Every year about this time Pantone, different paint companies, and color blogs comment on what they think will be the big color trends for next year. As I’ve said before needlepoint tends to be more timeless than most color trends, but, even so, changes in folks’ tastes in color can make some needlepoint look dated and others look very modern — even if it is the same canvas.
For that reason only, it’s good for us to be aware of these color trends. They allow up to make little tweaks in our choice of color. This, in turn, keeps our needlepoint from looking dowdy.
I got a newsletter today from Sensational Color, a great color resource, about the “colors of the year” as selected by different companies.
Today let’s look at the colors selected by four companies and talk about how you could use them in needlepoint.
Pantone’s Colors of the Year
Pantone is the heavy hitter in color forecasting and each December they name a Color of the Year. Supposedly this color will be important in fashion, accessories, and home decor in the next 12 months. In my totally unscientific analysis of this they are usually off the mark with this. For example when they declared Radient Orchid, a red-violet, the color of the year a few years ago, they were about a year behind it becoming popular in fashion. With Merlot, a datk burgundy red, this past year, I have seen little to indicate that anyone has taken notice.
This year Pantone picked two pastel colors. Many people have complained about hooking the two together. And they don’t fit very well, especially if you have even amounts of both because they are very similar in both value and intensity.
But pry them apart or combine them with other colors and you get the color of an early summer dawn, or the colors from those little seashells that are everywhere on the beach in Myrtle Beach. I think the two colors together have a gentle and feminine feel.
Adapt this to your needlepoint by making some changes in your pinks and light blues. Give the pinks a bit of orange and the blues a bit of violet. Infuse them with more white, making them lighter. Be inspired by the beachy pictures and pick threads with some translucence, such as Flair. Think of very pale shades of these colors for backgrounds.
The Battle of the Whites
Two paint companies, Sherwin Williams (above) and Benjamin Moore (below), picked whites as their colors of the year. Go to your local paint store and you’ll see how omnipresent white paint is and how different whites can be from each other.
We often use white as a background for our needlepoint, so the excitement of these can be hard to see. But there are some lessons to be learned even here.
Benjamin Moore’s Simply White is pretty close to a pure white. Even so it isn’t the blinding white of pearl cotton or cotton floss. It has a touch of brown/taupe that softens it. For needlepoint this means pick threads and/or colors that aren’t bright pure white, but are far less yellow than “white” wool.
Sherwin Williams’ white has more taupe and grey in it, making it almost a “clay” white. It’s a cool white, almost a grey. In needlepoint, you could take a cue from this to find, or blend very pale shades of grey for your backgrounds.
PPG’s Green
PPG went in a different direction and picked a lovely greyed blue-green for their color of the year. They called this color “Paradise Found.”
For needlepoint, be looking to more muted colors in greens. Consider shifting your colors closer to blue instead of yellow.
A Common Theme
Although I haven’t seen it talked about anywhere, these four colors have a common feel — they are all muted and soft.
I find that interesting because recent color trends have tended towards bold (Radient Orchid’s red-violet) or rich (Merlot, a rich dark red), instead of pastel and muted. In general muted colors look more sophisticated and often play better in complex color schemes than brighter colors. That’s because less intense colors are often created by having the color plus its complement, putting more hues into the particular color.
By softening your colors a bit and looking towards complementary tones — you’ll achieve needlepoint tat looks current while still being timeless.
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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