Happy weekend, all!
I have a quick question you y’all today! As some of you may be aware, I really like talking about color. I am thinking of starting a “Color Clinic” as a semi-regular blog feature where people email me with questions about color or ask for color help on a project, and I post the answers to the blog. I’m happy to keep in anonymous although I would like to show photos of your project if its okay.
So the question: Would that be helpful? And do you have any color-related questions/requests for color help on projects?
If you do have questions, leave them in the comments, or email me privately: anne@play-crafts.com.
And if no one does, let’s just pretend this post never happened… 😀
52 thoughts on “Color Clinic”
Sounds an interesting idea and I am sure I would learn lots from any discussion (sometimes colour frightens me – harks back to the ‘old days’ when certain colours/patterns etc ‘should not be seen together’ my dob is 1950!). I m learning to embrace colour though I still struggle with patterns.
Not so sure I would have questions but who know what tomorrow will bring to my mind 🙂
I’ve definitely grown up under the “certain colors shouldn’t be used together” thing, and it’s a hard thing to break! But of course it’s totally bunk, you can use whatever colors you want together, it’s just a matter of getting the saturation and value working together with the hue to make them sing. 🙂
If you think of any questions, please feel free to pass them along!
I read just one of the articles linked above and was blown away by your wisdom. Yes, please. A question that comes to mind: is it true that Macs render colors more accurately than PCs? Does that apply to iPhones and iPads, too? Also, I’m working on a quilt with courthouse square blocks in red, brown, yellow, orange, and green. I used a turquoise-ish blue for the center of each square instead of the (apparently) traditional red. Would something else have been a better choice? I guess you’d need to see a picture.
Thank you for the kind words! 😀 I’ve noted your questions and will happily address them in future color clinic posts! If you have a picture to share of the courthouse square blocks, I’d love to see them. And would it be okay if I post the photos along with the post?
I love to play with color and fabrics. I usually m confident in my choices; however, I am often too conservative and am eager to learn more and to stretch my color sense to be more creative… thanks for sharing your ideas with others.
The fact that you already play with color and fabrics leads me to believe you are doing just fine. 🙂 We all have our comfort zones, but it’s the playing that leads us to the fun discoveries and helps us stretch our creative boundaries!
Yes! Yes! Yes! What is the proportion to use for complementary colors (50-50 never works) and why? Why do yellow and black seem to make a quilt pop or have energy, whereas white and navy don’t as much? Thanks!
Those are awesome questions!! I’ve noted them and will address them in future posts. 🙂 Thank you so much for your questions!
Yes yes YES!! I am a beginning quilter and come at it from a more logical standpoint as I am really not all that artistic. I can “match” colours but I have great difficulty thinking outside the box. I have been using the palette builder for inspiration, but there’s really no substitution for a real live person!
Yay!! Thank you for your enthusiasm, I was worried no one would be interested. 😀 I have a very logical background (my degree is in computer science!) so hopefully I’ll be able to explain things in a way that will make sense to the more logical folks out there. 🙂 If you think of any questions, please feel free to email me or share them here and I’ll answer them in future posts!
Yes please!
Yay! Thank you for weighing in. 😀 I’m definitely going to do it, so if you think of any questions you want to ask, feel free to email me or comment on the blog and I’ll add them to the list. 🙂
Sometimes I need help on choosing a color — say for a border or a background and would love feedback from an different perspective on which way to go. That’s my idea.
Thanks,
Wanda
I’d definitely be happy to help/give opinions on that! When you have one of those projects, feel free to pass it along and I’ll happily address it in future color clinics. 😀
Yes!! I love colors!!
(I’ve recently been indulging in stashing beautiful solids… But so far I just delight in looking and playing with them!… )
I’d love to hear your thoughts and read what you (another color lover!) have to say!
My solids stash is quickly growing to be more extensive than my prints stash. It’s unfortunate they don’t have the colors listed on the selvage, because I didn’t expect it to grow so I didn’t label any of them and now … well. Oops. Anyway, that’s an entirely different problem! If you have any questions, please feel free to share them on the blog or through email! 😀
I am seeking help in advancing the addition of the letter “u” to the word colour… can you help? *teehee*
Do it! I am interested in how to choose a background color other than the traditional neutrals once one already has one’s block fabrics chosen. Seems like it’s always black, white, gray or tan hiding in the background.
Oooh that’s a great question!! I’ve added it to the list of questions to address and will talk about it in a future post. Thanks so much for sharing!
Oh look, there’s this u over here in “dorkbutt”, I’ll just grab it from there. Hahahaha I actually like it with the u, but feel like a poseur when I spell it that way. 🙂
Of course we need your expert advice. Quilters always want more, more, more color advice.
Don’t you think that they will eventually run out of questions? 🙂 But I will keep answering them while I have them! 😀
I think it’s a great idea. I tend to be pretty liberal about colors…..re what goes with what, but can’t always tell what REALLY works. If you want, I can post a pic of a recent quilt top I made. I was making it up as I go, per usual, and kept running out of colors. I mixed at least 3 different blue prints in sometimes large pieces and I think it all works out, particularly when I get it back from the quilter, but not sure if it really does. Let me know if you want to see a pic of it. Not sure how I can add it right now.
Thanks.
Nothing wrong with being liberal about colors! 😀 I’d be happy to take a look at the quilt top you made and provide feedback! You can send it via email and I can either provide feedback privately or if you’re okay with me posting the photo and talking about it on my blog I’ll post it to the blog. 🙂
I would love to learn from your wisdom.
Thank you for your kind words! I’m definitely going ahead with the color clinic posts, I should have the first one up this week!
Yes please start the series. I can select 2-3 colors without any trouble, but beyond that & I’m lost.
Yay! I will definitely be doing the series. 🙂 I’m adding your question to the list, as well! 😀
I think it’s a great idea! You know, we all get stuck once in awhile and it would be great to have someone, that actually knows color, to ask for advice.
I understand, I get stuck too! But I always have opinions, and am happy to share them with people who actually want them! lol
It would definitely make for an interesting read! And it’s never a bad things to have a Quilty Dear Abby to turn to!
Hahaha as long as no one sends me questions about quilting social etiquette. I am hopeless on that front!
I’d be in, defintely. Color is the basis of much of what I do with fabric and photography.
Ooooh how long have you been doing photography? 🙂 I did photography years ago (back when you had to get slides developed… haha) and I know there’s been some fun overlaps between photography and quilting. Although I seem kind of incapable of taking good photos of quilts. If you ever end up doing an advice column on that, please share!
work in a quilt shop and choosing colors is the #1 issue with our customers. I know that there will be great interest
Oh, that’s great to hear! Is the #2 issue choosing prints? 🙂 I know that’s a whollleeee different pandora’s box. 🙂
I have no questions at the moment, but know they will arise. And I love discussions of colo(u)r. (Speling for LethargicLass).
Hahahaha thank you for keeping LethargicLass in mind when responding, I’m sure she appreciates it! 😀 If you end up with questions, please feel free to email them to me or post them on the blog!
Hell yes! Cannot ever have too much info about colour. And you are so very thorough so I’m sure it will be helpful. Good luck!
Your enthusiasm makes me happy! 😀 Thank you for the kind words as well! I’m definitely going to go forward with the idea, hope to have the first post up this week!
I need help with picking the right “white”.
Oooh that’s a fun one. Do you have a specific project in mind, because the answer will be based on what project you’re working on at the time. I can talk about it more generally, though!
I usually pick a minor color in a print and match in to a solid. That’s all I feel comfortable doing. Obviously, there’s a lot I can learn from your blog!
There’s nothing wrong with that method! 🙂 I think that’s really the big lesson is that there’s no right or wrong, just what appeals to you and what doesn’t. This stuff is entirely subjective!
So excited about the series – somehow I missed this post until now but the upside is that reading through the comment/reply section has been really thought provoking. I’d love to have a link up party where readers post a picture of their quilt, wip or fabric pull in response to a blog topic or challenge you set out for them.
Oooh a link up party would be a ton of fun! 🙂 I realized too late (i.e. after I already posted the last color clinic post) that I should have invited people to give their own thoughts in the comments. I will do that next time at the very least!
Great idea, I can always use a little help. Coming from a non-quilting country, I don’t know what I don’t know ; actually my quilting style is “du grand n’importe quoi” (a big nonsense).
So, one of my questions is :
I often read about “negatice space”, this great new adventure in quilting. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but, is there a restriction to the colours you can use (I mainly saw “neutrals” being used), and how does a bold choice of colour will affect the rest of the quilt, its contrast, etc ?
I love your question! In fact, you should check out the blog tomorrow because I’m featuring it. 😀 Hopefully the answer makes sense, but if you have follow up questions, please feel free to ask!
(I also love your phrase for your quilting style, that is wonderful!)
In your post on complimentary colors, you wrote about avoiding the “Christmas effect,” but now I’m trying to make a tree skirt and having trouble finding the right green for that Christmassy look — it’s surprisingly difficult! Any advice?
Thanks for the awesome question, I’ve added it to the list. 🙂 I know you’ve been butting up against what fabrics are actually available, but I will look into this for you! 😀
Sounds like a great idea to me, I always learn something from your posts on colour. I have a question about something I’ve had trouble with lately, how do you stop a pull of bright colours from looking too juvenile? I feel like it might be something around not using only the pure, fully saturated “rainbow” colours, and instead introducing some of the slightly off centre colours instead (eg Aqua, coral, etc). I feel like this is a problem I’ve had with my stash and I’m slowly learning to add more variations of colours but I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Oh! That’s a fantastic question. I’m saving that one for a future color clinic. 🙂 Although I can say that you are definitely on the right track!