Classic Color Combinations

Sorry, Jeanne. I should have warned you to sit down. ;)

Mine are lomg haired black, short haired black, grey and white, and calico. There is no color I can use that will not show cat hair!

While the black cats consider it a moral imperitive to take especial pains to shed on white work, they all have a pressing need to curl up on any work in frames in the house. Needlepoint, embroidery, lace quilting, nothing is safe. Jiji scattered half my work basket across the floor just the other day in order to pry the quilt hoop out from where I had oh so cleverly stashed it, and then when he was chased off it he went and curled up on my hedebo in progress which he had dug out getting to the quilt hoop.

NightMist Take >Oh boy, I echo the QI plea!! With five, pale-coloured long-haired cats,

I do tend to strong contrasts, and favor counterpoint for home quilts. Also I would never in a million years start out to intentionally use a pastel or "country color" for a focus fabric.

On the other hand I usually start by drawing up a pattern, and then most often it tells me what to do with it. Looking it over I find I make things that are out of my usual zone more often than I thought. A smoothing iron from animal pelt patterns and jungle prints for a kid, flying bats in cream, tan, and ecru almost quilted as a wholecloth for a colorblind friend, walking triangles of fussy cut dinosaurs in lurid colrs against a deep green pattern of tiny leaves again for a kid, etc. Though I suppose that last is sort of in keeping with me favoring strong contrasts.

I actually tend to avoid fabric from all one line. It makes a sameness I don't generally care for, plus there is always one color less than I want, or one that just doesn't appeal, and I have to find a substitute, and more often than not that leads to finding a substitute for something that doesn't go with the first substitute, and I end up using the fabric that attracted me in the first place and nothing else from that line.

NightMist

I was involved in red, black, and white block swap that made a stunning quilt top (have yet to quilt it). I love the quilt, but it matches absolutely nothing. ;-) I don't know if that's important or not. I've wondered what a green, white, and black quilt would be like.

You're right, I tend to stick to my favorites when I'm not going scrappy:

blue and yellow (or gold) some combo of blue, green, and/or purple with either pink or yellow

I don't have an affinity for large of amounts of red.

Best regards, Michelle in Nevada

joan8904 > The Irish Chain thread reminded me of something I've been thinking > about off and on.

LOL! My black cat doesn't really like to be held for long, so my light colored clothes are mostly safe. HOWEVER, he loves to sleep on my bed and plop right up against the white pillow shams. It's time to get the masking tape out again and de-fur the sham and the quilt (although it's not as noticeable on the quilt).

Best regards, Michelle > With my (bleached) blonde hair I wear a lot of black, too. But with The

"Michelle C." wrote ...

I've wondered what a green, white, and black quilt would be like.

LOL Taria. You don't know me (long-time older member of rctq who has had connection problems the past six years or so), but I brought my dog (who looked like a Golden puppy, but really she was an Australian Shepherd mix) to the model home to check out which carpet sample best matched her coat. So my carpet has the same blond-with-a-hint-of-gold that was in her coat. (She died of kidney failure in June 2006.) Our current dog is the same color. Had to match the carpet, ya know!

Dragonfly (Pam)

Pam! You snuck right in here. WELCOME HOME!!! Us old timers remember you. What have you been up to these past years? We need an update!

Leslie & The Furbabies (A Golden, a Golden mix and a GSD mix) in MO.

LOL Taria. You don't know me (long-time older member of rctq who has had connection problems the past six years or so), but I brought my dog (who looked like a Golden puppy, but really she was an Australian Shepherd mix) to the model home to check out which carpet sample best matched her coat. So my carpet has the same blond-with-a-hint-of-gold that was in her coat. (She died of kidney failure in June 2006.) Our current dog is the same color. Had to match the carpet, ya know!

Dragonfly (Pam)

Dragonfly!!!!

Good to see you. Hope all is well.

Our carpets and even the suite match the cats (they came first!!) . In message , "Pam (Dragonfly)" writes

Oh they don't need to be *held* - it all just floats around in the air, on all surfaces, in the wardrobe (whether they have been in there or not), on the windows (why do they all sneeze?) ... ... . In message , Michelle C. writes

Green is interesting - it is definitely a hard colour to wear in clothing IMHO, apart from jewel greens and really pale green. I can see those colours in a T-shirt but not a tailored suit for example. But clothing comes down to skin and hair colour. Bright greens look great on redheads! I love greens in quilt fabrics - of the batik and foliage/landscape designs. Browns - I love in landscape quilts but find it hard to gravitate to in a trad. block quilt - altho I have made two autumnal (sp?) leaf block quilts which have alot of brown in them. I've read somewhere, blue is the most popular colour for quilt fabric choice. 'cos it always look fab! I can see from what I've written, that this makes no sense at all - we love certain colour ways and have exceptions and qualifers as well. Clear as mud LoL I think I'll go now.

Bronnie

On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:26:22 -0500, joan8904 in Bellevue Nebraska wrote (in article ):

Classic color combos are just that: Classic. They always work well together. (It's like fashion--some things are classics, like that Audrey Hepburn little black dress, and you'll always look good and in style)

So yes, I love blue and yellow, blue and white, blue and pink, black and brights, black and red...

Well, I just love fabric in general.

Maureen

Hey Dragonfly. We remember you. Welcome back. Australian sheperds are wonderful and smart dogs. Matching flooring seemed the easy way to go. We are fairly tidy around here but with long hair critters there is always hair. HOw you doing these days? Taria

And I love to wear green, not the bright primary green, but more muted versions like pale green or dark hunter green. I also wear quite a bit of brown and rust. No black or purple for me, please -- makes me look all washed out. But then, I have "autumn" coloring. I also use a lot of greens and golds and tans in quilts -- but I'm pretty eclectic in my quilting colors.

I had a funny experience with clothing colors once. About 20 years ago I was going on a business trip and needed a nice business suit. I found a gorgeous camel tan & cream houndstooth check at a really great price (less than half the orginal price) -- and they had several on the sale rack. The sales girl commented "Those haven't sold well -- it's a really hard color to wear." But she recovered nicely and added "but it looks great on you". :) I wore that suit a lot. Still have it -- wish I had someplace to wear it once in a while. It's a classic blazer with straight skirt.

Julia in MN

Br>> Interesting you should say that Taria, as I do almost the opposite. I

I'm an "Autumn" girl, too. I love burgundy and rust and dark greens and browns. But my quilts all seem to be done in brights or themed holiday colors. You know...pumpkins and witches for Halloween, green red and white/beige for Christmas, apple green and bubble gum pink for Spring/Easter. and baby quilts seem to migrate towards pastels. i did just finish a top for a Yahoo group swap in Neapolitans. (pink, brown, creams) which is out of my CZ.

i have been thinking lately of starting a Storm at Sea. not sure if i want traditional blues, tho.

i miss my QI too, Springer Spaniel. long black hair everywhere, but i wouldn't mind a few of those stray hairs again, either.

amy in CNY

Hi there, Dragonfly/Pam! Welcome home! Long time no see! What have you been up to -- any quilting at all?

This is being an interesting thread to follow. As a redhead my favorite color is any shade of green. But I try not to do too many "green" quilts. Color combinations are always influenced by what you grew up with, and I know that some of mine come from my father, or disagreeing with him . Love dark blue with apple/lime green. (My dad never allowed green and blue together....sigh) Blue and orange. Black and brights is always a winner. Green and white, or any color with white (or with black, actually) plus an accent is great. Turquoise, black and white..... with any of the 3 dominating. Green and yellow.

There are only so many basic colors, and a finite number of ways to combine them. So whatever you do, it has probably been done before, but not with *your* interpretation. There are reasons that some color combinations are "classic", after all.

As to contrast, it depends on what effect you are looking for. High contrast shows off the piecing and overall block design. Low contrast is, by definition, more subtle and therefore often more "sophisticated". Same goes for using a fabric line, or series of lines from the same designer/company. They all "go together" but may need some punch to be great. I love to start with a "focus" fabric and choose colors that coordinate with it. May not use the original focus, but the color inspiration is there.

Love color, love fabric, and love working with them.

Have fun, Pati, > Classic color combinations

Wow! That is striking! Looks even better than I imagined it. :-) Actually, I imagined with leprechaun green, but the lime is fantastic!

Thanks Jeanne! Or maybe I should say, "darn you!" Now I've got another quilt to add to the list. ;-)

Best regards, Michelle >

LOL! So has anyone found a better way than masking tape to de-fur our clothes, quilts, furniture, drapes....?

Michelle > Oh they don't need to be *held* - it all just floats around in the air,