Thursday: It's Technical - Copyright for Quilters

It seems strange that in an art with such a storied and sentimental history of collaboration, borrowing and sharing that copyright should even be in the discussion. Twenty years ago, it may not have been as much of an issue, but we hear it cropping up fairly often - in a time where designs are bought and sold at the speed of an internet connection and with quilters designing and sharing ideas faster than ever, copyright has become an important topic in the quilting world. In this sue-happy society we live in In the current intellectual and creative environment, it is important to be knowledgable about what can and can't be done in terms of designing, sharing, selling and buying quilts, quilt patterns, workshop instructions and books.  To my own ear, it seems almost uppity that copyright even enters into the conversation when it comes to quilting, and for that reason it piqued my interest. It made me wonder who copyright laws differ for quilters than with other arts, and in what ways as quilters we should be mindful of copyright law and infringement. So here we have it, my second article, this time on Quilter's Copyright. As with any other article, I'm going to start explaining these guidelines on quilter's copyright from the ground up. As always, I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence, I'm just making sure it's as complete as possible.

DISCLAIMER: This article is in no way written with the intention of being, nor should it be misconstrued as, legal advice and I will not be held liable for or assume any responsibility for any consequences (negative or positive) that result from following the guidelines that follow. I strongly recommend that you supplement your research with your local copyright office and I encourage you to visit a copyright lawyer for your questions or issues with copyright and the associated laws rather than reading this or any other blog discussing copyright. It may not be 100% correct or complete. Do not pursue any percieved copyright infringements or attempt to obtain a copyright without consulting a lawyer who specializes in this area or your copyright office. Please know your rights. This is to serve as a set of guidelines only.

What Copyright is
According to the United States Copyright Office, "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of 'original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works." Certainly every country has their own copyright laws, but they are different only in very minor and technical ways, and so the general Copyright laws in your home country will more or less apply in any other with little variation.

It is important to note that copyright doesn't protect ideas as they exist in somoene's head or that have been verbally indicated. No one can sue for copyright infringement for simply thinking of something before someone else. Copyright protects "un/published ideas" meaning books, film, songs, poetry, artworks (to include quilts), patterns, magazines, articles, etc - the ideas become protected when they have been put down on paper (or in the case of music, written and then played) and it is through the media that the idea becomes property and protected by law. If something has been in progress and there is evidence to support the work, and it has not yet been formally published, it is still protected and this what is meant by "unpublished" works.


What are the benefits of a Copyright, either formal or implied?
A copyright holder reserves the exclusive right to make and distribute copies of their patterns privately or publicly, to make unlimited number of quilts of their pattern or derived from their pattern, to sell or lend patterns and projects made from their pattern and to publicly display their quilt as an original piece from an original pattern. A formal copyright also enables the holder to more effectively pursue legal course if their pattern is reproduced, stolen or a piece made from their design that isn't attributed to them, should they choose to do so.


Securing a Copyright
Accoring to the United States Copyright Office, once a work has been created, it is protected under copyright law and it is not required to seek a formal registration with the Copyright Office. The date of creation is understood to be the date of the first copy or recording of the work. Also, it is no longer required to put a notice of copyright on the work (you know, ©) as of 3/1/1989 since copyright is to be understood at point of creation. However it, is beneficial to always put the symbol on there because it lets people know that your design is copyrighted as of a certain year. You may find additional information on the ins and outs of US Copyright law and the process of securing a copyright in the United States by clicking on the link above. Go to page 7 for information on securing a copyright here - for your country, check your government's website for more information.


Guidelines for Quilter's Copyright
First off, let's define a couple terms that are more pertinent to the quilting world:
Copyright Infringement is "...when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner" (US Copyright Office - click for more copyright definitions).
Open/Public Domain is a work that is no longer protected by copyright. A copyright of an authored, published pattern or book, as of 2005, lasts the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. If the pattern/book is anonymous, then it lasts either 95 years after the first publishing, or 120 years after it's first creation whichever is earlier.  A pattern or book published before 1928, due to changes in the law, is now public domain and may be sold copied or shared freely by anyone. (David Allen Hall, Ph.D., Registered Patent Attorney via Quilter's Copyright FAQ).
Fair Use describes copies or pictures taken that are strictly relegated to class use only, re-sizing of templates, pictures taken for magazine/newspaper/newsletter articles, all of which give credit to the author of the pattern or designer of the quilt as necessary (US Copyright Office on Fair Use)

Making Copies
* If a pattern is out of print, that does not  legally enable you to make a copy. The right to re-publish rests with the author or whoever owns the copyright, be it living relatives of the author (if the author is deceased) or a publishing company.

* If you have a photocopied pattern that says nothing about copyright, it is still protected; you cannot make and distribute copies of the photocopy. It sounds nit-picky, I know. But the original pattern it was copied from was protected, and so too is the copy. It cannot be redistributed.

* If you want copies of a pattern, or a pattern from a book for whatever reason, you can contact the author or publishing company (preferrably in writing to keep a record) to discuss obtaining a copy. Sometimes they will give you verbal or written consent to copy the pattern. If given permission, you must attribute the pattern to the author. However, sometimes they will not give you permission, and if that is the case, your only other legal route to obtain several copies of the pattern is to purchase them.

* Traditional quilting blocks and patterns (such as an Irish Chain, Lone Star or Log Cabin) are not protected under copyright as they predate 1928 in most cases and there is no ownership of the design - they are too old for anyone to know where they came from exactly and who recieves credit for them. However, if a pattern is written with pictures and instructions for a quilt using those blocks, the pattern itself, not the design, is protected. You can still make those blocks to your heart's content, but you cannot copy that pattern to make them without giving due credit.

* You may photocopy portions of a pattern to re-size or to write on to keep the original in good condition. That is completely permissable under Fair Use policies.

* Charities do not have exemptions to copyright law. If you want to copy and distribute a pattern for use in charities quilting, you must contact the designer for permission. They likely will not allow you to make that many copies, but they may give you a discounted rate on the patterns. Be sure to ask.

Taking Pictures
* Taking a picture of a quilt and "figuring it out yourself" rather than buying the pattern is a form of copyright infringement. Because that quilt exists, someone had to create that arrangement of blocks and figure out the process to get it done, making it a piece of creative/intellectual property which becomes even more pronounced if the pattern is published. This is the reason why most quilt shops do not allow pictures of their quilts to be taken unless you have purchased the pattern - they are protecting you, the designer and the store from copyright issues.

* Taking pictures of display quilts without a store's permission is copyright infringement. Even if there is no sign that says "No Pictures," it is understood that taking pictures is on a permission only basis due to copyright laws. Always ask first, and if they say no, do not sneak a picture anyway.

Inspiration
* You can use another quilt for inspiration, but to avoid copyright infringement you must change more than the colors (unless you are using a pattern for which the iniration quilt is a sample). You must change at least 30% to avoid a possible copyright issue. This could be size, block arrangement, block type, border style etc.

* Even if there is no copyright symbol on the pattern, it is still understood to be protected by copyright law.
Even free patterns have a disclaimer that they are for individual use only and not for resale, meaning you cannot credit the pattern as your own.
Miscellaneous
* If you make a pattern and distribute it, it is not necessary to legally register the pattern with the copyright office. Putting "Copyright [your name]" is sufficient enough to let people know that pattern is your creative property. However, registering your pattern with the copyright office makes it easier to take legal action in the circumstance that your pattern is stolen.

* Class instructions and notes are also protected under copyright and should not be reproduced without the consent of the person, be it the teacher or an outside source.


I know this all seems to fly in the face of the long held quilting tradition of sharing, and it's true, it does. We live in a world now where formally transmitted ideas are legally recognized as creative/intellectual property and money can be made from them. These need to be protected so that the person who put the work into creating the quilt is the one who financially benefits from it and that they are the one who recieve the recognition. That being said, if you do make a physical copy here and there, it is very likely indeed that you won't get caught, and in the broad scheme of things is not a tremendous deal.

It is here, on the Internet, that it isvery possible that - along with the myriad other privacy and publishing issues the Internet can bring - that you could get yourself into trouble for copying patterns and posting them for free, for copying a published quilt and acknowledging you didn't purchase the pattern but rather "figured it out yourself" without giving credit or for crediting a quilt made from a pattern as your own. The Internet has made copyrighting and therefore copyright infringement more confusing, faster and easier than ever, especially easier to do so without being aware of it and that's why it is advisable to exercise caution and be knowledgeable about copyright law. People can, and do sue over this kind of thing. I find myself at the core in agreement with Paul Rapp, a lawyer who was faced with a quilting copyright sort of suit -
read his discussion here. Most minor infrigements aren't worth the time and money spent in a lawsuit, and so they slide. It is the frequent, large scale or blatant rip-offs that get pursued.

The idea behind the copyright laws and the copyright infringement suits is the not-unreasonable idea that copyright infringement is damaging to everyone involved. On a lofty moral ground, it is argued that copyright infringement is akin to stealing - you wouldn't walk in to your local quilt store, grab a pattern from the wall and walk out without paying for it. To photocopy, hand-copy or take a photo of an original quilt or design from a pattern without purchasing the pattern or gaining expressed permission from the author/designer is essentially the same thing. As I research it more, it was presented time and time again to put it in perspective this way: think about how you would feel if you put all of the time and money in to making and selling a pattern only to find out that people were making it without paying for the instructions you published, or if they copied the quilt and are taking credit as their own - I don't know about you, but I know I would be both hurt and furious on principle alone. On the practical and financial side of things, the point was repeatedly made that a lot of money and time goes in to publishing a pattern and that avenue of design is someone's livelihood  - usiing it without permission or without purchace is harming their sales and their livelihood. After some consideration, it helped me to think about in this paradigm: If you buy a pattern for $9, and make copies of it to give to your six friends, that is $54 dollars less whatever the publishing comany takes that the designer won't see. Multiply that by an indeterminite number of groups doing the same thing and that patternmaker is losing thousands of dollars. Thaat doesn't sound like a huge deal but when you consider that this is what this person does for a living, and some patterns do well and others don't, plus the publishing charges etc, they're not making much to begin with.

I hope these guidelines have made copyrights in the quilting world a little bit clearer. Again, before securing a copyright or pursuing any percieved copyright infringement with legal action, I strongly encourage you to contact a patent or copyright lawyer to learn what the circumstances really are and what your course of action should be.

Sources and Additional Research
United States Copyright Office
Red Dawn Quilting Copyright
Palm Beach Quilter's Guild Copyright Notice
Quilting Copyright FAQ
Lillian's Cupboard discusses Copyright Law
Fidalgo Island Quilter's Copyright for Quilters
Copyrighting your Quilt
Copyrights, Licenses and Quilting
Quilting Business' Quilting Copyrights and Licenses

Life is wild and weird.

What a weekend! I promise I haven't gone away. Actually, I'm working on a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section for this blog. It has less to do with "What do I do when [quilting problem] happens" and more to do with the general questions - copyright for quilters, what to expect when you hire someone to quilt your quilt for you, why stores do certain things, pointers about selling your quilts, questions about fabrics and sewing machines...those kinds of things. It's taking a while to answer all the questions and then make sure I've covered all the bases by cross referencing my answers and citing where needed.  So look for that within the next few days!

Otherwise, we had our Second Saturday Block of the Month this weekend, which is always a fun and busy few days so I've been laying low and hanging out after work. No blogging for this girl! Oh, and those 2 quilts I posted about earlier, the sewing one and the leopard print one? The wonderful Carol got them quilted for me and they look FAB. Loretta also got my Booville quilt back to me and it looks pretty dang awesome too - she quilted bats on it...my favorite <3. I'm about to get a tablerunner done and then it's on to the pumpkin/acorn/fall leaves behemoth. That thing is huge! I'll post about it later - I'll be completely honest, I can't even remember what the book is called that the pattern is in. Whoops.

On another note, we'll know the results of mom's cardiology tests tomorrow and so that means we'll know if this is going to be a surgery or meds kind of situation. As much as I hate seeing her react to meds, I think it's a preferable option to surgery. Dad's having some work done tomorrow too so...lots of positive vibes thattaway please!

Thursday: It's Technical. Color Theory and Color Choice in Quilts

When I was an art student, and somehow the topic of conversation go to that point, I'd say 70% of the time the response was "Oh, I could never do that, I can't draw and I don't know anything about color." Now that I work in a quilt shop, people come in all the time asking for help with color choices, usually followed by "I just can't put colors together." Don't get me wrong, I love helping people with their color choices, I think it's the most fun part of the quilting process! But this post is about empowering people to love and not fear their color choices by showing how easy color can be!

Color Theory is a term we hear pop up a lot in the art world, and now it's found a place as a buzz phrase in the quilting community. It sounds like an unnecessary complication to a pretty straight forward concept - choosing colors you like and that look good together and putting them in a quilt - but knowing how color works and how colors interact in an art piece can prove to be a valuable asset in quilt making, making your already beautiful quilts that much stronger.

Since we're all starting from different experience levels, I'm going to explain Color Theory from the ground up; I'm not insulting anyone's intelligence, I promise, I'm just going to lay it all out so everyone starts on the same page.

Color Basics

 Even if you don't do traditional art or quilt, you still know something about color even if you don't readily recognize it. Think about it for a minute: what's your favorite color? Is there a color pairing you find yourself buying a lot of for your home or wardrobe? If you can dress yourself, then you can pick color. Most of us (People of Walmart not included) have a reasonably good idea of what colors look good on us (for me, jewel tones), what does nothing for us (for me, white and beige) and what looks downright God-awful (I'm looking at you, yellow). Women especially have a good idea of color because most of us at least ever now and then, wear makeup. We have to know if we have a warm or cool toned skin tone, if we're an "ivory, buff, beige, tan, olive, or ebony," which eyeshadow will make our blue/brown/green/hazel/grey eyes look more blue/brown/green/hazel/grey, and whether our lipstick will make our teeth look white or yellow based on whether the lipstick is yellow based or blue based. Guys, you know color too! You carefully select your tie to match your suit to match your hankercheif to match your shoes, your car's exterior to match the interior to match the speakers, your customizable video game and  RPG characters to look the most menacing ro the most sage (you can't have an anti-Paladin in pink...that's not menacing and manly at all).

But just to review the color basics we all ready know...

Warm Colors - Red, orange and yellow are traditionally called the warm colors. Browns, tans, even some purples and blacks can be considered warm colors if they're red or yellow based. But that's overcomplicating it, and we'll get to that later. Warm colors all share their primary base of red. We know the warm colors give a more bright, energetic, alarming, cheerful feel to whatever they are covering.

Cool Colors - Traditionally, these are green, blue and purple. Grey, brown, black and beige can also be cool colors if they are blue or green based. Cool colors all share the primary blue base. These are called cool colors since when they are used, they evoke feelings of calmness, coldness, crispness and freshness that warm colors contrast with.

POP QUIZ! True or False: Black is all colors combined and white is the absence of color, so therefore there is only one black and one white - they're all the same. Read on for the answer...

 

Remember this? I think we all had to make our own version of this in grade school using too much tempera paint and glitter.

Hues

The above Color Wheel is showing the hues only. A hue is the pure color, meaning it is not mixed with gray, black or white to achieve darker, lighter, duller or brighter colors. You've probably also noticed that brown, grey, black and white are NOT shown on the Color Wheel. All of that I will explain later, but first, let's just focus on the hues.

Primary - The primary colors are the three that make up the very center of the Color Wheel; Red, yellow and blue. These three colors are the very base of all other colors, which means they also are the least complex (yes, even white and black are more complex than your primary red, yellow and blue. I'll get to the different types of the primaries later). These 3 colors are not the result of mixing any other colors, meaning you can't mix X and Y and get red for example.

Secondary - The colors are the result of mixing any 2 of the 3 primary colors; red + yellow yields orange, yellow+ blue yields green and blue + red yields violet. Secondary colors are still fairly pure, meaning they are the result of your most basic primaries, not dark red + light blue or anything like that.

Tertiary - These colors are a little more complex. I refer to these as the Crayola colors; these are the Violet-Reds, Red-Violets, Yellow-Greens, Blue-Purples...all of the least creatively named, yet prettiest (in my opinion) crayons of the Crayola 24 pack.  These colors are achieved by mixing one primary color and one secondary color, so they end up being the "in-between" colors, not quite one or the other. This is one way to get your darks and brights of secondary colors.

How does knowing Hues help in quilting?

Knowing the hues helps a great deal. Think of the hue of the color as the foundation of your house. Your house needs a foundation to be built on, just like your quilt needs color to grow from. By knowing how a hue is built and where it sits on the Color Wheel, you can more easily choose the colors to go with it. Each hue has a built in set of colors it naturally looks nice with, both yielding different visual effects: the accompanying colors can either be Analogous or Complementary.

For the sake of example, let's say I am making a quilt and I have chosen a focus fabric that is predominantly violet:

Analogous - Analogous colors are the colors that are immediately next to each other on the Color Wheel, and are made up of one primary, one secondary and one tertiary. Sonce my focus fabric is purple, my analogous color set could either be red, red-violet and violet or blue, purple (aka blue-violet) and violet. Analogous colors in quilts create a softer, calmer more blended appearance (even if your focus is yellow)since they are all in the same color family.  

Complementary - Complementary colors are the colors that are opposite each other on the Color Wheel. Looking at the above Color Wheel, you can see that Violet's complement is yellow. When you're dealing with hues, complementary colors are a pairing of one primary and one secondary, or a pairing of two tertiaries, depending on your color choice. In quilts, it is the Complementary pairings that give your quilt pop! The opposite colors make each other brighter and more intense, which gives your quilt a brighter and more dynamic quilt. Complementary colors can be expanded into analogous complemntary pairings in quilts, meaning you pair your focus analogous set (let's say red, red-violet and violet ) with their complementary analogous set (yellow, yellow-green and green). Using Complementary Analgous pairs gives you a wider range of color, while toning down the intensity of your complements, still gives your quilt what I call "the pop factor." If you mix two complemenatry colors together, however, you will get a muddy shade of grey-brown. This is useful if you need a brown that plays well with your complements.

Now we're going to get a little more complicated, because we'll combine the above principles with some new mixes of color. Expand your idea of the Color Wheel from that of the simple Hue Color Wheel you learned in grade school into what I call "The Paint Chip Color Wheel" that you'd learn in art school. This is where we bring in the lights, darks, brights and neutrals together into one Color Wheel, as illustrated below. Since we just went through Hues, we're going to skip those and dive right in:

 

The Truth About Black and White

True or False: Black is all colors combined and white is the absence of color, so therefore there is only one black and one white - they're all the same.

Answer: FALSE. While it is true that black is all colors combined and white is the absence of color, it is not true that all balcks and all whites are same. Both colors are actually multi-tonal.

Have you ever put on a black shirt and a black pair of pants, walked outside and had someone point out your shirt and pants didn't match? Though tactless, it was probably true. When it comes to fabrics, not every black is the same. Different companies used different types of dye with different base colors to make their black dye.  Go into any quilt store and grab a few different brands of solid black; I guarantee you one will look warmer (red base) and one will look cooler (blue base) and one will look slightly greenish (green base). They're all black, but they have different bases. Dabbing some bleach on a piece of black fabric will show you what it's base color is if you have enough fabric to spare to test. Not only that, but because of their different bases, blacks come in a variety of shades evenwithout the addition of white: blue based blacks tend to be the darkest, and green based blacks tend to be lighter.

White functions a little differently. Think of it in terms of a white paint chip - there's bright white, soft white, eggshell white. They are all white and like black, unless you put 2 different whites together, its hard to tell the difference. In fabric, there is even something called "optic white," which is the white that is the brightest of them all. The softer whites work well in pastel quilts and in lanscape quilts where white is necessary. While still creating high contrast with other colors, it's not as stark as an optic white. Optic whites work nicely in more contemporary quilts and in quilts using brights. It creates the crispest line and the highest contrast. Natural light aids in determining what kind of white you have, since artificial (incandescent, fluorescent, LED etc) light can give fabric a slight cast of color it may or may not have on its own.

Tints

As you can see above, a Tint is the hue mixed with white. This is what we commonly refer to as the Pastel colors. The more white a hue is mixed with, the lighter and brighter the color becomes. This is also how we get our lightest of neutrals - cream, buff, beige - but I'll get to how we achieve our neutrals in a  moment. Tints may also be mixed with other tints to creat new tints. Whew! 

Hue on the left, gradual tinting to the right. Courtesy of Tiger Color.

The same Warm/Cool, Analogous/Complementary (WC/AC Rules henceforth) apply to Tints as to Hues. Used alone, Tints provide quilts with a very soft, light, gentle, feminine look and feel, regardless of texture. These are perfect colors for baby, spring, winter, shabby chic, and girly girl quilts. When accompanying other non-Tint colors, they traditionally are used as backgrounds or to give the impression of light.

Examples of quilts using Tints. Tints don't have to be baby pastel, it just depends on how much white is present in the hue that determines how pastel it reads. Picture courtesy of Lori Smith of From My Heart to Your Hands

Tones

Tones are hues mixed with gray. Gray is not a tone; keep in mind that gray is white + black, which makes it technically a tint, and black is multi-colored. That means that since there are just about endless colors of gray (sounds odd, colors of gray, doesn't it?) because of the different blacks the white could get mixed with, Tones actually have a deceptively broad range of color. Depending on who you talk to, this is where you'll find your Neutrals. I disagree there, since not all (in fact, to my eye, not most) Neutrals are mixes of gray - they are more complex than that.

 

Tones - Hue to the left, tone to the right. Courtesy of Tiger Color

Again, the same Warm/Cool, Analogous/Complementary (WC/AC Rules henceforth) apply to Tones as well. Tones make for great additions to masculine quilts, and are extremely useful in creating shadow and depth for landscape quilts. They also offset bright colors very well, and give those colors a "glowing" effect. Tones are also prevalent in Primitives and reproduction style quilts.

This is an example of a tonal/neutral quilt. The focus is gray, taupe and brown, with taupe being the prime example of a Tonal color (brown + gray). Photo courtesy of Quilts in Montana.

 

Shades

"Shade" is a word we use colloquially to denote the different colors within a color (shades of pink, shades of blue etc) that aren't necessarily dark, light or mid-tone. However, in Color Theory, a shade is a color that is mixed with black, making it the dark version of that color. Just like with Tones, because black is multi-colored, the effect can be whide ranging, from intensifying it to a dark, rich color (for example, mixing red with a red-based black), or to counteract the warmness/coolness of it (for example, mixing a red with a green based black). Shades can range from just slightly darker than mid-tone, to almost black, depending on how much black is mixed with the original color, but generally they are referred to as "dark [color of choice]."

Shades - Hue to the left, shaded to the right. Courtesy of Tiger Color

Shades are great for pairing with brighter colors to make them pop, or pairing with other shades to create a sense of depth and richness. They work very well in masculine quilts and contemporary quilts, and are prevalent in reproductions and Primitives.

This is a good example of shades and tonals. The lighter pieces are a tonal (taupe-gray) and the rest are shades of red, blue, rust and looks like green too. The quilt is beautifully rich. Picture courtesy of Heather Pearson's Blog.

Making Color Work FOR You

Choosing color for your quilt is not a scary as it can be made out to be. Thankfully, unlike paint, if you don't like a color you put in, or if it just doesn't work, you can take the piece out and put a new one in relatively easily. But a good rule of thumb is to start with a focus fabric that will be prevalent in your quilt, from which you can choose accompnying colors. Sometimes it's obvious which colors you want to put with your piece, and it's a snap and you get your colors picked in 5 minutes or less. They work great, and Voila! Successful quilt. This is more for when you have a focus fabric, or a set of colors you think you awant but are stumped as to what to put with it.

First, there are a couple things to consider. What kind of fibers will you be working with - cotton, batiks, flannel, wool, silk, wovens, etc? This is important to consider since some fibers absorb dye differently. Batiks and cottons tend to be more saturated with dye, and so they run the gamut from pastel to bright to dark with ease. Flannels can be bright, but more often than not you'll find darker, more muted colors or very soft pastel colors. Wool comes in all colors, but darker and brighter colors are more prevalent. Wovens tend to be more neutral and tonal.

Another question to ask yourself is, what do you want to achieve with your quilt? That will help determine your color selection. If you are looking to make a comfort quilt, you might shy away from the brighter, more intense colors and opt for something softer and more soothing. If you are looking to do something more contemporary, you might look more into the brights and tonals. If reproduction is your thing, you might seek out deeper and more tonal fabrics. Pastels are more suited for shabby chic, spring and baby quilts, so you might consider pastels for something like that. THERE IS NO HARD AND FAST RULE AS TO WHAT IS THE "RIGHT" COLOR FOR THE JOB. I cannot emphsize that enough! There are no Quilt Police that will haul you away for doing a baby quilt in tonals, a reproduction in pastels or a traditional quilt in brights. Consider who you're making it for, and what they like and what purpose it will serve. Everyone has a different eye and likes different things so COLOR CHOICE IS SUBJECTIVE. It's no fun if theres stress and anxiety over what's the correct color for the jo, it's all about what flows and looks good to your eye and Color Theory helps you get there. I digress :)

Here's a breakdown of colors and the effects they acheive on their own. When you combine them in certain ways, they bounce off each other differently:

Red: An active color, red will pop out from darker, cooler colors. It has warm intensity and brings to mind things like fire, love.

Orange: Also an active color, it pops from darker, cooler colors as well. It is warm and bright and gives quilts a happy, sunny, energetic feel.

Yellow: An active and intense color that will pop against any other, even warm colors. It is warm, crispand vibrant. the eye cannot focus on yellow for very long, so placing pops of yellow in a quilt forces the eye to move around the piece. It also gives quilts a cheerful and sunny feel.

Green: This is generally a more passive color that retreats when placed with warmer colors, but if the hue/tint is bright enough, it can pop depending on what it is placed with. Green helps give quilts a fresh, clean and calm ambiance.

Blue: Unless it is a very bright blue paired with other cool colors, blue is a passive color that retreats in the background. It will give your quilt a tranquil feel no matter the shade, and in the tonals it grounds the piece. Blue can be vibrant and energetic, but overall it is a calming influence.

Purple: As with green, the intensity and brightness of purple can change whether it pops or retreats. Generally though, it retreats and gives the quilt a fresh, feminine, or rich and regal feel. 

Neutrals: I'm going ot go ahead an use this umbrella term for browns, grays, beiges, taupes, tans, creams and everything inbetween. Neutrals tend to recede because they are mostly paired with a more dominant color.  They give quilts a calm, earthy simple beauty.

White: White quickly dominates a quilt, but if used too much it has a tendency to overpower the colors it's paired with. Colors appear less bright with white with them, but also appear fresher and clearer than with black, as seen below:

Black: As seen above, black makes other colors, including white, pop. Because of its darkness, it dominates a quilt. visually while still letting other fabrics be the stars.

Here are some color choice tips to consider...

* Depending on what you choose to use as a background, the color you use on top of it may look different because of how the two colors play together based on where they are located on the color wheel. For example:

The center block in each square is the same red, but look how different it can look based on what you pair with it? Courtesy of Color Matters

Again, the center block is the same purple, buyt even with analogous colors, the focus color can seemingly change based on your background. Courtesy of Color Matters

* Color is important, but value is even moreso. You can have all of the range of color in the world but still have a flat quilt if it's all the same tint/tone/shade. Quilts need light, medium and dark fabrics to create depth. that doesn't mean every quilt needs black and white, but in whatever colors you choose, having both ends of the spectrum as well as the mid tone helps create richness, depth and that "Pop Factor" that quilters love.

* Cooler, darker colors tend to recede when places with brighter, warmer colors. If you want a portion of your block to pop, consider using the brighter complement as the focus of that block.

* Monochromatic (using the hue, tints, tones and shades of one color only) quilts are nothing to sneeze at. While only using one color, the value is what makes the quilt so visually impactful.

* Proportion of color and value is what gives your quilt its life - The dominant color is both the color you use the most of, or what your eye is drawn to quickest. Your sub-dominant colors are the colors that take up less area than the dominant color, but play well with the dominant. The accent is the color that takes up the least space, but contrasts the most with the sub-dominant and dominant color(s). Divinding your color choices into those groups can help organize and guide the direction of your quilt. Without stating it outright, most quilt patterns do this for you on the required yardage page.

* This Palette Picker is a great help to illustrate how your colors will interact if you're having a hard time visualizing. It's come in handy for me more than once!

This article has been supplemented by this Color Theory website. If you want to learn even more, this is the best, most in-depth tutorial I have found yet

Some Finished Projects, and Tippy Tuesday!

Well, it's been QUITE the weekend. I can honestly say I pushed myself to the point of being so physically and mentally tired I couldn't think of the word for guacamole (and I love guacamole). We changed the store up...just about the only things that didn't move are Color Wall and Clearance. It looks pretty dang good if I do say so myself, but it was a LOT of hard work. Mom is notorious for pushing herself too hard, and so considering a week off of her heart attack she was wanting to move things, I made sure I stayed late and came in early so I got the heavy lifting done before she got there so she wouldn't try to do it herself. Who'd have thought that there would be heavy lifting in a quilt store? Well, there is...those bolts are heavy if you move more than 2 at a time (which I did). But it wasn't all me thank goodness, we got my folks, my aunt, brother and my roomate to help get things done and after 3 days of moving I swear I couldn't have done it without their help! The busted their rear ends too and for that I thank 'em. So y'all will have to come in and see!

Besides doing the big fall floorset, I got a couple quilts done too. The first is a quilt from posts past. I finally got the borders on and it looks fabulous! It was really hard for me to do a random and scrappy style quilt, especially one that is really heavy on pattern, so I'm happy with the results. We were going to have kits for this, but when I discovered how the borders had to be cut to look right, it just wasn't going to happen. So, just about all of the fabric is still available, but no kits.

The whole kit 'n caboodle. Scrappy, yes?

A detail shot. I am in LOVE with that border print. It's a strong pastel, which, any pastel isn't really my thing, but this one is really cute. And it's a sewing theme too so it's gotta be good ;-) In case you're wondering, the beige in the print is actually a sewing pattern for clothes, the kind that comes printed on the it's-so-thin-you-look-at-it-sideways-and-it-tears tissue paper. It's a little hard to see in this picture.

A detail of the ceter of the quilt. And my feet.

 The other quilt is a quilt from a postcard pattern. They're $2 apiece and all of the quilts are simple and of various sizes, from wall hangings to very large throws (this one is I think about 74" square). I started this in January and obviously got very, very sidetracked. But it turned out nicely, and it's definitely in my favorite colorway.

Simple, but it's one of those quilts where color and value placement make a world of difference. This quilt could look completely different by turning the blocks different ways and placing the color differently.

A little more detail of the fabric, sans feet. I am also in LOVE with that border. this picture doesn't do it justice, the color is so vibrant.

So enough of my quilts, now on to this week's tips!:

* If a spool of thread you're using doesn't have a notch or anything to keep your thread from unwinding when it's not in use, cut a thin strip of Saran Wrap or Press & Seal wrap and rap it around your loose end. It prevents the thread from unspooling, it's easy to remove when you need the thread, and it doesn't damage the thread either.

* To keep scissors or thread clippers handy near your sewing machine without having to watch that they don't fall of the table while you're sewing/cutting, a suction cup hook from the Dollar Store attaches/removes easily from the side of your machine and keeps what you need easily accessible and out of the way.

* A Boning gun (the gun that attaches the plastic "bone" to both a garment and the price tag) comes in handy when you want to keep blocks or like scraps together for use later. The hole it creates is no larger than a T-Pin and your pieces won't come separated from each other until you decide to use them.

* If you're quilting a large quilt and find yourself struggling with the weight of the quilt forcing it to fall off your table while you're quilting, the following 2 tips help combat that weight: 1) if you're able to, put your sewing table in a corner while you quilt - that elimiates 2 sides from which your quilt can fall over and pull while you're sewing, and 2) if you can't put your table in a corner, take the loose end of your quilt and drape it over your shoulder and chest - it won't fall and your arms are still free to quilt the way you need to.

* For smaller quilts, use a spray adhesive on the back of your backing and of your quilt to baste it to your batting. it saves you time on pinning, doesn't come undone, and doesn't gunk up your needle or machine. Just be sure not to spray the adhesive on to your batting - it will simply absorb the adhesive and your fabric won't adhere.

* If you are quilting a quilt yourself and don't want to use a stipple and youdon't have access to a computerized longarm for designs, your local craft store has a large selection of stencils that can be used as quilting patterns. Use a chalk pouncer or a water soluable pen to trace your design, and stitch on your marks.

* If you don't have a hard floor, go to your office supply store and buy a hard mat that is for underneath a rolling chair, and put it under your sewing chair byu your machine. Threads and scraps fall to the floor all the time, and this hard surface is a snap to clean - just sweep your threads/scraps up and you're good as new. A magnet will help pick those pins that fall on there quickly and poke-free too!

* Most stores when you're buying clothes will either give you the hanger, or ask you if you want to keep it; if it's a clip style pnats hanger, say yes please! Those clip hangers are great for storing finished, unquilted quilt tops up and away from anything that could damage themor cause your fabric to ravel. They are also great for storing odd pieces of batting, quilting stencils, large pattern pieces, large pieces of template plastic or odd sized cutting mats.

* To keep your cutting accurate, use the right ruler for the job and measure using your ruler, NOT your mat. Over time and wear, mats can groove and warp, making your cuts less accurate as time goes on. The hard acrylic rulers are made from does not warp with time and your cuts will always be accurate. It also enables you move where you cut, which causes less wear on your mat over time. This method works for cuts as larger as youer needed ruler allows, from strips of varying width up to 25" square.

* The rubber stops on knitting needles are great to use on your small sharp scissors. They prevent your points from getting dull from storage (other items may hit your scissors) and it protects both you and your projects from accidentally getting poked or cut.

I get super stoked about little things...

The Internet. It never ceases to amaze me how it connects everyone to everything everywhere at once. It blows my mind that people in other countries read my blog. The Internet is awesome! I checked the stats on this puppy and excluding Antarctica, I now have a handful if regular readers on every continent. That is so so so cool!

That being said, hello Malaysia, Australia, Kenya, Russia, Germany, US and Brazil! (and all my other international readers!)

Hooray Internet!

Thursday: It's Technical is now Technically It's Friday

This is a short and sweet entry today.

Calculating quilt yardage can be difficult if you don't know where to start. Granted, we don't all have computers we can just keep with us, but this Fabric Calculator is useful when you're on the computer and needs to know your yardage before you click sumbit on your order. I don't know to what percent of accuracy it is, but it's a good idea to allow for at least one strip width more than what it calls for, in case you prewash your fabric (to allow for shrinkage) or for any "oopses." It also helps give you a format to use when you're out in the world and needing to know your yardage if you're not using a pattern, or if the pattern doesn't provide one,

Also, for those of you with smart phones, I know iPhone has a free fabric calculator app. I'm not sure about Android or Blackberry, so if any of you readers out there have either of the latter and know if there are any quilting apps out there, shoot me a comment and let me know so I can share!

A Quarter Century, Minus 1.

Before I get on with "Thursday: It's Technical," I want to say THANK YOU to everyone for all the birthday wishes!  I love you all! <3 It's going to be a good day.

Also, I'll have pictures up soon, but Frances brought me my Ghastlies quilt back yesterday, and it looks fabulous! She always does such a great job. Varigated thread always looks great.