picking the Perfect Fabric, So You Can Have More Time to Enjoy Your Finished Quilt?

Each and every quilt is a new adventure in picking colors. I'd rather have it be fun and easy, not stressful and hard, and wonder whether my daughter will tell me the color combination is "weird."

From: Penny Halgren
Date:

Greetings,

If you are anything like I am, picking the right fabric for your quilt is one of the most challenging things about making a quilt.

Sometimes it takes what seems like hours pondering “this fabric” or “that fabric.”

Then there’s the fabric stash. Each time I’m in one of my local fabric shops, it’s easy to find a fabric that I just know will be “perfect” in a future quilt. Being a perfectly normal quilter, I buy a yard of it and add it to my stash.

But, when it comes time for the “next” quilt, none of the fabric in my stash is just the perfect color, so there I go, back to the quilt shop in search of the perfect fabric.

Years ago, I made a quilt that I thought had some interesting colors in it. And, at the time, I thought it all went together pretty well.

It has my favorite colors in it, and they are all on the same side of the color wheel – blue, purple, green, and some very dark red.

And I picked each one of the fabrics because I liked it individually, and thought the colors would fit “just fine” in that quilt.

Then last year, quilting daughter, Stephanie, told me she thought it was a pretty weird combination of colors.

Of course, now every time I look at it, I wonder. And maybe there is something about that quilt that looks a little “off.”

Maybe you have a quilt like that? Or maybe you were smarter than I and asked for an opinion before you sewed the quilt together.

I’ll admit I have a bunch of books about color in fabric and quilts. Too many to count actually.

There are probably thousands of books about color and quilts that I don't have (but would love to). And, it seems like every book about making a quilt includes a chapter about color and how to pick the right fabric for your quilt - even mine include that chapter.

If it’s a really good book (like mine), it has pictures of actual fabric and quilts, and not just diagrams or color ink blotches pretending to be fabric or fabric colors.

Since so many How-to-Quilters expressed a common interest in learning about color and fabric and picking fabric for a quilt, I decided to invest some time in seeking out additional resources about color. (Any excuse to invest in a new quilting book – you understand.)

Several have popped up, but one in particular was especially helpful as I wrote an article about color and fabric. This resource introduced me to the Ives color wheel and the notion of using nature as a basis for exploring color and color combinations.

The information included in this resource brought me full circle with the fabric dyeing I have done, and gave me a better understanding of the basic red, blue and yellow, and why the fabric dye never really looked like most color wheel colors.

As I explored further, even more mysteries were laid right out there in the open for us to see.

On the pages that talk about yellow-green (or chartreuse) there are 41 color patches (well, these are just blobs/rectangles of color) showing the color chartreuse and every variation – the tints (when you add white), the shades (when you add black), and the tones (when you add grey).

Turn the page, and you will see what it looks like when you use chartreuse with various shades and tints of purple or yellow. And there are photographs of real fabric you could buy in the store. As a matter of fact, I think I have some of the fabrics pictured in the book.

Each basic color – yellow, green, blue, violet, red, and orange has about 15 pages devoted to just that color and what other colors go with it.

You see photographs of flowers in nature that display the color combinations, actual fabric that can be used in quilts and color bars that illustrate the points being made in the discussion.

Another cool thing, is that there are pages devoted to exploring what one block would look like with different color combinations.

Plus the block is shown as it would look in a quilt so you can see the overall effect of changing the colors and placement of light and dark fabrics. (These are just color “blobs,” since it would take months to make the quilts themselves in the various combinations.

It’s amazing to see the difference in a block when you use light and dark fabric in different positions in the block, let alone when you use a green combination vs. a blue combination.

Plus, there are actual photographs of more than 70 quilts that illustrate the various principles of color that are discussed in the book.

In short, this is the perfect addition to every quilters' library.

By now, you’re probably wondering what this treasure is called, and how you can get your hands on it.

This fabulous quilting resource is by Joen Wolfrom, expert watercolor quilter. And who better to discuss color in quilts? The color in her quilts just “flows” and creates excitement in her quilts.

And now you can get her wisdom at the click of your mouse with Color Play: Easy Steps to Imaginative Color in Quilts.

This 144 page resource is worth its weight in gold, and will be one of your treasured guides to the inner world of color in quilts and nature. And it’s only $27.95, plus a small charge for shipping and handling.

And we’re taking orders between now and Friday, May 11, with delivery during the next week of May 21.

With your investment, you get:

Joen Wolfrom broadens your color experience and stretches your imagination with creative color play. Now selecting colors for your quilt designs will be fun, and your quilts will always live up to their visual potential!

This is the perfect addition to every quilters' library.

Why not uncloud the haze surrounding the selection of colors in your quilts, and invest today?

Using the information in this resource, you could take half the time to select the fabric for your next quilt (unless you just want to take more time).

Imagine not stressing over the selection of your fabrics, and not wondering whether your daughter (or friend, or son, or mother) will make some critical remark!

Maybe this is the project that will get your first quilt started. Or maybe this project will be just another one along your quilting journey that will give you some new tips and techniques.

Here's what magazines are saying about this fantastic resource:

I'll admit when I first saw this book, I thought, "Well, here's another study in color. This might be interesting."

What really intrigued me were the colors on the front of the book, and how vibrant and interesting they are. I had no idea that I would be opening a book that I would keep on my quilting table, not just stored on my bookshelf.

This book truly is lovely to look at and full of inspiration for future quilts.

There are perspectives I hadn’t thought of, and examples to make the descriptions and explanations come alive.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

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