Tips On Choosing Quilt Colors

After discovering that two of the reds I had chosen for a quilt were almost the same color, so the design was blurred, I mentioned it on my blog.

A friend - an experienced quilter - sent me the following suggestion:

Just a tip on color etc.  When you choose your colors for a quilt, lay them out and then look through your camera, binoculars backwards, or buy a peep hole for your door from a hardware shop and you can use any one of these.

Any one of these helps with checking to see if you have turned a block the wrong way in a quilt, something I do if I am in a hurry with a quilt.

At your local quilt shop you can purchase something called a Ruby Beholder, it is essentially a piece of red plastic that you hold to your eyes that blocks colour and you see only the fabrics in a light to dark value.  They also have this in green plastic.  One blocks out the reds and the other greens.  They too come in handy.

Thanks, Jean, for sharing these tricks of the trade!
I hunted unsuccessfully - at two quilt fabric shops and one art supply store - for a Ruby Beholder. I see (from the online link) that artists use them as well.














But I did find a peep hole at my local Home Depot store for about $4.

I've added it to my collection of quilting supplies!