Picking fabrics for my own quilts are easy. But finding fabrics for my sons… not so easy. I gather the fabric swatches together and they wrinkle their noses. So, I go back and try again. Similar results…
Anyone else have this problem?
It took me a while to figure out that I picked colors based upon what I liked – gardens and the outdoors. Not what they liked – military history or medieval history. The colors they preferred corresponded to their interests. Makes sense right? Then, why did it take me so long to figure that out?
We look at colors through our own frame of reference. It is hard to look through someone else’s frame. Our color sense is greatly influenced by the other things we enjoy in life. That is fantastic when making quilts to keep, but not necessarily great when making quilts for others.
So how do you get there? Work with you recipient to find images they like. Then, work with those colors.
Here is a good example. Ships and their rigging are not really my thing. I do like the composition of the picture though… Its kind of cool. I think of how a sailor might see this every day. Looking aloft at the sails, masts, and rigging.
These colors would be great for such a sailor.
Using these colors of blue, white, mahogany and browns, I created a color palette. Granted the blue sky dominates the image, but I didn’t want it to dominate the quilt. So, I will keep the blue as an accent.
This time, I didn’t need to add any extra colors. This palette had the perfect number of fabrics for a substitution in Flawed Diamonds.
I did not keep the lights and darks consistent with the original quilt. I tried but didn’t like the effect. Instead, I jumbled the colors a little bit and it created a rope-like effect. I thought that would be cool given the inspiring image was rigging – essentially shipping ropes.
What do you think of the color combinations?
It isn’t something I would have originally picked, but it seems to work.
How do you pick fabrics for gift quilts?
Happy Quilting!
