One hundred sewing and embroidery tips and tricks - #2
Feeling stuck when it comes to choosing a color scheme for a new project? Are you wanting to impress a friend with a gift but you're unsure of a good mix of colors? When in doubt consider designing with a classy, yet somewhat subtle tone-on-tone color scheme. If you are in making a gift, and you know your friend's all time favorite color you are good to go and ready to sew!!!
Take a look at the collection of fat quarters and trims in the photo above. They melt together with a soothing color scheme, yet they include just enough contrast due to the varying shades from one purple based color family.
Take a look at the collection of fat quarters and trims in the photo above. They melt together with a soothing color scheme, yet they include just enough contrast due to the varying shades from one purple based color family.
When planning a machine embroidery project you may fall in love with the elements of a design yet the colors are all wrong for you personally, or for the intended project. Has this ever happened to you? For me it seems to be a common occurrence. The artistic Floral Decorative design shown above happens to be one of my all time favorites. However, the color combo just doesn't mix with anything I have.
What do I do if my fabric is blue?!? Tone on tone to the rescue! By selecting embroidery thread colors in soft shades of blue the design takes on a whole new look!
See what happens with the same concept in yellow. . .
In pink . . .
And in green . . .
Same exact design, same amount of color changes, but a whole new scheme with a mix of light, medium, and dark shades of the same color. Of course you can also minimize the amount of color changes by repeating one or more colors in the design. This is especially easy to do when you are working with shades of the same color.
It's hard to go wrong by stitching a medley of similar colors. You could examine your original design and replace lighter areas with light colors and darker areas with darker shades. If you have the option to change thread colors right on the screen of your machine you can preview and make changes before you stitch. Yet another option is to use computer software to make and preview changes.
Perhaps your machine has an option to automatically rearrange the colors or even create a different mix of colors on your behalf. Take a look at the two butterflies below. Same design, but two totally different butterflies emerge using an option called Color Shuffle™ with a specific selection for tone on tone, also known as gradient, for the new color scheme.
Perhaps your machine has an option to automatically rearrange the colors or even create a different mix of colors on your behalf. Take a look at the two butterflies below. Same design, but two totally different butterflies emerge using an option called Color Shuffle™ with a specific selection for tone on tone, also known as gradient, for the new color scheme.
This quick change artistry is accomplished in a few simple steps. Note that the original design has seven color changes. Remember that you can minimize colors by repeating them, using using less colors overall.
In the first step color shuffling option is accessed from Edit mode by touching the color palette icon and then selecting the color shuffling option.
Color Palette Icon
The option for tone on tone (Gradient) and the desired number of colors becomes available. This is also where the number of colors can be minimized if you wish. I left it at seven.
After selecting a specific color spool for the color family, the machine magically provides many pages of options.
I chose the one below.
Are you ready to experiment with tone on tone for a future project, or is this already a "go to" favorite technique for you? I'd love to hear about your experiences. Please let me know in the comments below.
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