Waltzing with Prints: Picking out Printed Background

 We've looked a lot at how different background colors affect a quilt. It's a dramatic element in every quilt. The background sets the tone and shows off the rest of the colors. It's a really important decision.
But what if you're using a print? 


Prints are a "wysiwyg" experience. What you see is what you get. And, as always, they are in relationship with each other.
I have a selection of fabrics that are printed as a collection, and the red is the same in all of them.

 A red on red print

 Red on White paisley

 White on red paisley

 Dit and dot  print

 Chain print

The values of these fabrics, dark to light, even with the same red and the same white are very different. Why?

The size and the density of the print. More red than white?

Probably looks darker. More white than red, it will read as lighter. If you're working on a range like this, you may want to choose the pieces with the strongest value differences, because that is going to make your contrast.

How can you tell? As we said before, what you see is what it is. You just have to look the right way. When you're looking at a print up close, say in your hand, you really can't tell. Walk away and look at it at distance. You may want to take it into  real sunlight. Some kinds of lighting make colors appear to be very different.  And you can squint at it. Squinting makes you more able to see the value of the fabric rather than the print or the color.

Cottage Mills Color Evaulator II Red and Green Filter

Finally you can use a color evaulator. There are many kinds. This one offers a green view as well, just in case you're working in red.

So when you see a group of quilters squinting across the room from their fabric, you now know that they're checking the value. Or they have something in their eye.  Either way,it's a whole other way to look at our fabrics and our fabric choices.

Backgrounds: A Jewel on Velvet

blue and off white

For the next several posts we're going to talk about backgrounds. We spend a lot of time looking for patterns, and searching for the right pattern. And we know there needs to be a background color of some kind. Probably white. How important can it be?


How important can it get! Your background color is the velvet your other colors shine out from. It makes a HUGE difference in how our colors look together.

blue and black

There is an illusion that only your pattern colors count. But, in truth, colors are always seen in relationship with each other. We perceive them as different with different colors around them. We usually perceive one of them as being the background and the other as the foreground, but that perception can shift in a heart beat.

The old saying about 
fabric selection is
"You can pick one  fabric for your lover. And then every one else has to dance with him."

blue and khaki

It's true. Find one color or fabric you are head over heels in love with and every one else has to show them to their best advantage.

It's also true that white isn't white and black isn't exactly black. Walk into the paint store and you'll find at least 50 different whites at least. 

Do you need all of those? 
Actually yes. Different whites will change how you see your color combinations. Ecru and Khaki are also neutral. And they change the look completely!

For the next couple sessions we'll look at how we pick up backgrounds, what they accomplish for our finished quilt, and how to pick the prints that will make your lover shine.

Colors in the Cracks

Color Wheel

We've been talking about basic colors. But anyone can tell you, that's not all there is. When we look at a color wheel, especially one colored by computer, we know there are a lot of colors that are not being shown there.




It's really easy at that point to glaze over and ask, "Why do we use a color wheel if it doesn't show us everything? What good is that?"
People forget that the color wheel isn't science. Or really just on it's own, art. It's a theory. It has points where it works and points where, as a theory it falls apart. But it does show us a lot of information about the relationships between colors.If we can get past the fact that it's not perfect, it becomes a perfectly useful tool.

When we see a range of colors, we need to imagine not just those colors but all the colors in the cracks between.
The Tertiary colors are the colors in between. If you're using cheap crayons, you can always tell, because they have 2 color names.
 Each secondary and primary color have a color to either side that's a mix between them.

 So orange has red orange, yellow orange,and orange.What do the colors in between give us? Incredibly rich colors that slide into each other.

Orange Explains it All

Here's some quilts that slide between yellow orange, orange, and red orange.

Modern Quilt Guild Block

This free block from the Modern Quilt Guild, We Love Quilts takes us all the way through that range.

Snake Charmer by Denyse Schmidt

Start thinking about the colors in between the cracks. They're rich, ripe and lovely!

Secondary Passions:Purple, Orange and Green

We've been talking about secondary colors, orange, purple and green.
Because they're mixed colors they blend much better than the primaries. They work and play well with others.They also work well with each other.

Round Robin Quilt

You'll probably find more people using two of the three, though.This round robin quilt from the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild features purple and green.

purple and orange quilt

This quilt is from Jennifer at That Girl that Quilt. The purples and oranges are almost singing together.

It takes a little more courage to mix all three.

Lorrie Cranor, improv quilt

We love this improv quilt from Lorrie Cranor. Purple, green and orange are electric colors together. Mix them up, blend them in. You may run with scissors, but they don't. They get along great.

Reach for the Sun: The Warmth of Yelllow

Color is more than the color wheel. The color wheel maps the relationships between colors. Some of us don't care about that at all. How does it make you feel? 

We have cliches about color. We feel blue, we're green with envy, we're having a purple day. We're red hot mad.

But past that, we all have our private feelings about color. We'll be exploring a number of colors and combinations.

by Deaux Petite Souris

When I was younger I used to call it my enemy color. It's not pretty on me. But now I know it's light and heat in my quilt. And right now those sound kind of good.It also can be just goodness. And it brightens everything it's near.

Modern Pickle Relish

Of course yellow comes in a range of shades. Once we stretch a bit, we're into yellow orange, or yellow green. How marvelous!

Black and Yellow Chevron

Notice how much our neutrals change the feeling. This yellow against black and grey feels more dramatic and less sunny. But I still love it.

Use this time to think about colors differently. Reach for a color you never use. It could become your next best friend