Color Spectrum Test

In one of the on line groups that I belong to the following link to a color spectrum test was posted. http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77 It is an easy test to take, but be sure you look at the entire width of the page or you might get a score you do not deserve.

My score was zero which means I have perfect color spectrum. This is good and bad. It means to me that I can be very picky when choosing colors. I always knew that I had a color sense that others didn't have. I guess that is why when I owned a quilt shop the customers wanted me to pick out the fabrics for them. I didn't mind helping, but I never liked totally picking out the fabric for a quilt. I wanted my customers to have a say in what fabrics they liked and in what order they should appear in a quilt. The most challenging for me to pick out was always a log cabin

The bad part about the color spectrum test is that all the colors were of the same value. When we shop for fabric the values are sometimes bright and other times dull. There is much more then spectrum to picking out fabrics for a quilt. Oh and then the patterns printed on the color can totally change an opinion about a fabric working in a quilt. For instance, I have a very bright pink fabric with yellow ducks printed on it. The fabric works well with the coordinating fabrics from this line to make a child's quilt, but it would not work in a pink quilt due to the yellow duck.

One other thing I think everyone needs to remember about color is lighting makes a difference. Some quilt shops have full spectrum lights that are to show the true color of a fabric, but do you light your home with full spectrum lights? Most likely no! So my advice is if you really need something to match something else in your home either take samples of colors with you to the quilt shop or buy just small amounts of a fabric and take it home to test. If you have a favorite fabric you want to have as a focus in your quilt take it with you to pick out fabrics to coordinate with your favorite fabric. Sometimes you can just take the color dots from the selvage of the fabric, but I would rather have the entire piece of fabric.

Sometimes I don't have my fabric samples with me, but end up in a shop with fabric. Now this doesn't happen too often for me now, because I am trying to just use from my stash. It did happen with my latest quilt. I knew I needed a bright, a little darker then a true blue fabric. It needed to coordinate with a pale blue and also mix well with a dull dark yellow green, a pale green and a bright red. I didn't need to worry about patterns on these fabrics as they are mostly color on color patterns. I did not take any samples with me when I ended up in a place with fabric. So I just guessed which fabric would work. I guessed correctly and that might have to do with my color spectrum abilities and having the type of memory which allows me to visualize.

The quilt I am working on now will be published soon by http://www.quiltwoman.com I will post a picture when it is done. The thing I like about this quilt is that the colors is what makes the pattern move. The quilt is actually made using two simple blocks, but the changing of the colors in the block makes the quilt look complicated, but it is not. Speaking of that quilt I need to get the last three blocks sewn so I can start the final assembly.

Peggy