Five Friday Favorites: Sources of Inspiration!

Today we're talking about color!  I think many quilters are intimidated with the thought of pulling together fabrics for a quilt - particularly when those fabrics aren't all from one line.  So today I'm sharing with you five sources of inspiration to help you put colors and fabrics together for your next quilt project.

#1:  A Main Print

I'm putting this one in the #1 slot because it is the quickest and easiest way to find coordinating colors.  And it's my favorite method!  Just find a multi-colored print that you love and look at the colors contained in it. The print above is from the Les Fleurs line from Cotton + Steel.  Take a close look.  You might be surprised at just how many colors are in one print!  Usually the colors in the print are also found on the selvages - think of it as a super handy cheat sheet.

Once I identify my favorite colors in a print, I choose some coordinating prints from there (dots, stripes, small florals, etc.)  Just as an example, I created the dots above to show you all the colors found in the print.  Below you can see just two color combinations you could pull from this one inspiration print!  No one says you have to use ALL of the colors - just choose your favorites.

color inspiration option 1

color inspiration option 2

You can see from the examples how the "feeling" of the quilt would change depending on the combination of colors you choose.  

#2:  Design Seeds

This site is full of gorgeous color palettes.  I could spend hours here just gawking at all of the pretty color combos.  For quick reference, I keep a pinterest board full of my favorite combos from Design Seeds (and other sites) so when I'm needing fast inspiration I head there first.  

#3:  Pinterest

photo credit:  thezhush.blogspot.com

Speaking of Pinterest....it sure is helpful for all sorts of things, isn't it?  Like I said above, I have a whole board of just color inspiration, but ....just by looking at some of your other favorite pins you can gather a color palette to use!  This photo is from a board I created when I was re-doing my son's room.  I pinned it because I liked the blinds used in the room, but later I realized I also really liked the colors in the photo!  So go and take a look at some of your other photos on pinterest and see what inspires you!  (photo source link here)

#4:  Your own photos

Life is beautiful.  Nature is beautiful.  We all take thousands of photos of our life - but have you ever thought to use those photos to help you choose the colors of your next quilt?  Take a look at your favorite photos in your phone.  Why are they your favorite?  Can you pull out color inspiration from them?  Give it a try!  

#5:  Palette Builder from play crafts

This one is fun (and addictive)!  You can use this site to upload a photo and it will help extract colors from the photo.  The best part?  It gives you the Moda Bella solids color name that corresponds to the color.

I uploaded my photo (takes a just a second or two), and the site automatically chooses 6 points in the photo to color match.  See the white dots on the photo?  You can drag those around the photo to change the colors.  Then see on the right hand side?  It lists the names of the coordinating Moda Bella solids.  You can also just take this to your local quilt shop and use the color swatches to choose some blender prints to bring into the quilt.  

I did another example below.  This photo was from a trip we took to Oahu.  What a great source of inspiration, and a great way to help preserve memories!

You can find the Palette Builder here, and also here on the Moda / United Notions website.  Give it a try!

Where do YOU find your color inspiration?  I'm always looking for new ones, so please share!