On behalf of Nancy Zieman
Productions and PBS Wisconsin, welcome to the virtual
Great Wisconsin Quilt Show. Enjoy this educational
presentation, and afterward, be sure to explore all the
virtual event has to offer, including beautiful virtual
quilt exhibits, an interactive vendor mall,
and more. Thank you for joining us,
and enjoy the show. - Hi, my name is Weeks Ringle. I'm one of the co-owners
of Modern Quilt Studio along with Bill Kerr. We've been making modern
quilts for, I think about, for me about 30 years. And we are publishers of<i>
Modern Quilts Illustrated</i> and a number of
other periodicals. And we also design fabrics for Benartex's
Contempo Division. So we're looking forward
to talking to you today about how to make palettes
for the quilts that you make and how to combine, how to learn how
to combine fabrics in a little bit more
adventurous way. So let's get started and talk about how
people generally learn how to build palettes. And most people start
with a fabric like this, and they'll look at
a multicolored fabric and they'll call it
like a focus fabric or a highlight fabric,
and they'll go and the way that
they'll build the palette will be to pull colors from the colors that are
in the multicolored print. And then they will use
them with the quilt. So the only colors that
you could use in a quilt using this method
would be the colors that are in this fabric. But let's say you wanted to
be able to use this fabric along with it. So this is one of the ways
that we'll learn today, how to combine fabrics that
you wouldn't think go together, but can. And this is a good example of
how you'll be able to do it by building palettes. So let's get started. So let's talk first about
working with solid fabrics and how you build a
palette using them. One of the things that's
tricky for many people is they're accustomed to the
idea of pulling the colors from the multicolored print
to build their palette. So when presented
with solid fabrics, they're not sure where to start because there's no
inspiration fabric or no fabric that provides
the palette for them. But one of the things that
we think is really fun in working with solid fabrics is to think about an
inspiration source, a palette in nature or
a palette that you like, or that you have seen on
your vacation travels, or that just provides you
with a happy memory, even. So for example, this palette here was
inspired by an area of zinnias in our garden. And there are some
silver-leafed plants as well as the zinnias that
are yellows and oranges. And of course, there's
also in the background, there's the blue of the sky and there's a beautiful
palette provided by nature that was the inspiration
for this particular palette. And if you think about it, most of this palette
is really on, if you look at the color wheel, you're using these
colors on this side. So you're using about
half of the color wheel. In this particular project, there would be no
purples and no pinks, but really a lot of
these melon colors and some silvery greens, and also some very yellow
greens as well for contrast, as well as a couple of
little hints of blue. So, this would be one
way to think about it. Now, if you want to use
a lot of lights and darks and even a variety of values, which is the lightness
or darkness of a color, controlling a little bit
more of the color wheel is a way to be able to do
that more successfully. If you use the
entire color wheel, and all lights,
darks, and mediums, sometimes it can get
a little chaotic. So one way to have
a unified palette is to choose a section
of the color wheel and then use a more
narrow range of values. Maybe in this particular
case from same light mediums to mediums, for example. Now in this palette, this was inspired by my
love of blueberry season and blueberry pie in particular. And if you've ever
cooked with blueberries, you know, they go through a
lot of different color changes, but even raspberries,
and strawberries, and rhubarb, and there's a
whole bunch of summer fruits and plums that also
inspired this palette. And if you'll look, you'll notice that
it's a very tight range on the color wheel. There's no yellows in here. There are no greens in here. And it's a pretty tight
value range as well in terms of darks and
darks to medium darks, but there aren't
any pastels in here and there aren't any of that
kind of yellow toned colors in here either. And they're all
similar in saturation, which is the intensity
of the color. So you don't have any
dusty pinks in here and you don't have
any neons either. So a lot of the way that
we like to think about color is to think about what
part of the color wheel are you using and what
part of the value wheel are you using as well? Because you can see
in this color wheel that you can see that there are
lighter values in the center and the darker ones
are on the outside. So you can really tighten
up whether it's the values or the colors or both, that can help you to
unify your palette also. Let me show you a couple
of quilts that we've made with solids using
different palettes So this is our Accordion quilt. And you can see that we have
a relatively dark palette that we used. There are no pastels in here and there are no super
brights in here either. But we used pretty much
the entire color wheel. So we had to be pretty
tight in that value range. Let me show you one more. It's a totally
different approach. So this is our Argyle quilt, and you can see that this
is a tighter range of blues and greens with a gray binding. And one of the things you
might notice in this quilt is that the center between
the curvilinear forms looks like it's white because it's much
lighter in value than the curvilinear
forms that are next to it. And a lot of people
think it's white, but it's actually
just light blue. And this is a really good
way to think about options for contrast in a quilt, that you don't
have to go to white and you don't have
to go to black. You can step down a
couple of steps in value and go much, much lighter
or much, much darker, but still have it
be the same color, still have it be a blue
in this particular case. But this palette is a
favorite palette of ours and it's kind of
inspired by sea glass or beach glass colors. And I find it a particularly
calming palette. So let's look at
some other palettes. Let's talk about working
with small scale prints. A lot of the prints
that people use that are small scale, they think that they
can only use with other similar fabrics. So Civil War fabrics only
with other Civil War fabrics or feed sack prints with
only other feed sack prints. But actually, the
feed sack prints, if you think of them as a color, and the way that they're printed
often has a white background, that they pair well
with other fabrics that have a lot of
white in them also. So even if they're
not period prints, you can combine smaller prints
with larger scale prints just by virtue of the fact
that they have a commonality of having a lot
of white in them. So in this particular example, I've paired some
reproduction fabrics with some more modern fabrics, but look how great
they look together because they both
have a lot of white. And it doesn't really
matter what color they are as long as they're the
same kind of saturation or the same cheeriness, I guess,
in this particular case. Now, if you look, some of the feed sack prints
have a white background and some of them have
a cream background, and this makes a big difference when you're putting
palettes together. So for example,
this really cute scottie print is great in terms of the
colors of the fabric. However, the background is cream and when you put it against
a fabric that has white in it like this, this fabric starts
to look a little dirtier than you want it to. So we've sort of found
that it's best to look at the background to see
whether it's a true white or whether it's cream, and separate the
fabrics that way because the fabrics that
have the white in it will look a little bit
fresher and crisper than the ones with
the cream background if you try to incorporate
the two of them together. In contrast, if you are
only using backgrounds that have cream in them, the white can sometimes
look a little too bright. So pay attention to that if
you're working with fabrics that have a lot
of white in them. So let's look at some
other quilts that we made with small scale fabrics. So this is our Woodlands quilt and it's made with our
vintage fabric line. And we designed this fabric
line to look kind of scrappy, to be a combination
of unexpected patterns that work great
together in quilts. And if you'll look, there are three different roles
in this quilt for fabrics. There's the background,
there's the dark squares, and then there are these
lighter rectangles. So contrast is what's really
critical in this quilt. And if you think about the
palettes you'll be building, you'll be building a dark
palette and a lighter palette, and then you'll make
sure that the background has good contrast between
those two palettes. This is our Old School quilt, and this is made with a
combination of traditional Civil War reproduction fabrics as well as some more
modern fabrics as well. But they all are small scale, and they're all a
little desaturated. There aren't any neons in here, there aren't any
hot pinks in here, but they are similar
in the feel. And the inspiration
for this palette was that we wanted to show
you how to be able to use those period Civil War fabrics in a little bit brighter
and more cheery way than you're maybe
accustomed to seeing them when they're all typically
a little more brown or there's a lot
of gray involved. And to be able to use them
in a broad color range, we stuck to a narrow
range of values. So again, that's the
lightness or the darkness of the fabric. So we've also
contrasted the prints with a very inky, dark
blue-black mini gingham. So there's a very
clear contrast between the blocks, the
fabrics that are in the blocks, and that background. Let's talk about how
to build palettes with larger scale prints. So I've got a variety of prints
that I've pulled together, and these do not match,
they're all multicolored prints, but they have a commonality
of the saturation which is the intensity
of the color. You won't see pastels here, these are all very bright,
high-contrast prints, and they are chosen because
they're all saturated. There's a variety of colors
along the color wheel. I think we've got practically
every one in there, but there also weren't
any super, super lights or super, super darks. So we've kind of
got that middle range in terms of the values
that we're using. Now, there's a couple of
fabrics that I took out of here and these are they. And if you'll notice, they
each have a little brown and a little ochre in them. And in this palette,
they look a little bit dirty, so I took them out, even though the rest of the
colors work well, I just didn't like the way that
the brown made, they looked a little
dirtier than the other fabrics that are in the palette. Now, this is another
fabric that I pulled out because it seemed a
little too dark in value. The colors were right, but the
value was a little too dark. So I pulled that out as well. Now, many times, people are afraid to use
prints with yarn dyes and incorporate a yarn dye
with their large scale prints. But this one would look
great with this palette. And I would actually
even consider putting some more yarn dyes
in here as well because yarn dyes
make the prints look a little bit more cheerful
and a little bit more fun, I think sometimes too. So don't hesitate to
include yarn dyes, or even batiks with
your large scale prints. Now, what if you had a pattern
that called for sashing or some part that
needed contrast, some like highlight. Like, let's say you're
making a log cabin and you want a
contrasting center. Then I would go for
a print like this that doesn't have as many colors
and is smaller in scale because that will give you more
contrast as well to not have, all of these have, you know, some of them 10 to
15 colors or so, and having a smaller scale
print with fewer colors that's darker in value also will give you a
really nice contrast for that particular role
of the fabric in the quilt. So let me show you
some quilts we've made with large scale prints. I'll show you the
one that I showed you at the very beginning again. Talk a little bit
more about that. This is our Follow
the Leader quilt. And if you'll notice, there are three different
roles for fabric in this quilt. The first are the prints, the large scale
prints, in the blocks. And then there are the
little links between the two and we've used that little mini
black and white checkerboard for that. And then the background
is this teal color that is kind of
like a near solid, it's kind of a little
bit of a blush, but there's good contrast
between the blocks that are a little bit lighter, and the links, and
the background. So in this particular case, you'd be building
just one palette, but you would need to
make sure that the links and the background
have enough contrast that it doesn't, they don't
appear to run into the blocks that you've got here. Let's look at one more quilt. This is our Sunshine quilt
and it's very bright, and it uses a lot of these
very bright, cheerful prints, but we find sometimes
that they become so busy that you need one little area where you can see some contrast
that breaks up the blocks. So we've introduced these
white bars in the quilt that make it, give it a little
bit more definition and a little bit more
structure to the pattern. Let's talk about building
a palette from scraps. When you have a variety of
prints that weren't designed to go together, but you want to
put them together, one of the easiest
ways to make sure that they'll be unified
is to tighten up a section of the color wheel
or the value range, one or the other. But this particular palette is a very, very narrow part
of the color wheel here and of teals and blues. And one of the fabrics
that I chose not to include is this fabric because
the lavender in there looked a little
dustier than the colors in the rest of the prints. And I was worried that it
would jump out too much. So I didn't use this one. However, if I needed a center or some little highlight
or detail for contrast, you could introduce
something like a nice kind of buttery yellow,
that would look great. And it would give you contrast
in terms of both value, the lightness or darkness, as well as the hue because
it's a different color than the rest of these
blues and greens. Now, what if you
needed sashing? I'll put this here so you
can see how that would look. If you needed sashing, I might go with this
blue-black mini gingham because it's so much darker
than all of the other fabrics. And it provides
really great contrast without detracting from
the rest of the palette. Now I have three
quilts to show you that we made from
scrappy palettes. And the first one is
our fabric fusion quilt. This has 36 different
fabrics in it, ranging from, these
are homespuns, to batiks, to more modern prints
and some traditional prints, but what ties it all together
is the desaturated palette. So it's a palette
that's not very bright. It's a kind of soft, Beatrix
Potter I always like to call it palette where nothing
is really dominant. The other thing is
that you'll notice that most of these fabrics
don't have white in them. So when you put
the sashing on, you'll be able to see the edges
of the pieces more crisply. And that's a really good trick that if you're
looking for sashing, I know there's an
inclination to try to match the sashing color to a color that's already
in one of the prints, but actually, using
a sashing color that's a different color that
doesn't appear in the prints actually will give
you more contrast and a little bit more of
a crisp look in the quilt. So that's a really good tip. This is our Three Cheers quilt. I think this was made
from 64 different fabrics. And there are two different
types of fabrics in this quilt. There are lights and darks, but it's not a real huge
range of light, light, light, and dark, dark, dark. It's more in that middle area. And as we were
making the blocks, we thought about whether the
contrast between this form and the background triangle should be a light
and dark contrast or whether it should
be a contrast of color. And it doesn't really matter as long as you've
got the contrast. But in most cases, we tried to make this
three-legged form be a darker fabric. But you can really
get away with a lot as long as you have
enough contrast. So contrast, contrast, contrast, that's the big tip. So let's look at our
Intrepid Traveler quilt. This quilt is made from
fabrics from India, Indonesia, and Japan,
and some other areas. And one of the ways that we
decided to take advantage of these fabrics is to
pair them with a chambray, which is a really
unexpected choice, but we think it
works really well because the chambray is woven
with a white thread in it so it's always gonna
be a little bit lighter than these dark prints. And if you look, we're pretty much using
the entire color wheel with these fabrics as well, and we have a pretty large
range of light to dark also. However, because
it's a simple form and the saturation
is very similar, they're all a little washed
and a little brown, and a little bit duller. There aren't any super
bright colors in it. No lime green in here. So they work really
well together because the saturation
is very similar even though you have a
wide variety of colors and a wide variety of values. It also helps if you want
to use this kind of variety in a quilt to choose
a simple form. I always like to think that if you have
a complicated palette, a simple form, a simple block
works best. And if you want to do a very
elaborate, complicated quilt, a simpler palette works
a little bit better. So this is a good example
of how to incorporate a wide range of fabrics
using a very simple pattern. And simple quilting also. So now you've got your
palettes together. Let's talk about some fabrics
that you might wanna use in addition to your
palettes in a project. For examples, sashing
or some other detail, or even binding, and solids are really
great for that use. But a lot of times, people resort to black
or white, or you know, some very familiar neutral, but there are a whole bunch
of other neutrals there available that will really
help you play with the color in a little bit richer way. So for example, if you look at the blue palette
that I showed you earlier, the traditional suggestion
would be to go to a darker blue. And actually, this looks
great because it's darker than most of the other fabrics. And a gray would also
look handsome with this because there isn't
gray in the fabric, so you get a very
nice contrast with it. Now, I've chosen to
not go super light with the sashing color, this gray, because I think
if you go really light with the fabrics, that they will appear too heavy
in contrast to it. So I stuck with the
same value of this. Now let's look at
another palette. Remember our berry palette? Let's see how that looks
with some neutrals. Now, you'd be surprised how great a dark, dark, dark
eggplant looks with that. But another option you
might not have considered would be this
espresso, which looks, here, I'll move the purple
out so you can see that. Browns can be tricky because
sometimes they have a lot of red in them, and that makes them
just look a little heavy or a little dirty. However, this espresso
color is especially useful because it's more
of a desaturated. It has less red in it. And it looks just
a little bit calmer than some of the
reddish orange browns that you may have seen. So espresso and purple is kind
of a peanut butter and jelly. Great combination to think
about for your palettes as well. And actually, we'll
see this again when we look at the large
scale prints palette that we worked on. And don't dismiss
some other options like this olive that can also
look really nice with purple. And then we had our
zinnia palette as well. And I love this
with an olive color that does not appear in here, but can you see how this
neutral makes these colors pop just a little bit more
without looking too severe? So a lot of times people
might opt for a black, but you can see that the black becomes very,
very stark with the purple and that might be
what you wanna do, but it's just kind of depends
on how much black there is and that kind of thing. But the other option
for this zinnia palette would be one of these
kind of putty colors. And these fabrics,
these neutrals, are not the fabrics that
you walk into a shop and you say, "Oh my gosh, I
have to have six yards of that." But they're kind of the
worker bees, we call them in the fabric world because
they make the fabrics that you love and the colors, the bright, cheery
colors that you love, they make them look richer. And part of the way they
do that is by not competing with them in terms of
the brightness of them. Let's look at our other two
palettes that we worked on. When you have a palette
with a lot of white in it, your inclination
might be to use white. However, what's gonna
happen when you do that is you're going to not
be able to see the edge of the print as easily. So you might want to have
a little bit more contrast than that. And the other option that
some people might go for is a cream, but sometimes that
can look a little bit dirty. It looks a little
too yellow with it. But if you think about either a,
this is a pale taupe, that that gives a really
nice edge of contrast for it, or also just a silver, a really pale bluish
gray can look nice, or even a very light khaki
can look very handsome with these prints. Let's look at that large
scale bright palette that we put together earlier. And remember that
espresso I mentioned? Look how great it looks
with these fabrics. It really allows the
oranges and the pinks and the bright greens
to feel even brighter because it's allowing them
to take the center stage and it's not
competing with them. Another option is
this fern color that is very, it's a very
desaturatated, kind of like a dark
greenish khaki. But it also looks fantastic
with pinks and oranges as well. So think beyond the neutrals that you may have
thought about before of beige and white and black, and play around when
you're in a shop or when you're shopping online and think about how you
can put together a palette that makes the best
use of the colors that you're working with. Thanks so much for joining me,
and I'll see you next time. [bright music] " >> THANK YOU FOR JOINING US WITH WEEKS RINGLE FOR SOME LIVE Q&A. HELLO. >> GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE. WE'VE BEEN SO EXCITED TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU IN THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS AND THANKS FOR GETTING UP EARLY ON THIS SATURDAY MORNING. >> WE'RE ALL PLEASED TO GET UP CLEARLY TO TUNE INTO YOUR LECTURE. IT WAS SO INTERESTING, WEEKS. I'VE LEARNED SOME THINGS AND GAINED SOME CONFIDENCE. WE HAVE QUESTIONS COMING IN FROM THE VIEWERS, SO I'LL SHARE SOME OF THOSE WITH YOU. >> WONDERFUL. >> FIRST QUESTION THAT EVERYONE, MANY PEOPLE ARE ASKING IS, WEEKS, COULD YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT A YARN DYE FABRIC IS? >> ABSOLUTELY. SO THERE ARE TWO -- WELL, I GUESS THERE'S SEVERAL, BUT THE GENERAL EXPLANATION IS THAT MOST PEOPLE LOOK AT FABRICS LIKE THIS, WHICH IS A PRINT, AND THE WAY THAT WE KNOW THAT THIS IS A PRINT IS IF YOU LOOK ON THE BACK SIDE OF IT, YOU CAN SEE THAT IT'S WHITISH ON THE BACK, RIGHT? AND SO THESE FABRICS START WITH WHAT ARE CALLED GRAY GOODS, AND IT'S GREIGE, BUT THAT MEANS THE BASE FABRIC ON WHICH COLOR IS PRINTED. SO THEY TAKE WHITE FABRIC OR UNBLEACHED FABRIC AND THEY PUT A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT SCREENS OF COLOR ON IT TO GET A PRINT. AND THE COLOR IS ON TOP OF THE FABRIC AND IT DOES NOT GO ALL THE WAY THROUGH. YARN DYES, IN CONTRAST, ARE CREATED BY INDIVIDUAL PIECES THAT ARE CALLED YARNS. YOU CAN'T SEE IT, I KNOW, ON THE COMPUTER, BUT I'LL SORT OF HOLD IT UP SO YOU CAN SEE IT, MAYBE. EACH INDIVIDUAL THREAD OR YARN, AS THEY'RE CALLED TECHNICALLY, IS DYED SEPARATELY AND THEN THIS PATTERN IS WOVEN. IT'S WOVEN TOGETHER. AND THE WAY THAT YOU KNOW IT'S WOVEN IS THE FRONT LOOKS IDENTICAL TO THE BACK. SO RATHER THAN HAVING THE DYE REST ON THE SURFACE OF THE COTTON, THE PATTERN IS CREATED BY PREDYING EACH YARN AND THEN WEAVING DIFFERENT COLORS TOGETHER. SO YOU REALLY CAN'T ACHIEVE THIS SORT OF PRINT USING YARN DYES. AND THERE ARE SOME PRINTED PLAIDS, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT YOU'LL SEE, BUT YOU'LL KNOW THAT THEY'RE PRINTED BECAUSE IF YOU TURN THEM OVER ON THE BACK, YOU'LL SEE A WHITE FABRIC OR WHITE COLOR ON THE BACK. SO IT'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCREENS OF COLOR PRINTED ON FABRIC VERSUS INDIVIDUAL THREADS DYED DIFFERENT COLORS AND THEN WOVEN TOGETHER TO CREATE THE PATTERN. >> THAT'S A GREAT EXPLANATION FOR US, WEEKS, AND THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE PERMISSION TO INTEGRATE BOTH OF THOSE TYPES OF FABRICS INTO OUR QUILTS. >> ABSOLUTELY. AND ALSO, SOMETIMES IN THE CATEGORY OF YARN DYES, IF I CAN JUST EXPAND ON THIS, BECAUSE THAT MIGHT ANSWER A FEW MORE QUESTIONS, IN THE CATEGORY OF YARN DYES, THERE ARE DIFFERENT NAMES THAT PEOPLE USE, LIKE HOMESPUNS. AND HOMESPUNS OFTEN REFERS TO A COURSER WEAVE OF A YARN DYE. YOU'LL HAVE SHOT COTTONS AND YARN DYES AND ALL OF THOSE. I'M SORRY. SHOT COTTONS AND HOMESPUNS UNDER THAT CATEGORY OF YARN DYES. BUT THEY'RE ALL DIFFERENT VARIATIONS THAT REFER TO THE WEAVING PATTERN AND THAT KIND OF THING. >> THANKS FOR COVERING THAT. TINA WAS ASKING ABOUT THE HOMESPUNS, SO GREAT THINKING AHEAD. AND VICKIE HAS A QUESTION. WEEKS, I HAVE SOME VERY DEEP SATURATED PURPLE AND ROYAL BLUE LARGE SCALE PRINTS I WOULD LIKE TO PAIR WITH A NEUTRAL. ANY IDEA ON WHAT NEUTRAL TO GO WITH? >> I WOULD LOOK AT A -- IT DEPENDS ON HOW DARK THE BLUE IS. YOU CAN GET -- ONE IDEA IS TO GO WAY DARKER, TO LIKE AN A INKY B. THAT COULD WORK. ALSO TAUPE OR GRAY WOULD WORK REALLY WELL. YOU CAN ALSO GO WITH A LIGHTER VALUE, A LIGHTER GRAY OR SORT OF A DOVE GRAY. THAT SORT OF THING MIGHT WORK AS WELL. ABOVEBUT YOUMENT YOU WANT CONTR. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A HUGE RANGE OF CONTRAST, BUT THE BEST ADVICE IS TO LOOK TEN FEET AWAY AND GET A BIG PIECE OF IT AND LOOK TEN FEET AWAY AND SEE WHETHER YOU CAN SEE THAT EDGE, BECAUSE THAT WILL TELL YOU WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE ENOUGH CONTRAST FOR THE BACKGROUND. >> GREAT ADVICE. AND DORIS HAS A QUESTION. DORIS IS SAYING, I HAVE TROUBLE CHOOSING BACKGROUND FABRICS. I CHOOSE THE MAIN COLORS. I ENJOY DOING THAT. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE BACKGROUND COLORS, SHE'S ASKING, WEEKS, IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE TWO OR THREE BACKGROUND FABRICS IN YOUR STASH, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? >> WELL, THAT'S AN EASY ONE FOR ME, BUT IT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT FOR YOU, BECAUSE WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT. BUT -- AND IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE WE ALWAYS SAY THEY'RE NOT THE FABRICS THAT IF YOU WERE STANDING IN THE FRONT OF THE STORE THAT YOU'D SAY GIVE ME SIX YARDS OF THAT, YOU KNOW. THEY'RE KIND OF BACKGROUND PLAYERS, YOU KNOW. IN THE BACKGROUND IN A MOVIE, THERE ARE THE CHARACTERS WHO ARE IN THE BACKGROUND THAT MAKE EVERYTHING LOOK GOOD. SO I WOULD GO FOR A -- FOR SURE A KIND OF KHAKI, OLIVE GREEN THAT IS REALLY VERSE TILL. THE COLOR BEHIND ME IS A WARM PALE GRAY. AND I COULD WOULD GO WITH TEAL. THIS IS THE ONE WE SHOWED ON "SEWING WITH NANCY." THIS TEAL YOU CAN SEE IT WITH ALL THESE DIFFERENT COLORS. IT'S AMAZING HOW VERSATILE IT IS. IT MAKES BLUES AND GRAYS AND BROWNS LOOK GREAT. THOSE ARE PROBABLY UNPREDICTABLE CHOICES, BUT I LOVE ALL OF THEM. >> UNPREDICTABLE, BUT TRULY WEEKS COLORS. YOU CAN WATCH THE SHOW AT NANCY ZIEMAN.COM. IT'S REALLY FUN TO WATCH THAT PROGRAM WITH YOU AND BILL AND NANCY. >> IT IS. WE ALL MISS HER SO MUCH, BUT NICE TO BE ABLE TO HAVE ALL THOSE VIDEOS. >> RIGHT. RIGHT. AND WE HAVE MORE QUESTIONS, WEEKS. >> OKAY. >> CAN YOU PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT YOU MEAN BY DIRTY FABRIC. I UNDERSTAND IT WHEN REFERRING TO CREAM AND WHITE, BUT IN COLOR GROUPINGS? >> YES. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, -- AND THIS IS LOOKING -- I'M LOOKING AT YOU AND YOU'RE ILLUSTRATING THE POINT RIGHT AWAY. THE SHIRT THAT YOU HAVE ON IS VERY SAT SATURATED AND IT LOOKS SUPER CHEERFUL WITH THAT LITTLE POP OF MAGENTA YOU'VE GOT BECAUSE THEY'RE BOTH EQUAL LEVELS OF SATURATION. BUT IF YOU WERE TO PUT THAT EXACT BLUE THAT YOU'RE WEARING IN THE QUILT BEHIND YOU, IT WOULD PROBABLY POP A LITTLE BIT TOO MUCH, RIGHT? AND IT WOULD MAKE THE QUITE THET BEHIND YOU, THE COLORS IN THERE, LOOK GREAT AS A GROUPING. BUT ONCE YOU PUT SOMETHING THAT'S A LITTLE BIT TOO BRIGHT INTO A GROUP OF COLORS THAT ARE LESS SATURATED, THEN IT STARTS TO LOOK A LITTLE DIRTY OR FADED OR WHATEVER. SO IT'S NOT THAT ONE IS GOOD AND ONE ISN'T GOOD. IT'S THAT ONE STANDS OUT MORE THAN THE OTHER. AND SO YOU WANT TO -- IT'S KIND OF LIKE -- WE OFTEN USE A PARTY METAPHOR, THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE A WALL FLOWER AT A PARTY OF REALLY GRIEVE FRIENDLY PEOPLE AU DON'T WANT AN EXTROVERT AT A PARTY OF MORE SOFT-SPOKEN PEOPLE. IT'S NOT THAT ONE IS BETTER THAN THE OTHER. IT'S THAT ONE STANDS OUT MORE. AND SO YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU'RE USING ALL OF THE FABRICS TO THEIR BEST ADVANTAGE. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, I HAVE OUR OLD SCHOOL QUILT I SHOWED IN HERE, AND IF YOU WERE TO INCLUDE, FOR EXAMPLE, THIS YARN DYE, THESE FABRICS WOULD LOOK TOO -- THEY WOULD LOOK A LITTLE -- I USE THE WORD DIRTY, BUT A LITTLE FADED, A LITTLE DULL, WHEREAS IT ITS OWN IT LOOKS PLENTY CHEERFUL. BUT COLOR AND SATURATION IS ALL RELATIVE, SO WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE GROUP THEM SO EVERYBODY LOOKS THEIR BEST, I GUESS IS THE BEST WAY TO PUT IT. >> GREAT ADVICE. IT REMINDS ME OF WATCHING "SESAME STREET" WHEN I WAS A LITTLE, BITTY KID AND ONE OF THESE THINGS DOESN'T BELONG HERE. >> EXACTLY. >> WE HAVE A QUESTION FROM JENNY. WEEKS, I LOVE YOUR NAME. GREAT PRESENTATION. THANKS. WELL, MAYBE IT'S MORE OF A COMPLIMENT THAN A QUESTION. BUT SHE WRAPS IT WITH A QUESTION. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR AND COLOR COMBINATION AND WHY? >> YOU KNOW, IT'S REALLY HARD, IT'S REALLY HARD FOR ME, BUT ACTUALLY THE COLOR OVER YOUR RIGHT SHOULDER, THAT BRIGHT KIND OF GRANNY SMITH APPLE GREEN, THAT'S KIND OF MY -- THAT'S A HAPPY PLACE FOR ME, THAT COLOR. I FEEL IT'S THE COLOR OF TREES AND IT'S THE COLOR OF THE OUTDOORS FOR ME FOR WHERE I GREW UP AND WHERE I LIVE. SO I ALWAYS LOVE A BEAUTIFUL GREEN. HOWEVER, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE, EXCUSE ME -- THERE ARE -- I GO THROUGH SEASONS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. SOMETIMES I LOVE A GOOD PLUM COLOR OR A DARKEST DARK ESPRESS. CORAL IS ANOTHER FAVORITE. LOTS OF GOOD COLORS OUT THERE. ALL GOOD COLORS. IT'S JUST HOW THEY COMBINE. >> RIGHT. AND MARY JO AND CAROL ARE WATCHING ON FACEBOOK AND THEY'RE ASKING WHAT DOES WEEKS SUGGEST ARE THE BEST PROTOCOLS FOR PREWASHING AND STARCHING YOUR FABRICS? >> WELL, I WON'T TAKE CREDIT FOR IT BUT I WILL GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. THE RESEARCH THAT HARRIET HARGRAVES DID, A BOOK THAT'S ABOUT 20 YEARS OLD, BUT SHE WORKED WITH A BUNCH OF TEXTILE EVENING ENGINEERS TO TEST OUT HOW TO MAINTAIN THAT BOND BETWEEN THE DYES AND THE YARN, THE GREIGE GOODS, THE WOVEN FABRIC, TO PREVENT FADING. THEY TESTED ALL KINDS OF SOAPS AND DETERGENTS, WITH THE GOAL OF COMING UP WITH ONE, ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL ANSWER. BUT THEY DETERMINED THAT THE SECRET REALLY VARIED BY THE MINERAL CONTENT IN THE WATER WHERE YOU LIVE. BUT THE GENERAL ADVICE WAS TO PREWASH USING ONE TWO SOAPS, EITHER ORVIS EQUINE SHAMPOO OR EYERY DISHWASHING SOAP. IT'S WHAT PEOPLE MIGHT WASH THEIR CRYSTAL OR FINE CHINA WITH. WE WASH ALL OF OUR QUILTS WITH IT AND WE WASH OUR QUILTS ON A REGULAR BASIS. AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR EVERY QUILT GETS WASHED. AND WE HAVE QUILTS THAT WE'VE HAD FOR 25 YEARS THAT ARE NOT FADING AS A RESULT OF THAT. SO ORVIS EQUINE SHAMPOO IS GREAT IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THAT. I EXPLAINED THIS ONCE IN A CLASS IN CALIFORNIA AND THE WOMAN SAID, WELL, I'M A RANCHER AND WE ACTUALLY BATHE OUR HORSES IN IVORY DISHWASHING SOAP BECAUSE WE FIND IT'S BETTER FOR THEIR SKIN, TOO. YOU KNOW, THERE SEEMS TO BE A CHEMICAL SIMILARITY BETWEEN ORVIS AND IVORY DISHWASHING SOAP. THAT'S WHAT WE DO. WE PREWASH EVERYTHING AT ALL TIMES. WE FINALLY TYPICALLY DON'T NEED TO STARCH BECAUSE WE'VE GOT A REALLY GOOD STEAM IRON. BUT IF YOU LIKE TO STARCH, YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD. DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO TO MAKE THE PROCESS FUN. BEFORE USING YARN DYES IN PARTICULAR, BECAUSE OF THE WAY THEY'RE WOVEN, WE LIKE TO USE THE MARY ELLEN'S BEST PRESS. WE HAVE NO FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH HER OR IVORY OR WHATEVER, BUT WE JUST RECOMMEND THE PRODUCTS THAT WE USE AND WE FIND THE MOST HELPFUL. AND I LIKE THAT BEST PRESS, THE UNSCENTED VERSION ESPECIALLY, BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GIVE A HEAVY -- IT DOESN'T ADD A HEAVY LAYER TO THE FABRIC. >> OUR NEXT QUESTION IS FROM SISTER CAROL FROM OHIO. SHE ASKS, TALK ABOUT BINDING COLOR, A COLOR DARKER FOR YOUR WHOLE QUILT, IS IT BETTER OR SOMETHING LIGHTER? >> WELL, IT DEPENDS ON -- YOU KNOW, I DON'T WANT TO BE EVASIVE, BUT IT DEPENDS ON THE ROLE OF THE BINDING IN THAT QUILT. AND IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU WANT THE BINDING TO FEEL IN THE QUILT. SO, FOR EXAMPLE, THE QUILT THAT'S RIGHT BEHIND ME RIGHT NOW, WE USED THE SLIGHTLY DARKER VERSION OF THE BACKING FABRIC, WHICH IS THIS NEW FABRIC OF OURS. IT'S A DOMINO PRINT. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN SEE IT. BUT WE WANTED A LITTLE BIT OF A FRAME TO IT. AND SO WE CHOSE A CONTRASTING COLOR. BUT IT ALSO LOOKS GOOD ON THE BACK. BECAUSE IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO THINK ABOUT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU USE YOUR QUILTS THE WAY WE USE OURS, TO BUNDLE UP, YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THE BINDING WITH THE BACKING, SO YOU WANT THIS HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP AMONG THOSE COLORS. HOWEVER, IN OUR OLD SCHOOL QUILT, WE DECIDED THAT WE LOVED THE FRAMING OF THESE LIGHTER FABRICS SO MUCH WE DIDN'T WANT THE BINDING TO CONTRAST AT ALL, SO WE USED THE SAME FABRIC FOR THE BINDING THAT WE USE FOR THE SASHING SO IT WOULD JUST DISAPPEAR. SO IT'S REALLY A MATTER OF -- YOU CAN GO TO REAL EXTREMES, LIKE WE'VE HAD BLACK AND WHITE, LIKE ON A BABY QUILT, YOU KNOW. I WILL USE A BLACK AND WHITE STRIPED BINDING BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT BLACK AND WHITE STRIPES ARE REALLY GOOD FOR BABY BRAIN DEVELOPMENT. SO IT JUST SORT OF DEPEND ON WHAT YOU WANT TO -- WHAT YOU WANT THE ROLE OF THE BINDING TO BE. DO YOU WANT IT TO DISAPPEAR OR DO YOU WANT TO FRAME IT. BUT DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE THAT SASHING COLOR ON THE BINDING IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A CALMER FEEL TO THE QUILT. >> THANKS, WEEKS. AND OUR NEXT QUESTION IS FROM TERRY. COULD YOU TELL US THE NAMES AND THE DESIGNERS OR THE MANUFACTURERS IN THE BEAUTIFUL PRINTS ON THE BOLTS THAT WERE BEHIND YOU IN YOUR VIDEO LECTURE TODAY? >> THAT WOULD BE US! IT'S OUR FABRIC! SO WE DESIGN FOR THE CON TEMPO BRANCH OF FABRICS, AND ALL OF THOSE FABRICS SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOP. IF YOU CAN'T FIND THEM THERE, MODERN QUILT STUDIO.COM HAS THEM. SOMETIMES WE RUN OUT OF FABRICS. FABRICS HAVE A SHORT SHELF LIFE. BUT THE ONES BEHIND US WERE OUR DREAMY LINES AND OUR UNDER THE SUN LINES. AND THEY'RE BOTH ON OUR WEBSITE. AND THEY SHOULD BE IN YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOPS AS WELL. >> WONDERFUL. THANK YOU, WEEKS. AND I SO ENJOYED TALKING WITH YOU TODAY AND THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US HERE TODAY. >> OH, IT'S BEEN OUR PLEASURE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING US. AND I REALLY HOPE THAT ANYBODY WHO HAS ENJOYED THE SHOW WILL MAKE DONATIONS TO WISCONSIN PUBLIC TELEVISION FOR ALL OF THE WORK THAT THEY'VE PUT INTO PRODUCING THIS INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYBODY VIRTUALLY. >> THANKS SO MUCH, WEEKS, AGAIN. AND, EVERYONE, THANK YOU FOR TUNING IN. AND BE SURE TO HEAD OVER TO QUILTSHOW.COM, CLICK ON THE VENDOR MALL, EXPLORE THE VENDORS AND HEAD OVER AND CHECK OUT ALL OF THE BEAUTIFUL QUILT EXHIBITS. ENJOY.
