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Choosing
colors for your custom star quilt........
and some helpful hints
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The
COLORS you love add life, beauty, vibrancy, and a very personal
touch to your custom star quilt.
These
color charts are guides to help you select the colors for
your CUSTOM DESIGNED quilt. You are always welcome to substitute
any colors you wish in any of Diane's Native American quilts.
Some quilts are really easy to substitute colors. Others,
however, are extremely difficult----such as stars which
contain 11 different colors! So you might not want to try
substituting colors in these quilts unless you are well
experienced in the art of color manipulation.
The
colors used in each of Diane's Native American quilts have
been carefully selected to coordinate with each other. Color
coordination is actually a tricky business and requires
a bit of skill. Some colors just DON'T go well together
no matter what, while other colors that you'd think would
clash actually compliment one another very nicely. Color
value is another consideration. Do you like all light colors,
all medium colors, all dark colors, or a variety of color
tones? And, do you prefer "masculine" colors,
or "feminine" colors, or "neutral" colors,
or a little bit of everything?
You'll
also have to decide on the background color of your quilt.
It might be a lighter shade of a color that's in the star.
Or it might be a neutral color, such as black, white, or
tan. Or you might get really adventurous and pick a color
that wildly contrasts! As long as it compliments the star
and doesn't overwhelm it.
How
many different colors can you choose for the star of your
quilt? The number of rings (or rows) in the star will tell
you. Diane's star quilts have either 11 rows, 9 rows, 7
rows, or 5 rows-- and this is the maximum number of colors
you can choose for your star.
With
careful planning, these color schemes may vary. For example:
Some quilts are an 11 row quilt, but use only 10 colors
in the star. Sometimes a 7 row quilt may use only 6 colors.
That's because the center colors of these stars are repeated
at or near the outer tips of the star.
The
"radiant row" is a very important aspect to consider
in your color scheme. This is the middle row in the star
which separates the inner rows from the outer star point
rows. The radiant row looks great in a neutral color such
as black. You'll see black used in this position in many
of Diane's quilts because it's such a good separater between
different color schemes. The radiant might also match the
background of your quilt, causing the star points to seem
to "float." A small print floral calico fabric
that matches some or all of the other colors in the quilt
also works well.
There
are basically four different ways to select and arrange
the colors on each side of the radiant row:
One:
You might choose a "random" color scheme, picking
any favorite colors you like!
Two:
You might select two different color schemes, such as blue
and red, or pink and green.
Three:
You might use a "reverse method" color scheme,
which uses the same colors in the inner rows and the outer
rows---but the order of the colors is reversed on each side
of the radiant.
Four: You might prefer the "repeating method,"
where the color scheme gets darker (or lighter) from the
very center out to the radiant row---then this same exact
color arrangement repeats on the other side of the radiant.
Diane
will be happy to help you out if you get stuck. Happy designing!
See
all of the available Fabric Colors 
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