The Quilter's Practical Guide to Color: Includes 10 Skill-Building Projects

by Becky Goldsmith

Did you know that the biggest struggle for quilters of all types is color selection? Unlock the secrets to winning color combinations from best-selling author Becky Goldsmith of Piece O’ Cake Designs. Learn how every quilt has a foreground and a background, how to use clear versus gray colors—plus other essentials that will shake up your design process. Quilters of all skill levels will appreciate Becky’s practical, easy-to-understand advice. Put your newfound knowledge to the test with 10 pieced and appliquéd projects designed to focus on specific aspects of color. Includes visual examples to explain all color topics.

Genres: Quilting, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Most people know me as half of the Piece O' Cake Designs team. With my partner, Linda Jenkins, we have written many quilt books. I am also a wife, mother, grandmother, and daughter. I love my family and friends!

Travel is part of my life - for both work and pleasure. I travel and teach quilting nationally and internationally. It's great fun to meet new people and see new places! My husband, Steve, and I enjoy traveling together - hiking when we can.

With every day, I am more aware of the fact that each day is a gift to be embraced. I do my best to do that with a smile and open heart.

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm only half way through but already I love it. Being a hopeless colour person, I have been wanting for YEARS to understand it better. And this book, complete with loads of pics and colour wheels, makes it make more sense!!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides excellent advice on choosing colors for your quilt, covering color schemes, value and contrast, predictable and unpredictable fabrics, color clarity, texture and scale, the structure of a quilt: foreground and background, building color stacks, reading a quilt, the impression of light, buying fabric, and 10 projects to build skills.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful in ways of choosing colors, and still not holding me to an absolute way of only certain colors - I am the boss of color. Especially appreciated the section on building and organizing my Stash.

A lot of information and seems to be the type of book you would want on your shelve for future reference

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very concise but informative guide to understanding color selection for quilts. I have been making quilts for many years and I think the tips and terminology in this book will help me to avoid some of my previous pitfalls. The tone of the book is very supportive and the examples shown provide a good visual explanation of the concepts.

[Gail Richmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always have a sense of confusion when selecting fabrics for projects; this book is a great resource for those of us who stand and stare at shelves of fabric, at paint samples or whatever. Lots of basic information and clear pictures.

[L.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great info with plenty of illustrations to help clarify point. Well done. Also includes patterns.

[Jen Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect mix of color concepts and practical examples.

[Sonja H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great information about colors and quilting. Only a few patterns I liked to make

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right mix of theory behind all the practical advice. And, I can’t wait to try out a few of the projects from the book!

[Laura Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were several quilts in this book that I really liked and want to make. The rainbow Stairway to Heaven quilt is simple and fun. I also liked the Pick Up Sticks, Opposites Attract, and Square Play. In the explanation of color, many examples are given both in terms of fabric and how they work in a quilt.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked every quilt in this book; usually I will find one or two quilts that I like but in this book every single quilt I liked. The author has a nice sense of color and design and gives some good tips. I think my quilts will be more interesting from now on.

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked: The ugly fabric challenge, square play, and pick up sticks.

Overall meh. Just a rehash of color theory and print scale which wastes too much space in nearly every quilt book.

I was surprised this was a 2015 book, the fabric selections seemed much more dated (circa ‘08-‘09ish).

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT! Learning about background and foreground made my imagination take off. These quilts are SO interesting. You have to just look and look some more.

[Corinnagoodwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

a completely pointless book,

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, useful book on color. Lots of good tips and advice without a lot of confusing jargon. I'll definitely use some of this advice in future projects.