What? Seafoam green? Seriously??
Yah, seriously.
This 1950s color is making a comeback! It made it onto Pantone’s Spring Forecast in the form of the color “Hemlock” and it’s showing up in fabric lines that are already starting to come out. For instance:
Anna Maria Horner’s Dowry:
Carolyn Friedlander’s Botanics:
Denyse Schmidt’s Florence:
Heather Bailey’s True Colors:
To name just a few.
I expect it will be popping up quite a bit next year as well. For this post I went and grabbed all the seafoam green I have in my stash. Here is the grand tour.
And in all honesty, two of these prints I bought yesterday so I’d have something to photograph! Fortunately, it looks like I’ll have plenty of opportunities to add this color to my stash over the coming year.
But what do you do with it? It’s close to aqua on the color wheel but it has a very different feel to it. Seafoam is a light blue-green with a bit of grey mixed in. The green makes it an earthy, fresh color, while the blue adds a restful quality.
When figuring out color pairs, I like to start with the analogous and complementary color schemes. If we look at the color wheel, we see that red-orange is seafoam green’s complementary color, or the color directly across from it on the color wheel.
For analogous colors, we look at the colors next to it on the color wheel. They don’t have to be the same distance apart, as you can see in this pairing of aqua, seafoam green and chartreuse. These aren’t the only colors that will work well with seafoam green, but it gives you a good starting point.
Here’s the complementary color scheme in action. Peach is the light version of red-orange, and plays really well with seafoam as it is also a lighter color. Because the colors are complementary, this color scheme is very dynamic.
Using analogous colors on the other hand makes a more subdued color scheme, but it has enough variation to keep it from getting boring.
As for neutrals, because of the earthy feel to seafoam green, it plays quite well with brown. Browns have a strong orange component, which is close to seafoam green’s complement.
However, if you want something lighter, greys also work. A cool grey will give a more monochromatic feel to the color scheme. This is because seafoam is low saturation which brings it close to grey, and cool greys have blue or green in them.
A warm grey on the other hand has more contrast. This is because warm greys have yellow, orange, or red in them, which is closer to the complementary color scheme.
However, my favorite (always) is the low volumes. Given how well seafoam green pairs with browns, I went for the cream (which is a light brown) end of the low volume stack.
You can really branch out from there! I posted this palette earlier that was made using Palette Builder. The gorgeous photo is by Adrianne @ Little Bluebell. You can see the peach, brown, and cream (complements), as well as fuchsia for an extra pop of color.
What do you think of seafoam green? Are you looking forward to seeing more of it next year, or are you hoping it will be a passing fad?
38 thoughts on “For the Love of Color: Seafoam Green”
I love it! I like the peachy one best but that’s probably because it’s similar to my penny sampler, which I’m quilting right now. 😉 Is this color’s comeback maybe a natural offshoot of the big teal comeback last year?
Oh man, I can’t wait to see that done! I’m seeing the finished tops popping up all over and I’m really sad I didn’t take the class!
That is an interesting point. I noticed that it’s basically the pastel form of “emerald” (the color of the year version, not the color that most people think of when they say emerald. Still bitter at the naming, yep!), so it would make sense that they are related. Someday I want to be on the color council and see how all this works. 🙂
That is a gorgeous color. I have never used that color before though
I haven’t either, to be fair! 🙂 But I’ve noticed it cropping up and that my attitude towards it has really shifted, so I thought I’d play around with some color schemes using it. 🙂
I am actually using this color right now. It’s paired with Nordika 🙂
Oh man, Nordika is such a gorgeous line! That darker green-teal would go really nicely with the seafoam green, too! Are you going to reveal the project on your blog sometime soon? I’m looking forward to seeing it! 😀 Or did I somehow miss it?
I am pretty sure much of our 100+ year old house was once painted this color, judging from the bits you can see around door frames. It may have been a bit much. I like it in fabric though.
OMG. :O When I read this I realized that our stand alone garage was totally painted that color at one point! (We have a bit of peeling paint, and you can see it underneath the current color!) It was a much brighter form of the color though, but I still don’t think I’d want my house painted that color. Maybe a bit much. 🙂
Yup, I like seafoam green. I especially love the print from Dowry that you featured – I think it’s one of my favourites from that collection. Really enjoying this series too – I’m definitely more drawn to some of the colour combos than others and its interesting to analyse that and see if its reflected in my quilting and the quilts that I admire.
I really like the Dowry print with the seafoam green background and the teal flowers and leaves. 🙂 I might have to get some of that! (Because, you know, I need more fabric.) I’m glad you’re enjoying the series! I really like watching the color trends and it’s fun to speculate on what’s going to be the next big thing. 🙂
You know, I do actually like seafoam when it’s paired with teal. That Dowry line is brilliant.
AMH does such beautiful fabric! That particular print is gorgeous in all the color ways. I think with the teal taking the forefront, it makes it palatable for those who dislike seafoam. 🙂
no likey. But I’m always hopelessly behind. At this very moment I’m wearing boot cut jeans for chrissakes.
Right there with ya! 😉
My best friend hates the color, too, so I know it’s not for everyone. 🙂 And if you’re wearing boot cut jeans, I’m there with ya too! 😀
Uh-oh. Are boot cut jeans not cool anymore? For all my love of color, I am HOPELESS when it comes to fashion! It’d explain why the jeans I like aren’t available anymore…
I really like Seafoam. It has a vintage vibe to me. Kind of Art Deco -y. And I find it very fresh. It makes me want to put on some cute 1950’s bikini and frolic at the oceans edge :-).
I’ll be interested to see what fabric ranges come out this year and how they incorporate this colour.
E xx
Ohhh yes, I hadn’t even thought about the art deco aspect of it. Pair it with some gold and black and go for it. 😀 I wish True Up was still going, it’d make it easier to look at upcoming fabric lines and I could tell you. 🙂 Maybe I need to start going to market to do color trend watch. (oh crap that sounds fun!)
My favorite is the low volume or the cool grey. Love these articles. The pics are great for showing how they work. It would take me daysssss to come up with these. Thanks for doing our homework:)
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the articles! I love writing them, so it’s always great to know that people are enjoying it. 🙂 I want to go make something with seafoam and peach with low volume now. No idea what I’d use it for, though. 🙂
I like the retro feel of the seafoam green. And am drawn to blues and greens. Cooler colours help keep me calm! So does big band music. In your samples, I am drawn to the complimentary colour scheme. I really enjoy your colour posts….. And seeing all those sweet fabrics lined up sew pretty!
I used to do a lot of swing dancing, and I love big band music!! Although it doesn’t make me calm, it makes me want to dance. 😀 I’m so glad you’re enjoying the color posts! I think I like the complementary scheme with low volume fabrics. I didn’t share that picture (the post was getting long enough) but I really liked the way it looked. 🙂
well now that I see it through your eyes I might not kick it out of bed for eating crackers 🙂
HAHAhaahahahahaha That is totally going to be my new yard stick as to how well I like a color. <3
I have a lot of this colour for my pickle dish quilt. I was asked for brown and mint green and have thus incorporated spectrum from aqua to mint which includes some seafoam. I will go an look for it. I think there might also be a kona in it and I used it recently in my cycles quilts. I love the ocean feel to this colour.
Oooh I love your pickle dish!! And of course your cycles quilts are one of my favorites of the year. It doesn’t surprise me that you’re way ahead of the trend! I know Kona has a solid named seafoam green, but I think there are a few that could be described as such. 🙂
I like the color. My sewing room, which used to be a bedroom, is in that color, maybe a bit more green. Love the peach with your fabric!
Oooh I bet that’s beautiful! Come to think of it, Janome has that Hello Kitty sewing machine which is close to this color. 🙂
The peach and seafoam combo is my favorite, I think. Especially with some low volumes thrown in! I might have to make something with them!
I loved most of the combinations except the brown. That is a perfect color.
Brown is a tough sell, I admit. 🙂 I think there’s a place for brown in modern quilting, but I’m not sure I’ve found it yet! Maybe with the more fuchsia/orange end of things. 🙂
What a lovely post! thanks for sharing! I am quite fond of the seafoam color, especially in combination with the peach/apricot color! Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait to see a project with those!
Thank you so much! I really like the seafoam/peach combo as well. I bet they’d work for a nod-to-Christmas pillow, especially in a sea/ocean theme decor. I might have to try that. 🙂
Thanks for pulling your fabrics to make the color comparisons – really helps my brain understand why I like some pairings better than others. And yes, this is a very late 50’s/early 60’s color. I remember….
I’m so glad it was helpful for you! 😀 It seems that all color comes back around at some point. We had the 80s neons last year, for instance. 🙂 I think it’s fun, to see the colors again in a new setting.
If you had asked for my opinion on sea foam green 5 minutes ago, I would not have had anything nice to say. But your post has me intrigued, maybe the color has a “good side” after all. Thank you!
I like to say I’ve never met a color I didn’t like, when seen in the right perspective. 🙂 I certainly wouldn’t want to paint an entire room seafoam green (it’d look like a hospital!) but I think it has its place! I’m glad you have found its good side. 😀
While I’m not wild about the gray/purple you posted recently, I think I can get along OK with seafoam, even if it does remind me a bit of my mother’s kitchen curtains when I was little.
I just purchased a FQ bundle of Dowry, and I like the blend of colors it has.
Thanks for another great color post.
Seafoam is totally a throwback color; we looked at houses that had some retro stoves that color. But I think that’s a bit of the appeal, for me at least! Dowry has a few prints with that seafoam green as a background color. She does such a great job updating it by pairing it with unexpected colors. 🙂