I bought this fabulous color-wheel umbrella (at left) from the Museum of Modern Art's online store
last week, and it has me thinking about color palettes. When you love
every color, as I do, it's easy to respond impulsively to color and end
up with things that don't harmonize very well, or to avoid color
altogether when there are too many choices. As with most things, a
little planning can help a lot!
Designers--of clothing, books, magazines, or seasonal fabric
collections--create a color palette at the very beginning of the idea
and design process. Here at Stitch, we determine a color palette,
or color story, for each feature in the magazine early in the planning
process, and then we send out a color palette with our request for
submissions for each issue (we've closed submissions for the current
issue, but we'll alert you here when the next call goes out). Our
project designers can select from the palette, and then every piece in
the story relates visually and thematically.
Stitch editor Tricia Waddell explains the process for choosing color palettes:
"For
each color story, I think about the fabric possibilities and the mood
I'm trying to convey. Do we want elegant and luxurious, bright and
happy, or subtle and sophisticated? Will the fabric focus be patterned
cottons, rich wools, or feminine silks? Then I review color trend
resources like Pantone
and look at the latest fashion and home décor magazines and websites
for inspiring color combinations. When we create the color palettes, we
look for colors that look fresh and unexpected together but that are
also very wearable and accessible. In the end, it all comes down to what
looks good on you or in your home, or colors that just make you feel
happy. A good example is the color palette for our upcoming "Getting
Fancy" project story on using special-occasion fabrics to sew some
holiday sparkle. We used rich deep colors, perfect for velvets and
silks, plus metallics for a little glamour, and some brights to make it
modern."
"Getting Fancy" color palette for Stitch Fall 2010 (due out in September), designed by Pamela Norman
As you're getting ready to sew for a season, or for your home, you can build a color palette in the same way. The Colour Lovers website
is a fantastic resource; you can browse thousands of palettes for
inspiration. If you have a theme in mind--say, "beach" or "fiesta"--you
can put a keyword in the search box and see palettes that designers have
created around that idea. Or you can search by hue, by combinations of
hues, or by popularity.
Or maybe you have a photograph that you'd like to pull a color palette from. In that case, visit a site such as Color Palette Generator
that lets you upload an image, and automatically converts it to a color
palette. For example, here's my photo of flowers from the farmers'
market:
And here's the color palette that Color Palette Generator made from it:
Once you've generated a color palette (you can also make a grid with
fewer shades), you can identify the shades that you love best from the
photograph.
Color tools and trends are a lot of fun. I hope this colorful post
inspires you to try new combinations as you design and sew. What's your
favorite color combination? Tell us in the comments!
Happy sewing!