Become a Color-Savvy Quilter: Part 2, The Clash
There are things you can do to become a color-savvy quilter.
This series will help to expand your color skills so you can make more beautiful, more interesting and more successful quilts.
If there were a Patchwork Bible, it would contain a book on color, and one of the unshakeable truths would be this:
If you’re getting dressed, choose colors to match.
If you’re making a quilt, choose colors to clash.
Wait, did that say clash? Yes, absolutely. Making a quilt is not like getting dressed. You don’t want all of the blues or greens or reds to match. You want them to clash. Let me show you what I mean.
To pull together a red outfit, you might do something like this. The reds match.
But if you’re making a quilt, and you put these fabrics together, the effect would be flat and uninteresting, above. Instead, you want reds that clash a little:
This set of reds is so much better!
These greens look great together for an outfit.
But for a quilt, you need more variety, like the fabrics above.
Matching yellows are great for an outfit, but not for a quilt.
Instead, you want variety. You want a little clash!
You Are My Sunshine by Diane Harris. Photo by Mellisa Karlin Mahoney. Used with permission.
I used this idea in You Are My Sunshine. There’s a little clash going on, and the quilt is better for it.
Your Stash Bandit takeaway:
If you’re getting dressed, choose colors to match.
If you’re making a quilt, choose colors to clash.
Tags: color, color for quilters, fabric savvy, how-tos