
My initial plan for the Learn-a-Stitch projects and stitch samplers is to use a different color combination for each one, trying different shades of Watercolours and challenging myself to find threads that matched.
Sometimes though, this approach does not work so well, when I was working on the LAS Mini-socks (book available here), I found one month that the Watercolours I’d picked, plum, didn’t go with much in my stash and I ended up not liking the result as much as I thought I would.
This could be a product of our recent gray days, or aging eyes, or just changing tastes, but I’m longing for bright cheery colors.
Sometimes though folks want to use coordinated colors for a series of samplers. I hadn’t thought about it this way, but yes, it could. I did this for a set of four small tent stitch samplers, below, that are part of the 25 Stitches series (available here). Although the Watercolour will be the same in all, the other threads will change. But they all will be picked from a set of threads picked ahead of time to go with that Watercolours. They all used the same Waytercolours as pictured above.

The key to doing this is to pick a shade of Watercolours that has at least three, preferably more, different colors in it. There are lots of these. I picked Tahiti, which has all the colors of the rainbow in it. Not because of that but because it’s my favorite shade of Watercolours. (If you want some other “rainbow” Watercolours, try Autumn Frost, Rain Forest, or Woodlands, I can often find these as pastel or dark colors).
Then, with your Watercolours in hand, look through your stash for any thread that has one of these colors in it, or makes the Watercolours “pop” and look brighter or more defined. Try to get a variety of textures and colors. Add a true metallic (silver or gold).
Put them into a box or bag. I only got through about half my stash and have a photo box full. The picture above is only the top layer of thread. I have wool blends, cottons, silks, and metallics. Some for each color in the thread and a couple that looked so cool against Tahiti I HAD to include them.
To use this assorted pil, keep your Watrcolours separate. Decide where this color will go first. As you stitch a non-Watercolours patch, pull out enough otherthreads other threads to go with it for your project. Put them with your instructions in the project bag. Then you are ready to stitch.

i used this approach, as did my many model stitchers, to make the Small Stitch Sampler, mine is pictured below. Each model of the four samplers, all seen with complete instructions in this book, is completely different. These are greatexamples of how flexible this approach can be. It’s one of my favorite methods of creating a color scheme.
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
Can’t wait till the next stocking love doing the stitches.