Anatomy of a Project: Color Palettes

One of the fun things I like to do when looking through magazines is see if I can find interesting and new color palettes that might be fun to try in stitchery projects. As we all know, every season colors are combined in the latest and "trendiest" colors and the powers that be decide which colors will be HOT for the upcoming year.

Here are some photos I've pulled from magazines that had color palettes that caught my eye.




Oh, YUM! Each of these color palettes gets my creative juices flowing...

Once I've found an intriguing color combination, I'll save it and then decide where I want you use it: in a floral collage?... a quilt design?.... a contemporary geometric abstract?.... a bargello pattern? (You can see how many possibilities there are, once you start playing around with color palettes.)

Then I'll look through my thread stash, or maybe take a trip to the local stitchery store to see if I can find a variegated thread that matches the color palette I've decided to work with. After I have the right variegated thread in hand, I'll start pulling the solid color threads, as well as a variety of metallics to try.

With my thread palette picked out, and my inspiration photo close by, it's time to start stitching!