Auditioning Colors and Fabrics for Sedona Star 2012

[Scoopie]

Renata your attachment took my breath away. :mrgreen:

[Renata]

Thank you so much and to the others who commented. Your kind words are so encouraging. When I finished the paint job, I liked it, but then thought about how the fabric selection could make or break the design and I am not very good at imagining the end result. So today I went fabric searching (as a beginner, I don't have much of a stash yet) and started playing around with swatches. I believe Margo spoke in a recent email to someone about color values and I am taking those comments to heart. In any event, what a huge learning experience this will be but the fact that it is a BOM will keep me focused on finite tasks and learning objectives; and knowing there is a lot of help on the Forum has really allowed me to "dive in" without reservation. Comments several people made, including Rita and SpiritFold(?) to Maggie(?) who was concerned with focus, resonated so clearly with me as well.
Renata

[Renata]

Renata, I love your colours as well! I was wondering how it would look in red & white, and there you are answering my question!

[Renata]

Mellymoo, your Paint is great! For some reason my Paint does does not flow into as many nooks and crannies as yours did. And, it is impossible to get it into those really small log cabin strips of the center star. But, I spent the whole day coloring mine and am SUPER happy with it. I used the bucket for the most part, and will go back in today with a paint brush for some of the tighter areas.

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

If you zoom in on the template, you will have more space to fill in your colors.

[Renata]

Thank you so much and to the others who commented. Your kind words are so encouraging. When I finished the paint job, I liked it, but then thought about how the fabric selection could make or break the design and I am not very good at imagining the end result. So today I went fabric searching (as a beginner, I don't have much of a stash yet) and started playing around with swatches. I believe Margo spoke in a recent email to someone about color values and I am taking those comments to heart. In any event, what a huge learning experience this will be but the fact that it is a BOM will keep me focused on finite tasks and learning objectives; and knowing there is a lot of help on the Forum has really allowed me to "dive in" without reservation. Comments several people made, including Rita and SpiritFold(?) to Maggie(?) who was concerned with focus, resonated so clearly with me as well.
Renata

You might benefit from reading this tutorial http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransso...r-schemes.html

[Renata]

After five tries with different ideas, I think I like this one. But now I really need help! Absent templates or further instructions since this is a BOM, is there any rule of thumb way of calculating fabric requirements, especially when the number of fabrics are different from the BOM? Renata

There are lots of FREE quilt fabric calculators online and I've tried a few. Of the ones I've tried, this is the one I prefer---------- > http://vrya.net/quilt/flash/QuiltCalc_Loader.html

[Renata]

After five tries with different ideas, I think I like this one. But now I really need help! Absent templates or further instructions since this is a BOM, is there any rule of thumb way of calculating fabric requirements, especially when the number of fabrics are different from the BOM? Renata

There are lots of FREE quilt fabric calculators online and I've tried a few. Of the ones I've tried, this is the one I prefer---------- > http://vrya.net/quilt/flash/QuiltCalc_Loader.html

Nancy,
Your favorite yardage calculator is one I have not seen yet. Thank you, I will play with it and see whether it becomes my favorite too! I'm wondering, though how much it will help me with Sedona Star since we don't have the dimensions of the individual pieces?

Right now we only have the outer dimensions of the quilt. So I thought, since my fabric is overwhelmingly monochromatic (red, the circles of the stars and the outer part of the diamonds will be a second shade of red to add dimension), if I just take the outer dimensions of the quilt, multiply by two and add a yard, I come up with almost 11 yards for the main red. Then for the rest of the colors, if I compare Sarah's Fizz picture to the fabric requirements she has for her version, I can guesstimate what I need for my other colors. Since my other colors will be shades of grey and beige, if I stay scrappy there, I can recover if I miscalculate.

So what am I missing here? Please feel free to add your collective experience to my very simple math. I suspect I am going to end up with a lot more leftover fabric when this is all said and done but then it will either become backing or a new project…
Renata

[Renata]

You might benefit from reading this tutorial http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransso...r-schemes.html

Thank you, Nancy. You gave me a very good reading and the photographs complemented the points made very well. I'm doing a lot of reading on color theory because when I get to the fabric shop, despite my best efforts to understand color, I get overwhelmed by the bolts and bolts of quilting cotton.

When you posted your quilt in Paint along with your color inspiration photo, I loved what you did. So, I browsed the internet for a tool that could help me and I found something fun to play with and to learn more about color at the same time. It is called Color Explorer (http://colorexplorer.com). It allows one to upload an image and the program will produce a color palette based on your image. Then you can explore the individual colors to see different color schemes (analogous, complementary, split-complementary, triadic...). That might be one way to take an inspiration fabric and find out what else can go with it.

[Renata]

Hi Renata,

That color explorer looks pretty easy to use. Thanks!

Regarding the fabric calculator, I'd suggest either overestimating based on the approximate percentage of the quilt for a given fabric. I thought that I read on this thread that the fabric requirements for this quilt was some outragously large amount. No way would I purchase that much fabric for a quilt of this size. If I really wanted to make it, I would just make it scrappy. With so many small pieces, the Sedona Star quilt lends itself well for being made scrappy. Personally, I prefer scrappy quilts anyway, which don't necessarily look scrappy if the fabrics are smartly selected and placed in the quilt.

[Renata]

Nancy, thanks for the info on calculating fabric. I was having such a hard time trying to compare the pictures of the quilts to their fabric requirements to get an idea of how much of what to buy... your note put it all into perspective for me. What I finally decided to do is, since my quilt will be predominantly red, I used your fabric calculator on the dimensions of the quilt (88"x88"), doubled that amount to account for seams and added a yard. Then I doubled that amount again for the backing of the quilt). If I end up needing more fabric than I had calculated, I will be able to take from the backing and add a scrappy piece to the backing. Here I did not have much of a choice but to purchase fabric because as a new quilter, I don't have much scraps, let alone a fabric stash!

For the design elements, that will be predominantly in shades of light silvery grey and beige, I have decided to make those scrappy, as you suggested. In fact, since the stars surrounding the center star are designed in multiples of three, I can, from the start, make three stars with the same fabrics, the next three stars with another set of fabrics and the final three stars with another set of fabrics. That will give scrappiness yet uniformity to the use of scraps, so that by the time I get to the diamonds, they can be completely scrappy, if need be. You have been incredibly helpful to me in thinking through this.
Renata

[Renata]

This is what I am thinking about. My husband likes orange, I like browns and greens, so fall colors seem right for us. I created my palette by googling fall images, borrowing one, using the photoshop eye dropper to pick colors, and then adjusting them slightly.
I'm not in love with the outside border, but I'm working on it. Choosing fabric will be interesting.

[Renata]

maybe this:

[Sewdreamy]

I really like both of them...they are warm and vibrant.

[Renata]

Kari,
I really like the colors of both your iterations of the BOM--of course, I am partial to warm colors, like you. I did find, though, that your second version had more contrast and balance between lights and darks, something I looked for when playing with colors for my BOM. Look at what happens when you look at the image in black and white. Your first one is on the left. By the way, you said you were still not satisfied with your border: I loved it!
Renata

[Renata]

Kari,
I really like the colors of both your iterations of the BOM--of course, I am partial to warm colors, like you. I did find, though, that your second version had more contrast and balance between lights and darks, something I looked for when playing with colors for my BOM. Look at what happens when you look at the image in black and white. Your first one is on the left. By the way, you said you were still not satisfied with your border: I loved it!

The second one was 'colored' using Color Efex Pro, Color Stylizer. The more muted one gives us more colors to play off of. (We just moved and haven't redesigned our bedroom yet - I'm hoping to use this quilt as a starting point). I see your point about the contrast - it's probably why the second option seems so vibrant. Thank-you.