Tag Archives | Color

Fabric Dyeing Results

By Ellen Lindner on August 23, 2018 in Uncategorized

I spent all of last week learning about dye painting and other dying techniques. Once I used fabric that was properly treated, my color wheel turned out as I expected.

One of the things I was anxious to try was drawing a black line with a syringe. Here, I’ve done it on berry colored (fuchsia + black) fabrics. Kinda cool, right?

I was also experimenting with different ways to apply paint to fabric. The one on the left was done with a putty knife and the right one was done with a sponge brush. As you can see, I’m aiming for imperfection.

I experimented with the syringe line some more to see how much it would spread on dry fabric, vs. fabric with thickened dye, and fabric with thin dye. As you can see, my dye in the syringe was too thin at the top. But, once I thickened it up (about double) I was happy with all the bottom versions. I love this effect and will definitely be doing some more of it.

These two orange pieces started out as peach colored duds from Batch #1. I added a bunch of dye and then made marks with a credit card. I like the design a lot.

These next two pieces are actually sisters. I started with the left one, trying to do some stenciling. The bottom left blobby area was done with a piece of thickly crocheted “lace.” I tried to stencil through it with a sea sponge, but the fabric nature of the lace wiggled around too much and I just got a mess. The top right blog was a piece of shelf liner, through which I also tried to stencil. Two big fails.

But, then I noticed all the paint sitting on top of my two “stencils” and wondered if I could get a monoprint from them. So, I laid on a plain piece of white and got the resulting print. MUCH better! I painted the background after the print was dry.

As you can see, I was learning from both my successes and my failures. And I was just getting started.

Ellen Lindner

Preparing to Dye. Fabric, that is.

By Ellen Lindner on August 19, 2018 in Uncategorized

After painting fabric and seeing how much it stiffened the fabric, I knew I wanted to learn about painting with dyes instead. In anticipation I got a good tutorial book and asked for dyes for my just-around-the-corner birthday.

Living in Florida, I KNEW I wanted to dye inside, something that very few people do. I began to dye proof my studio. I didn’t want to put away everything that was pinned to my design walls, so I covered them with plastic.

Next, came the floor and table.

Maybe this seems like a lot of work, but I found that it really wasn’t too bad. As a matter of fact, putting away everything else was a bigger job.

I started with some simple experiments, getting to know my dye colors and techniques. I had a bunch of fabric (from YEARS ago) labeled “Treated with soda ash.” Just what I needed, so I did my first few experiments with that fabric. I couldn’t wait to wash it out and see what I got!

But, all my dark vibrant colors turned into wimpy pastels! Yuck!

Just look at my pathetic color wheel. Even the black in the center was major washed out!

Here’s another example: my clean up rag before washing.

And after. I guess it’s not actually ugly, but it’s sure not what I expected, or wanted!

Clearly, the long-ago treatment to the fabric was the problem. I soaked the remaining fabric with soda ash, rigged up a clothesline, and hung it out to dry.

As an aside, do you have any idea how long it takes fabric to dry in humid Florida? It won’t even dry overnight! Well, that’s because the evening humidity is super high. In contrast, if I put it in direct sunlight it dries in about 15 minutes. Which means a little planning is required.

After all that, I was ready for Batch 2. I mixed a good bit of dye and thickener, so stay tuned for quite a few more examples.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I’ve been using Ann Johnston’s book “Color by Design” as my reference. It’s super detailed and I recommend it.
P.P.S. My sewing machine died shortly before my dyes arrived, so the timing was good for a non-sewing distraction.

A Splash of Orange

By Ellen Lindner on August 12, 2018 in Uncategorized

You readers are really great! When I posted my quilt at this stage several of you had good suggestions about how I might improve it.

The most common suggestion was to add some orange back in. Something I had considered but rejected. Another tip was to break up the white and to extend the “splashing” out toward the edges more. Since I had mentally given this quilt a “7,” I knew it needed something and I decided to give these ideas a try.

First, I added some white “splashes” closer to the edges and put some of the orange stripes back. I also tapered the ends of many of the motifs.

Clearly, the orange needed to be more dramatic. So, I tried a few little splashes, (which look red in this photo.) Yes! I could see that this would add the drama the quilt needed.

I added more.

Yeah, that was working pretty well. My brain said, “Let’s add more!” And I obliged.

But, wait a second. This was beginning to look like I had added the kitchen sink! Some editing was needed. I removed the white splashes and auditioned changes to the orange stripes. (Below, those fabrics are folded, rather than cut, for audition purposes.)

And this is where I ended up. As you can see I completely removed the orange stripes.

Have you heard the saying that goes, “If your composition is not working, remove your favorite thing?” I think that sort of applied here. At this point, I thought it was a solid 8.5 and I was quite happy with it. On to quilting.

(Did you remember that this piece is composed of painted fabric, some of which is stiff? That may be an issue for the quilting.)

Ellen Lindner

Choosing a Palette

By Ellen Lindner on August 2, 2018 in Uncategorized

Once I had my fabrics painted, it was time to select the colors I would use with them. Orange was a given since it was in one of the fabrics.

So what about blue-green with orange?

Although this is one of my favorite color combinations I immediately thought “no.” I guess because I’ve used it so much.

But, what if I expanded the palette to include yellow-orange and red-orange? And expanded the blue-green to include pure blue and pure green? That was better. (Except for that one overly bright orange fabric top right.)

It needs some value contrast, right? Let’s see what the addition of black looks like.

Yes, that works better. But, do I really need ALL these colors? Would it be better to simplify?

I eventually settled on the palette above, with both orange and black as accents. Of course, this is just the starting point. There’s no telling where I might go from here.

Do you audition your colors before designing or do you wing it as you go? Do you use the same colors a lot?

Ellen Lindner

Learn with Me: Complementary Colors

By Ellen Lindner on March 11, 2018 in Uncategorized

You know about complementary colors, right? Colors that are in opposite locations on the color wheel?

Like blue and orange.

Since rust is a version of orange, this quilt uses complementary colors.
(Or maybe it’s red-orange and blue-green, which are also complementary.)

Deliberation

But, maybe you’re not too comfortable with a color wheel, or how to really USE complementary colors together. Here are few key points:
– Each swatch on the color wheel represents an entire color family. That is, EVERY version of that hue/color. So every blue is complementary to every orange.
– Adding the complementary color always adds drama.
– It’s best to use more of one color than the other.

This quilt uses the complementary color scheme of red and green. But, notice there’s more green than red. And in the photo above, there’s more rust/orange than blue.

Cosmo Boogie

Want to learn more? See these two articles about color, as previously published in Quilting Quarterly:
Color, Part One
Color, Part Two

Or, to master this concept and many more, check out my eBook on color.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. I have a whole section on my website with helpful articles. Click on one of the green categories to see what it has to offer.

QBL Classmates at Work

By Ellen Lindner on August 21, 2017 in Uncategorized

My classmates at Quilting by the Lake worked hard and did some amazing work. I somehow missed final images for most of them, but these few will give you an idea.

Rosalie Dace, our teacher, circulated around the room almost non-stop. She gave one-on-one advice to each student.

Barb worked late each night and almost completely assembled her piece by the end of the week. (Here it is still in-progess.) It was inspired by a stone wall, but she took a lot of liberties with her color choices. I loved it.

Peg started with rectangles and turned them into house shapes.

This is Lisa’s piece very early on. Hers is the one inspired by her engagement ring. She quickly mastered curved piecing and it’s a good thing. As you can see, she has quite a few yet to do.

I wish I had a photo of Lisa’s work further along. She used some wonderful hand dyed fabric and many bright colors. It was really singing at the end of the week.

Olan was the only man in our class (or at QBL for that matter,) but it didn’t seem to phase him in the least. He pieced these intricate feathers as part of a very large stylized piece.

Emily went for a minimalist look and for good reason. When she began to play with these fabrics, they interacted so well she didn’t want to break up the composition. She hand appliqued them in place and her top is finished!

My neighbor in class was Annemarie and she brought these vibrant colors. I knew I’d like her piece when I saw them.

Sure enough, here it is. I love the composition and contrast! It was my favorite. This is it at the very end of the week. She just had a few more seams to stitch.

One of the great things about taking a class is learning from your classmates. I definitely did that!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. If any of my classmates read this, I’d love to receive photos of your finished pieces. With your permission, I’ll add them to this post.

Starting a New Improv Quilt

By Ellen Lindner on February 7, 2017 in Uncategorized

While making Deliberation I purchased quite a few rust-colored fabrics. Several of them were purchased online as part of a collection. So, along with those rust colors, I received many luscious oranges, reds, and fuchsias. I really liked them and began to plan how I might use them.

I love hand-dyed quilts with many similar colors of the same hue. I’m not into dyeing, but I suspected I could buy something similar. And I was right. Soon, I had a collection of solid and near-solid fabrics in a tight color combination of orange to fuchsia. Knowing that I’d need some different values and accent colors, I also purchased some neutral browns, as well as yellow-greens and purples with a hand stamped look.

This is what it looked like when I auditioned the combination on my design wall.

As you can see, I auditioned them in the proportions in which I intended to use them. (Very important.) The major colors are shown in large quantities and the accent ones in small shapes. I liked the combination so I proceeded with cutting rectangles: largish ones from major colors and small ones from accents. My plan was to use improvisational piecing, which simply means that no patterns are used. (See the P.S. note)

Next, I pieced together couples made up of one large and one small piece. I put them back on the design wall and checked proportions again. I made some adjustments by sewing a few new blocks, adding some dark neutrals, and trimming down some of the existing ones. Once I had the proportions to my liking I felt like I could forge ahead without a lot more planning. Notice that all the seams were curved and many were diagonal. In the photo below I was just getting started cutting and rearranging the first round of shapes.

At this point, I was confident in my plan and ready to get started. With improvisational piecing it’s great fun to slice into things and sew them back together with a shifted orientation. Or to insert skinny strips of contrasting colors. My plan was to do plenty of both. My idea was to make a bunch of “blocks,” some with lots of tiny pieces and others with just one alteration. Then, I intended to let the intricate pieces create a focal point and to use the simpler pieces around the edges.

This is an example of what I did as I combined and altered two “couples,” making them into one block.

The two couples joined with a horizontal seam:

Two skinny strips inserted:

Right side cut and shifted:

Another skinny insert added. This one was a scrap from earlier trimming and therefore had two colors in it.

Two more cuts and shifts added: diagonal and horizontal.

A final horizontal shift.

This is the final version of the most intricate block. I won’t square it up any more than necessary. I’ll leave it like this until I’m ready to join blocks together. At that point I’ll trim only as needed, but it’s very unlikely that it will end up as a rectangle.

All of this is easy, so it’s quite addicting to slice and alter!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. There are lots of things online about how to do improvisational piecing, although most of them have to do with straight seams. I learned from Quilting Arts TV, series 1600 with Pat Pauly.
Here’s a good YouTube video about free cutting and piecing curved seams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mIwp8TZtfU
P.P.S. My old blog has some info about improvisational piecing, too:
Getting started
Putting blocks together

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Tag Archives | Color

Fabric Dyeing Results

Preparing to Dye. Fabric, that is.

A Splash of Orange

Choosing a Palette

Learn with Me: Complementary Colors

QBL Classmates at Work

Starting a New Improv Quilt

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