Alex Anderson is one of the quilting world’s most knowledgeable crafters. With 30 books to her credit and host of HGTV’s “Simply Quilts” for 11 years, quilters of all levels know they can learn something from Alex!

Members of www.how-to-quilt.com recently were treated to a question and answer session with Alex through the “Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation” feature. Alex spoke about many topics, including color selection for our quilts.

Color selection remains a mystery for many quilters of all levels. Sometimes the most meticulous stitcher just does not have the eye for color. Alex explains that she spent the first 15 years of her quilting career – despite her college degree in art – feeling uncertain about colors and fabric choices in her quilts. One day she realized she was sorting her quilt fabrics by colors, not values.

“Value is simply a matter of light, medium or dark,” she explained. To make a successful quilt, Alex says the quilter must use all three fabric values – a light, a medium, and a dark. An exception might be made for baby quilts, she added, since soft colors generally tend to be light in the choices we make for babies.

“In the olden days when I taught, I would tell people to put it in three piles,” Alex said. She has since changed her teaching method. “Now when I teach, I’ll say, ‘Put it in the light pile. Put it in the dark pile,” The third pile is the medium pile. All colors that cannot be identified as either light or dark are put in it.

Just when you think your trip to the fabric store will be easier, Alex notes that light and dark fabrics are not easy to find. This is because manufacturers create the fabrics that will sell more easily, most of which fall into the medium category.

Many of the light and dark fabrics are boring, she explained. Companies concentrate on producing a bulk of fabrics with medium color values, then add in only a couple of lights and darks that might coordinate.

But, if you don’t have lights and darks in your quilts, they will look flat. To step around this obstacle, Alex advises quilters to always have an eye open for fabrics with light and dark values. When you run across these fabrics, buy a little for your stash.

Her own practice is to buy a one-third or one-half yard when she runs across some nice light fabrics. Never buy a quarter of a yard, according to Alex. The fabric gets tangled when you prewash it, she explained. She recommends buying a yard only if it is a fabric you really fall in love with. Her favorite fabrics are the tone on tone “sparkle” fabrics.

She calls them “sparkles” because although they have a dark background, little white splatters across them give them dimension and the illusion of a sparkle.

If you are not certain of color values as you are selecting fabrics, Alex says to put your fabric choices next to each other to help determine which are light and which are dark. “How important is value in a quilt? It can make or break the whole thing,” she said.

To learn from quilting gurus like Alex, visit www.how-to-quilt.com and sign up for our next “Eavesdrop on a Telephone Conversation” call. After a brief interview of the quilt expert, participants will even have a chance to ask their own questions!

 

This watercolor quilt uses light, medium and dark fabrics.	This is a grayscale picture of the watercolor quilt. Notice how much easier it is to tell which fabric is dark, light and medium.

 

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

www.How-to-Quilt.com
P.S. After much research, it turns out that Prang is the brand that holds its color best on fabric. Careful, though, your school might not like that brand - - -

©2009, Penny Halgren
Penny is a quilter of more than 27 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful quilts.

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