Selecting fabric color

Selecting the perfect fabric color for your project can be challenging! The right color can enhance and brighten your floss, while the wrong one might wash it out or even obscure your design! So, where do you begin? How do you find those perfect color combinations? Use the guide below and make confident choices, to achieve stunning results!

 

Option 1: Harmony

A Matching Color

The best color combinations are often the most logical! Choosing a fabric color that matches a color from your floss palette usually yields good results, and gives a harmonious feel.

If you want to take this a step further, make sure to select a floss color that matches your palette's general undertone, and avoid tonal outliers. The image on the left features a totally warm palette, which pairs effectively with warm variants of any of the floss colors.

Mastering Undertones

To consider the tonal harmony described above, take a look at the example on the right: the floss palette contains mostly cool blues, while the fabric chosen is a warm, yellowish blue. While there's no absolute right or wrong (ultimately, all that blue still provides harmony!), opting for a cooler-toned fabric would really balance out this floss palette nicely.

Undertones can be difficult to recognize immediately. When in doubt, use a color wheel: warm tones lean towards yellow/orange, while cool tones lean towards blue/green.

Option 2: Cohesion

An Analogous Color

Looking at the color wheel above, we can identify the colors in our floss palette and their 'neighbors'. When choosing your fabric, picking a color next to one of your floss shades can create a cohesive yet playful effect!

In the image on the left, one of our floss colors is green, which neighbors blue on the wheel. Notice how the blue fabric enhances all the other colors.

When choosing this option, be mindful and observant. Not all colors get along immediately, such as reds and pinks. You have to trust your intuition on this one!

Creating a vibe

Remember what I said about matching your fabric to your palette's undertone? Forget all of that with this option! When working with analogous colors instead of direct matches, playing around with undertones is a must!

Take a look at the image on the right: this cooler navy really makes the warm palette pop, and emphasises even the cooler colors such as purple.

Whether you should go with a warm or cool analogous fabric depends entirely on what suits the pattern and your personality best. There are no wrong answers here!

Option 3: Vibrancy

A Complementary Color

Are you feeling bold? Then this one is for you. Choosing a color on the exact opposite side of the color wheel will make your floss palette pop like never before. Coincidentally, opposing colors often happen to be the very best combinations.

Whilst these vibrant combinations might be bold and eye-catching, they can sometimes overshadow more delicate or subtle designs. Make sure this bold effect fits with the overall look and feel you want for your project.

Important too, is that the floss selection and fabric match each other in intensity and saturation. After all, you don't want them competing with each other!