Color: The Quilter’s Adventure: Supply List

Christine Barnes Workshop

· Rotary cutter, ruler and mat

· Glue stick

· Fabric

To create the most pleasing color studies, you’ll need a wide variety of fabrics in different colors, values, intensities, and patterns. Bring ¼ yard or larger cuts. If you bring scraps, each should be 9" x 9" or larger.

Bring beautiful fabric. Shop if necessary to have a good selection of great fabrics – you’ll have much more fun and success with outstanding fabrics than with ordinary ones. (This is not the time to "use up" fabric you don’t like.) I suggest that you work with all-over prints and near-prints (tone-on-tone) rather than plain solids. Avoid large-scale or high-contrast patterns, though – they can look chaotic when cut up. I use many mottled or dappled fabrics, especially hand-dyed fabrics and batiks, because they add depth and luminosity to a quilt.

Intensity refers to the brilliance of a color. Try to include both intense (bright) and low-intensity (dull) fabrics. It’s also very important to have a good mix of values – lights, mediums, and darks – in colors from all around the color wheel. Most of us have plenty of mediums and darks; lights are harder to come by.

There are twelve colors on the color wheel. Following is a list of the colors, with just a few common names in parentheses to help you visualize what they look like. (In reality, there are many versions of each color.) Try to bring at least one light, medium, and dark for each color, but don’t worry if you can’t.

Yellow (daffodil, straw) Violet (purple, eggplant)

Yellow –green (olive, apple green) Red-violet (magenta, fuchsia)

Green (true green, mint) Red (primary red, brick)

Blue-green (turquoise, teal) Red-orange (terra cotta, salmon)

Blue (true blue, slate) Orange (pumpkin, spice)

Blue-violet (periwinkle, iris) Yellow-orange (mango, cheddar)

Hint: She who brings the broadest, deepest selection of beautiful fabrics make the best blocks, - guaranteed.

An even bigger hint: When in doubt, bring more fabric!