We’re featuring a bold colour palette this month! Each month throughout the year, we feature a colour series offered in our Colour Complements collection. We do this by demonstrating various stitched samples. When combined with the creation of colour palettes, this can assist you in choosing the right selection of colours for your next project.
How We Created This Bold Colour Palette
Colour #84 is shown on the diagonal in the photo and is a blend of golden yellow, fuchsia and berry red. When creating a palette for any project, I always start with selecting my variegated and sometimes more than one variegated depending on the complexity and size of the project.
I then started drawing solid colours in various values from my collection of size 5 Perle cottons. For this palette, here are the selection of colours I chose:
- Colours #814 & #902 – burgundy/berry
- Colours #602, #603, #604, #605 – pinks
- Colours #742 & #972 – yellows
Remember this is your starting point only, and you can always change colours as you go. I do this often, so there are lots of ripping before I arrive at my final colour choices.
You’ll find changes necessary depending on the type of stitch in the project. I experiment a lot and often have an experimental small canvas next to me. I might experiment with my variegated, then add a solid and decide there is not enough contrast, so rip this out and try a metallic or perhaps a rayon for the sheen.
Once your solids are collected, I’d check out metallics, silks, flat ribbons, rayons etc. The more texture, the better. Again, I might not use all of these, but I like to have them. I generally use a tray of some sort for the collection then as I start stitching, I’ll go from there.
Perhaps you may like pinks more, so add more pinks or perhaps yellows. Whatever appeals. Always compare your colour choices with Colour #84. They don’t need to match exactly, but you want to ensure they look good. Experiment with a stitch and see what it looks like. Change it as you wish.
Most importantly, enjoy the process!
