One Color, Two Colors

One color, two colors, red color, blue color. Oh what a lot of colors there are. Does this remind you a little of a Dr. Suess rhyme, well it just might as I believe the good doctor used fish in his rhyme, but it works for fabric color as well. Thank you Dr Suess for all the things you help us think.

Okay, I'll withhold any further rhyming, but I really do love a good rhyme. Even more, I adore beautiful, colorful fabrics. I know we can agree on that point. We are all quilters after all. And if you are reading this and you are not a quilter, that's good, too. Join us and see what all the love is about.

As I begin the new year, I have so many things running around my brain, that I wish to share with all of you. I know something really needs to be shared when I start dreaming about it or when it shows up on my ideas list many times or even when I force my dearest husband to sit and listen to my thoughts many times a week. Thankfully, he will happily sit and share his opinion, shake his head in the positive, and give great words of support. I'm blessed to have a person in my life like, Dave. This leads me to the subject of fabric and color combos. Fabric color combinations is constantly the number one question that I receive. How do I match color, does this fabric go with that fabric. I really think this comes from our lack of confidence and I think this lack of confidence comes from the first time in each of our lives when someone said to us, "You know those colors don't match" or "Are you really going to wear those colors together?" How sad that we would say such a thing to anyone. I really think this has placed a mental block in our brain, it dulls our ability to make choices with color that we once made with ease, just because we loved the colors.

Indeed there is a science to color, but putting colors together is truly up to the individual. There is no need for quilters to have a degree in color theory. I think that as quilters the idea of color is somewhat subjective. And I think that to be true because for the most part people love scrappy quilts, why, because of all the colors. We know that in a scrappy quilt, the colors that sit next to one another are very likely not matched, yet we love how the colors play with one another. I hope that what I am about to say will help lift that indecision for some of you. I give you permission to put any colors together that you like. What you like is what matters, not what someone else happens to think. You can match your colors and you can make beautiful quilts.

Now, I also know that there are so many people that tell us we must do this or that, that fighting that little negative voice inside our heads can be difficult. So, in a way we are lucky that there are people that adore the science of color and spend there lives trying to make color choice a bit easier for us. There is nothing wrong with using color tools as they can help you find the names of color that you love, which makes it easier to ask for what you want at a shop, they can help you create a color in a digital format if you are a digital artist, and color tools can help inspire us. Use color tools freely, but do not be afraid to go against rule if you love specific colors together. Let me share with you a new tool that found over the holiday season. I had never heard of this company, but the product is a lot of fun....

The Color Cube -

I have recently told you about a new product that I found over the holiday season and it is called the Color Cube. It is a fantastic system to help with color selection regardless of your art form. I have been finding it inspiring. Even, I can get in a rut when it comes to picking my quilt colors because I have a very specific love of a certain palette. I truly love all colors, but it is just too easy to always pick your "go to" colors. The two volumes of Color Cubes each have about 250 cards that give you an inspiration photo, a curated color set and on the back you will see shades of each color and the hex#. Cool right? In my video, Picking Fabrics - My Favorite New Tool https://youtu.be/zyWktILSs5A you can see me talk about the Color Cube. We are also having a little fun with the Color Cube here at Sew In Common. Go to the Community tab on the YouTube channel and vote for your favorite color combination. I have pulled four color cards from a Color Cube and whichever card receives the most votes will be the palette that we will work with in February. Please help me out by placing your vote before January 20th. You can see what the post looks like here.

One Last thing that I think will be fun and help with color is first Wednesday Workshop, which is about charm packs. Those yummy little 5x5 stacks of a specific fabric collection. Checkout the first Wednesday Workshop video here - https://youtu.be/9miwvDJm-4w

Charm Packs are a great way to play with color without worrying about matching as the designer has done that. Yet, it will also help you get use to seeing how different colors can work together. Who knows you may even find your favorite palette within a charming little packet of fabric squares.

In the end, I know this to be true, I have never seen an ugly quilt. They are all beautiful and they all meaning to the creator and to the recipient. Please, have fun with color, any colors you like. That is the biggest challenge that I will give you this year. By next December, I hope that you all are more confident in regard to color. Oh, the quilts we will quilt and I cannot wait to see them all.

Sew Life Beautiful...

Diana