Thursday, May 2, 2013

inspiration: colour vs. pattern

What inspires you? Is it shape and design that you love? Or are you drawn to that unexpected touch of colour, that perfect palette that gets your creative cogs turning?

Of course, the things that inspire us most usually have both elements -- an interesting design in colours we love. But I've found that I often miss out on sources of inspiration, simply because I can't see past the colours used. And so, I'm trying to train my brain to accept inspiration in both forms. Here are a few examples of patterns that appeal to me in spite of their colours.



These sandwiches combinations inspire me to try mixing half-square triangles of different patterns, or even different textures. (Corduroy with cotton? Denim?)



I'd love to have a go at a solid quilt, with star sashing -- perhaps all in black and white.



This modern sampler is beautiful, but I might ordinarily skip over it simply because of my awful bias against anything that uses the colour green!



And this little town can easily be adapted to any color scheme and style (though I might keep the pink and black...)

On the other hand, for a little colour inspiration, have a look at some of the colour mosaics over at 
Stitched in Colour. And if you happen to like a certain Red Red collection, feel free to cast your vote!

(images sources: 1, 2, 3, 4)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your blog is so appropriate because your fabric mosaic "My Garden on a Cloudy Day" really inspires me! Congratulations on winnig the Sweet Contrary contest.

Diane

Red Red Completely Red said...

Thanks, Diane! I was over-the-moon excited to win -- can't wait to play around with the fabrics!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh - a bias against green!! My (knitting) blog is called "Barf Green Is Best", because I particularly love that avocado-ey, yellowish, chartreusey green colour. I don't use a lot of red, but I COMPLETELY understand your affinity for a particular colour :)

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful bog! So pleasant to look at the world around with your eyes!