Make Good Choices

How do you choose just the right fabrics for a new quilt project when you're clueless, devoid of ideas? 


One source of inspiration is a favorite fabric. On a couple of occasions I've started the quilting-making process with the back of the quilt. Choose your top fabrics to harmonize with the focus fabric to be used for backing. By selecting the fabric that'll be used for the quilt backing at the onset, you've solved a couple of problems: (1) concerns over whether or not fabrics "go together", as your color scheme has been decided for you and more than likely, decided by an artist/designer; and, (2) avoiding the need to find just the right backing fabric for the pieced top...the finished quilt is "all of a piece" as the top was literally made to go with the backing. 


Another source of inspiration for a new project is a picture. Not just a picture from a quilting magazine or book, but pictures from sales catalogs, fashion and cooking magazines, etc. Always be on the lookout for colored photos that appeal to you. These photos were staged and shot by artists, who work with color every day and have a far better understanding of it than you or I. They know what works! Just a few days ago I flipped through a Crate and Barrel sales catalog and before I'd gotten to the end had torn out three pages. One was a photo of stacked pillows in various colors, two vases and a lamp. I loved all but one of the colors in the photo, but on a closer look realized it was that discordant color (in my mind, not necessarily in theory) that made the whole thing work. This is a great way to find the inspiration needed to go beyond what feels safe, to get out of your color rut!


Another tool, but one that may require a bit more skill than taking your lead from a piece of commercial fabric or from a photo, is a color wheel. There's a wealth of information in that little wheel. Beginning with monochromatic color schemes to complementary to split-complementary and so on. What's not included is "anything goes," because typically the anything-goes approach doesn't work. Buy a color wheel and maybe even a book on color. Try using it as you plan your next quilt project. 


In an effort to practice what I preach, I took out my color wheel this morning and considered it as I looked at the stack of fabrics I'd chosen for my current project, An Unusual Lone Star. I felt I'd made good choices (analogous colors of blues, purples, and blue-greens), but something was missing. I found the answer on the color wheel...a light yellow-green. I happened to have a good one in my stash, placed it on the pile of fabrics, and it was magic! It seemed to bring to life the color combination. Whether or not it made much of a difference is questionable, but at this moment I'm feeling much more confident with my palette.