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- Hi, my name is Weeks Ringle.
I'm one of the co-owners of Modern Quilt Studio
along with Bill Kerr.
We've been making modern quilts for, I think about,
for me about 30 years.
And we are publishers of Modern Quilts Illustrated
and a number of other periodicals.
And we also design fabrics
for Benartex's Contempo Division.
So we're looking forward to talking to you today
about how to make palettes for the quilts that you make
and how to combine,
how to learn how to combine fabrics
in a little bit more adventurous way.
So let's get started
and talk about how people generally learn
how to build palettes.
And most people start with a fabric like this,
and they'll look at a multicolored fabric
and they'll call it like a focus fabric
or a highlight fabric, and they'll go
and the way that they'll build the palette
will be to pull colors
from the colors that are in the multicolored print.
And then they will use them with the quilt.
So the only colors that you could use in a quilt
using this method would be the colors
that are in this fabric.
But let's say you wanted to be able to use this fabric
along with it.
So this is one of the ways that we'll learn today,
how to combine fabrics that you wouldn't think go together,
but can.
And this is a good example of how you'll be able to do it
by building palettes.
So let's get started.
So let's talk first about working with solid fabrics
and how you build a palette using them.
One of the things that's tricky for many people
is they're accustomed to the idea of pulling the colors
from the multicolored print to build their palette.
So when presented with solid fabrics,
they're not sure where to start
because there's no inspiration fabric
or no fabric that provides the palette for them.
But one of the things that we think is really fun
in working with solid fabrics
is to think about an inspiration source,
a palette in nature or a palette that you like,
or that you have seen on your vacation travels,
or that just provides you with a happy memory, even.
So for example,
this palette here was inspired by an area of zinnias
in our garden.
And there are some silver-leafed plants
as well as the zinnias that are yellows and oranges.
And of course, there's also in the background,
there's the blue of the sky
and there's a beautiful palette provided by nature
that was the inspiration for this particular palette.
And if you think about it,
most of this palette is really on,
if you look at the color wheel,
you're using these colors on this side.
So you're using about half of the color wheel.
In this particular project,
there would be no purples and no pinks,
but really a lot of these melon colors
and some silvery greens,
and also some very yellow greens as well for contrast,
as well as a couple of little hints of blue.
So, this would be one way to think about it.
Now, if you want to use a lot of lights and darks
and even a variety of values,
which is the lightness or darkness of a color,
controlling a little bit more of the color wheel
is a way to be able to do that more successfully.
If you use the entire color wheel,
and all lights, darks, and mediums,
sometimes it can get a little chaotic.
So one way to have a unified palette
is to choose a section of the color wheel
and then use a more narrow range of values.
Maybe in this particular case from same light mediums
to mediums, for example.
Now in this palette,
this was inspired by my love of blueberry season
and blueberry pie in particular.
And if you've ever cooked with blueberries,
you know, they go through a lot of different color changes,
but even raspberries, and strawberries,
and rhubarb, and there's a whole bunch of summer fruits
and plums that also inspired this palette.
And if you'll look,
you'll notice that it's a very tight range
on the color wheel.
There's no yellows in here.
There are no greens in here.
And it's a pretty tight value range as well
in terms of darks and darks to medium darks,
but there aren't any pastels in here
and there aren't any of that kind of yellow toned colors
in here either.
And they're all similar in saturation,
which is the intensity of the color.
So you don't have any dusty pinks in here
and you don't have any neons either.
So a lot of the way that we like to think about color
is to think about what part of the color wheel
are you using and what part of the value wheel
are you using as well?
Because you can see in this color wheel
that you can see that there are lighter values in the center
and the darker ones are on the outside.
So you can really tighten up whether it's the values
or the colors or both,
that can help you to unify your palette also.
Let me show you a couple of quilts that we've made
with solids using different palettes
So this is our Accordion quilt.
And you can see that we have a relatively dark palette
that we used.
There are no pastels in here
and there are no super brights in here either.
But we used pretty much the entire color wheel.
So we had to be pretty tight in that value range.
Let me show you one more.
It's a totally different approach.
So this is our Argyle quilt,
and you can see that this is a tighter range of blues
and greens with a gray binding.
And one of the things you might notice in this quilt
is that the center between the curvilinear forms
looks like it's white
because it's much lighter in value
than the curvilinear forms that are next to it.
And a lot of people think it's white,
but it's actually just light blue.
And this is a really good way to think about options
for contrast in a quilt,
that you don't have to go to white
and you don't have to go to black.
You can step down a couple of steps in value
and go much, much lighter or much, much darker,
but still have it be the same color,
still have it be a blue in this particular case.
But this palette is a favorite palette of ours
and it's kind of inspired by sea glass
or beach glass colors.
And I find it a particularly calming palette.
So let's look at some other palettes.
Let's talk about working with small scale prints.
A lot of the prints that people use
that are small scale,
they think that they can only use with other
similar fabrics.
So Civil War fabrics only with other Civil War fabrics
or feed sack prints with only other feed sack prints.
But actually, the feed sack prints,
if you think of them as a color,
and the way that they're printed often has a white background,
that they pair well with other fabrics
that have a lot of white in them also.
So even if they're not period prints,
you can combine smaller prints with larger scale prints
just by virtue of the fact that they have a commonality
of having a lot of white in them.
So in this particular example,
I've paired some reproduction fabrics
with some more modern fabrics,
but look how great they look together
because they both have a lot of white.
And it doesn't really matter what color they are
as long as they're the same kind of saturation
or the same cheeriness, I guess, in this particular case.
Now, if you look,
some of the feed sack prints have a white background
and some of them have a cream background,
and this makes a big difference
when you're putting palettes together.
So for example, this really cute scottie print
is great in terms of the colors of the fabric.
However, the background is cream
and when you put it against a fabric that has white in it
like this, this fabric starts to look a little dirtier
than you want it to.
So we've sort of found that it's best
to look at the background to see whether it's a true white
or whether it's cream,
and separate the fabrics that way
because the fabrics that have the white in it
will look a little bit fresher and crisper
than the ones with the cream background
if you try to incorporate the two of them together.
In contrast, if you are only using backgrounds
that have cream in them,
the white can sometimes look a little too bright.
So pay attention to that if you're working with fabrics
that have a lot of white in them.
So let's look at some other quilts that we made
with small scale fabrics.
So this is our Woodlands quilt
and it's made with our vintage fabric line.
And we designed this fabric line to look kind of scrappy,
to be a combination of unexpected patterns
that work great together in quilts.
And if you'll look,
there are three different roles in this quilt for fabrics.
There's the background, there's the dark squares,
and then there are these lighter rectangles.
So contrast is what's really critical in this quilt.
And if you think about the palettes you'll be building,
you'll be building a dark palette and a lighter palette,
and then you'll make sure that the background
has good contrast between those two palettes.
This is our Old School quilt,
and this is made with a combination of traditional
Civil War reproduction fabrics
as well as some more modern fabrics as well.
But they all are small scale,
and they're all a little desaturated.
There aren't any neons in here,
there aren't any hot pinks in here,
but they are similar in the feel.
And the inspiration for this palette
was that we wanted to show you how to be able to use
those period Civil War fabrics
in a little bit brighter and more cheery way
than you're maybe accustomed to seeing them
when they're all typically a little more brown
or there's a lot of gray involved.
And to be able to use them in a broad color range,
we stuck to a narrow range of values.
So again, that's the lightness or the darkness
of the fabric.
So we've also contrasted the prints
with a very inky, dark blue-black mini gingham.
So there's a very clear contrast
between the blocks, the fabrics that are in the blocks,
and that background.
Let's talk about how to build palettes
with larger scale prints.
So I've got a variety of prints that I've pulled together,
and these do not match, they're all multicolored prints,
but they have a commonality of the saturation
which is the intensity of the color.
You won't see pastels here,
these are all very bright, high-contrast prints,
and they are chosen because they're all saturated.
There's a variety of colors along the color wheel.
I think we've got practically every one in there,
but there also weren't any super, super lights
or super, super darks.
So we've kind of got that middle range
in terms of the values that we're using.
Now, there's a couple of fabrics that I took out of here
and these are they.
And if you'll notice, they each have a little brown
and a little ochre in them.
And in this palette, they look a little bit dirty,
so I took them out,
even though the rest of the colors work well,
I just didn't like the way that the brown made,
they looked a little dirtier than the other fabrics
that are in the palette.
Now, this is another fabric that I pulled out
because it seemed a little too dark in value.
The colors were right, but the value was a little too dark.
So I pulled that out as well.
Now, many times,
people are afraid to use prints with yarn dyes
and incorporate a yarn dye with their large scale prints.
But this one would look great with this palette.
And I would actually even consider
putting some more yarn dyes in here as well
because yarn dyes make the prints look
a little bit more cheerful and a little bit more fun,
I think sometimes too.
So don't hesitate to include yarn dyes,
or even batiks with your large scale prints.
Now, what if you had a pattern that called for sashing
or some part that needed contrast,
some like highlight.
Like, let's say you're making a log cabin
and you want a contrasting center.
Then I would go for a print like this
that doesn't have as many colors and is smaller in scale
because that will give you more contrast as well to not have,
all of these have, you know,
some of them 10 to 15 colors or so,
and having a smaller scale print with fewer colors
that's darker in value also
will give you a really nice contrast
for that particular role of the fabric in the quilt.
So let me show you some quilts we've made
with large scale prints.
I'll show you the one that I showed you
at the very beginning again.
Talk a little bit more about that.
This is our Follow the Leader quilt.
And if you'll notice,
there are three different roles for fabric in this quilt.
The first are the prints,
the large scale prints, in the blocks.
And then there are the little links between the two
and we've used that little mini black and white checkerboard
for that.
And then the background is this teal color
that is kind of like a near solid,
it's kind of a little bit of a blush,
but there's good contrast between the blocks
that are a little bit lighter,
and the links, and the background.
So in this particular case,
you'd be building just one palette,
but you would need to make sure that the links
and the background have enough contrast
that it doesn't, they don't appear to run into the blocks
that you've got here.
Let's look at one more quilt.
This is our Sunshine quilt and it's very bright,
and it uses a lot of these very bright, cheerful prints,
but we find sometimes that they become so busy
that you need one little area
where you can see some contrast that breaks up the blocks.
So we've introduced these white bars in the quilt
that make it, give it a little bit more definition
and a little bit more structure to the pattern.
Let's talk about building a palette from scraps.
When you have a variety of prints that weren't designed
to go together,
but you want to put them together,
one of the easiest ways to make sure
that they'll be unified is to tighten up a section
of the color wheel or the value range,
one or the other.
But this particular palette
is a very, very narrow part of the color wheel here
and of teals and blues.
And one of the fabrics that I chose not to include
is this fabric because the lavender in there
looked a little dustier than the colors
in the rest of the prints.
And I was worried that it would jump out too much.
So I didn't use this one.
However, if I needed a center
or some little highlight or detail for contrast,
you could introduce something like a nice
kind of buttery yellow, that would look great.
And it would give you contrast in terms of both value,
the lightness or darkness,
as well as the hue because it's a different color
than the rest of these blues and greens.
Now, what if you needed sashing?
I'll put this here so you can see how that would look.
If you needed sashing,
I might go with this blue-black mini gingham
because it's so much darker than all of the other fabrics.
And it provides really great contrast
without detracting from the rest of the palette.
Now I have three quilts to show you
that we made from scrappy palettes.
And the first one is our fabric fusion quilt.
This has 36 different fabrics in it,
ranging from, these are homespuns,
to batiks, to more modern prints and some traditional prints,
but what ties it all together is the desaturated palette.
So it's a palette that's not very bright.
It's a kind of soft, Beatrix Potter I always like to call it
palette where nothing is really dominant.
The other thing is that you'll notice that
most of these fabrics don't have white in them.
So when you put the sashing on,
you'll be able to see the edges of the pieces more crisply.
And that's a really good trick
that if you're looking for sashing,
I know there's an inclination to try to match
the sashing color
to a color that's already in one of the prints,
but actually, using a sashing color
that's a different color that doesn't appear in the prints
actually will give you more contrast
and a little bit more of a crisp look in the quilt.
So that's a really good tip.
This is our Three Cheers quilt.
I think this was made from 64 different fabrics.
And there are two different types of fabrics in this quilt.
There are lights and darks,
but it's not a real huge range of light, light, light,
and dark, dark, dark.
It's more in that middle area.
And as we were making the blocks,
we thought about whether the contrast between this form
and the background triangle
should be a light and dark contrast
or whether it should be a contrast of color.
And it doesn't really matter
as long as you've got the contrast.
But in most cases,
we tried to make this three-legged form
be a darker fabric.
But you can really get away with a lot
as long as you have enough contrast.
So contrast, contrast, contrast,
that's the big tip.
So let's look at our Intrepid Traveler quilt.
This quilt is made from fabrics from India,
Indonesia, and Japan, and some other areas.
And one of the ways that we decided to take advantage
of these fabrics is to pair them with a chambray,
which is a really unexpected choice,
but we think it works really well
because the chambray is woven with a white thread in it
so it's always gonna be a little bit lighter
than these dark prints.
And if you look,
we're pretty much using the entire color wheel
with these fabrics as well,
and we have a pretty large range of light to dark also.
However, because it's a simple form
and the saturation is very similar,
they're all a little washed and a little brown,
and a little bit duller.
There aren't any super bright colors in it.
No lime green in here.
So they work really well together
because the saturation is very similar
even though you have a wide variety of colors
and a wide variety of values.
It also helps if you want to use this kind of variety
in a quilt to choose a simple form.
I always like to think that
if you have a complicated palette,
a simple form, a simple block works best.
And if you want to do a very elaborate, complicated quilt,
a simpler palette works a little bit better.
So this is a good example of how to incorporate
a wide range of fabrics using a very simple pattern.
And simple quilting also.
So now you've got your palettes together.
Let's talk about some fabrics that you might wanna use
in addition to your palettes in a project.
For examples, sashing or some other detail,
or even binding,
and solids are really great for that use.
But a lot of times,
people resort to black or white, or you know,
some very familiar neutral,
but there are a whole bunch of other neutrals there
available that will really help you play with the color
in a little bit richer way.
So for example,
if you look at the blue palette that I showed you earlier,
the traditional suggestion would be to go to a darker blue.
And actually, this looks great because it's darker
than most of the other fabrics.
And a gray would also look handsome with this
because there isn't gray in the fabric,
so you get a very nice contrast with it.
Now, I've chosen to not go super light
with the sashing color,
this gray, because I think if you go really light
with the fabrics,
that they will appear too heavy in contrast to it.
So I stuck with the same value of this.
Now let's look at another palette.
Remember our berry palette?
Let's see how that looks with some neutrals.
Now, you'd be surprised
how great a dark, dark, dark eggplant looks with that.
But another option you might not have considered
would be this espresso, which looks,
here, I'll move the purple out so you can see that.
Browns can be tricky because sometimes they have a lot of red
in them, and that makes them just look a little heavy
or a little dirty.
However, this espresso color is especially useful
because it's more of a desaturated.
It has less red in it.
And it looks just a little bit calmer
than some of the reddish orange browns
that you may have seen.
So espresso and purple is kind of a peanut butter and jelly.
Great combination to think about for your palettes as well.
And actually, we'll see this again
when we look at the large scale prints palette
that we worked on.
And don't dismiss some other options
like this olive that can also look really nice with purple.
And then we had our zinnia palette as well.
And I love this with an olive color
that does not appear in here,
but can you see how this neutral makes these colors pop
just a little bit more without looking too severe?
So a lot of times people might opt for a black,
but you can see that
the black becomes very, very stark with the purple
and that might be what you wanna do,
but it's just kind of depends on how much black there is
and that kind of thing.
But the other option for this zinnia palette
would be one of these kind of putty colors.
And these fabrics, these neutrals,
are not the fabrics that you walk into a shop
and you say, "Oh my gosh, I have to have six yards of that."
But they're kind of the worker bees, we call them
in the fabric world because they make the fabrics
that you love and the colors,
the bright, cheery colors that you love,
they make them look richer.
And part of the way they do that is by not competing
with them in terms of the brightness of them.
Let's look at our other two palettes that we worked on.
When you have a palette with a lot of white in it,
your inclination might be to use white.
However, what's gonna happen when you do that
is you're going to not be able to see the edge
of the print as easily.
So you might want to have a little bit more contrast
than that.
And the other option that some people might go for
is a cream, but sometimes that can look a little bit dirty.
It looks a little too yellow with it.
But if you think about either a, this is a pale taupe,
that that gives a really nice edge of contrast for it,
or also just a silver,
a really pale bluish gray can look nice,
or even a very light khaki can look very handsome
with these prints.
Let's look at that large scale bright palette
that we put together earlier.
And remember that espresso I mentioned?
Look how great it looks with these fabrics.
It really allows the oranges and the pinks
and the bright greens to feel even brighter
because it's allowing them to take the center stage
and it's not competing with them.
Another option is this fern color
that is very, it's a very desaturatated,
kind of like a dark greenish khaki.
But it also looks fantastic with pinks and oranges as well.
So think beyond the neutrals
that you may have thought about before
of beige and white and black,
and play around when you're in a shop
or when you're shopping online
and think about how you can put together a palette
that makes the best use of the colors
that you're working with.
Thanks so much for joining me, and I'll see you next time.
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