Stripe Studies

Marny here...
Do you every find yourself buying the same article of clothing over and over, or choosing the same paint color for every room, or being attracted to the same textiles for your home?
I totally do.
My fascination is with small scale plaids, checkerboards, and stripes they form or use!

Duvet cover, from Crate and Barrel years ago

Dining room chair upholstery, also from years ago, that I never tire of.

Current eyeglass case. I love the colors and values playing off one another!

I've collected lots of Kaffe Fasset's incredible stripes and a whole variety of shot cottons through the years. A quilt in a booth at the recent Des Moines AQS show really caught my eye. Its label indicated it was based on "Take Five" by Kent Williams. Seeing it made me want to come home and educate myself on stripes, solids and their endless interplay. 

A single stripe with a single shot cotton, analogous hues throughout.
Equal proportions of each. The result is pretty but lacks visual interest. 

A new stripe created from two stripes and one shot cotton. Here your eye is challenged a bit seeing and sorting the values and the range of hues.

Again, two stripes and one shot cotton.

Two stripes in one set of horizontals interrupted by a single stripe of somewhat analogous hues, rather than the previous shot cottons. It is fun to see the interplay of dull and bright, and to see how the various scales of the stripes butt up against one another.

Again, two stripes in one set of horizontals interrupted by a single stripe, but this one is in a large range of hues and values.

The four most successful studies playing nicely with one another!
I'm not sure where I am going with this but my eye loves the surprising outcomes once the stitching takes place. Working with these stripes and shot cottons provides a valuable lesson in seeing value, color, tints, and tones.
I highly recommend it!

Jill and I will have a booth at Lucky Star Holiday Market here in Ames, Friday evening December 2nd and Saturday December 3rd. We are very excited! For the first time ever, we will be selling our quilts in addition to our patterns. Lucky Star on Facebook here. More info to follow! 

Till Tuesday...