Are you uncertain when you’re asked to pick your own colors? do you always use the colors in the instructions even if they are colors you hate or that will no match anything in your house?
Are you willing to change a color scheme but only if you can base it on an overdye so you can just pick matching colors?
Is venturing out into the uncharted waters of picking your own colors from scratch like being thrown into the deep end of the pool when you don’t know how to swim?
You’re not alone. Most people when confronted by needing to pick colors have this problem.
I know, my husband is like that. I realized last week, when picking out colors for the outside of our house, that our method for picking paints could be applied to picking threads.
The problem is that there are just too many colors in the world. When faced with all of them, we just can’t decide; we get distracted. My method allows you to create a subset of possible colors and then pick what you want.
Every color scheme has a focus color, one or more accents, and a background. In addition there might be “givens” colors of items you can’t change, such as the color of the finishing item.
Here’s how to do it.
- First, decide if you’re shopping from stash or at a shop. If it’s your stash, you won’t worry about what threads at this point. If it’s at a shop, bring a notebook and pen and only pick one type and brand of thread, so the skeins you pick are easy to put away after you’ve made your final selections.
- The first color to pick is the hardest, but this is the touchstone color. It’s the color you really, REALLY want to have in this piece. It can end up anywhere in your piece: accent, focal point, background. It’s the color everything else will go with.
- Next add any colors that are givens for this piece. For example, the color of the Lee luggage tag or the color of the wooden box. You can only change this color if you change the givens, so what you pick shouldn’t clash. You will not necessarily be buying threads this color.
- Now out of the world of color you need to hone in on 2-3 hues (blue, red, brown, etc.) that will look good with your focus color and not clash with your givens. Don’t give this much thought. Pull many shades, check against your picked colors. If they go OK keep them, if not put them back.Try, when doing this, to go a little outside your comfort zone. If the colors are muted try something a bit brighter. If they are all dark, try something medium — you might be surprised.
- You have lots of threads now, even if they are only in a few hues. Find a place to sit down because you should be comfortable for this part.
Put your givens and focus color in front of you. You’ll place each thread against them You’ll put it immediately into one of three piles: Yes, Maybe, and No. The Nos are colors you really don’t like. The maybes are colors you’re unsure about. The Yeses are colors you like.
- Concentrate on the Yeses first. Look at each of them again and sort them into three piles once more. With luck, you’ll hit on the perfect color and be done.
- If you’re done with the Yeses but haven’t found a color, go to the maybes. Look at each one and think about why it’s a maybe. This gives you a clue about where to look next. Is it too light? Look for the next darker shade? Go back and look to see if you can find shades that fix this problem.
- You may need to do this process more than once, but keep at it until you find that second thread.
At this point you have your givens, you touchstone thread, and one other main color. Now it’s time to pick additional threads. Each time you repeat this process you narrow the world of color choices, making it easier.
If we think about my house analogy, we have a focus color (the door), givens (the roof), background (the building), and accents (the trim). Your needlepoint is the same. Use this method (it is easier than it sounds) to pick great color schemes.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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