linda701

I have trouble coordinating colors to use in a quilt. Is there any easy way to do so?

ktbb

there are several ways to do this...many fabrics will have colored dots in the selvege and you can match these dots to other fabrics....or you can just stick with single lines of fabrics which will all coordinate, or you can ask the clerk at the quilt store, or purchase a kit, or take a friend along...

QuiltingGrannie

A lot of my customers ask for my help in matching fabrics for their quilts. You are not alone in not finding it easy to do.

Tussymussy

I just layer the bolts and stand back. Anything that jars is taken out and put back on the shelf. Using a colour wheel that gives tonal values helps a lot when you start.

Another way is to lay out your fabric overlapping it and use a telescope the wrong way round. It is fairly easy to see when something is not right.

It is a lovely way to spend an afternoon or evening, pulling stuff out of your stash until it feels right. If it is right for you, then every one else can quilt off!

ckcowl

choose a focus fabric you love and then choose coordinates from the colors in the focus fabric,
get a color wheel...there are free ones available on line you can print. and open bolts up and spread out a yard,,, then add the next one on top of the first so you can see both well together and walk away, come back and look from a few feet away, do they compliment each other or clash?
as you look at magazines, study the different fabrics in the close ups not just the design of the quilt...actually study the fabrics them selves. and look at art work/paintings, see how the colors work together (or not) once you start really looking you will find you know alot more about choosing colors than you thought :thumbup: and BE ADVENTUROUS!!! you really won't know if something will work or not if you are afraid to try it and see....follow your guts, they will seldom steer you wrong :thumbup:

just_the_scraps_m'am

i think you hit on the million dollar question--
i've always thought colors WERE the EZ part--
until i heard some ladies in a LQS claiming how relieved they were that they sold "kits" so they didn't have to worry about what colors to choose! i was amazed!

carolaug

I have a really hard time picking colors too...I do like to try and pick my own colors...I am not perfect at picking them but hope I am getting better.

leonajo

pick fabrics that u think are beautiful and colors that u love. works alot better than just going with whats in style!! think of urself bundled up in a quilt, or a quilt laying on ur bed, whats that quilt look like? I usually know its the right fabric, when I'm stroking it and saying OMG....lol

Mitch's mom

:thumbup: What she said.

GagaSmith

When i see a picture of a quilt i like i cut it out or print it and take it with me when i go to get fabric. I dont try to match it exactly but i can usually tell if a fabric is dark, light or medium tone. Then i choose the colors based on that. i have also asked both people who work in the store and customers for their opinions. i was once buying fabric for a baby quilt (teals, lilacs and turquoises) and the customer behind me liked it so much she bought the same ones. i do think i get better with practice. Good luck1