Color: The Quilter's Guide [Paperback]

Christine Barnes (Author), Ursula G. Reikes (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

Take the mystery out of color! Learn how to build a color scheme that works (or fix one that doesn’t) and find out why certain colors interact to create powerful--and sometimes surprising--visual effects.

• Make the leap from color theory to using color in quilts with nine step-by-step exercises, plus six projects

• Go beyond "safe" color combinations with simple strategies and tips for creating quilts that sing

• Color-splashed photos of fabrics, blocks, and quilts bring the color concepts to life, while a reader-friendly style makes the learning easy and fun

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Barnes makes good use of illustrations in this lively, easy-to-understand explanation of the language of color, which emphasizes the importance of color value to quilters. Included is a color workshop with exercises appropriate for use by individuals, quilt guilds, or classes. An excellent book that should be a popular addition to all public library quilting collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Hometown: Grass Valley, California

Christine Barnes is a freelance writer and editor of quiltmaking and home-decorating books. She holds degrees in both design and journalism. Christine prints fabric, stitches contemporary and Crazy quilts, and teaches classes in Crazy quilting and color theory for quilters.

Product Details

• Paperback: 127 pages
• Publisher: That Patchwork Place (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564771644
• ISBN-13: 978-1564771643
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christine E. Barnes is an author, teacher, and contemporary quilter in love with color. Degrees in design and journalism segued into a writing career that has produced more than a dozen decorating, quilting, remodeling, and soft furnishings books. Her latest book, The Quilter's Color Club, presents a simple, can-do approach to using color in quilts, whether the reader is part of a mini-group, a quilting class, or working solo. Three color concepts--value, temperature, and intensity--are key to her strategy and make special effects like transparency and luminosity doable, even for beginners. No matter what their experience, Christine likes to tell students and readers that success with color is more about practice than talent!

Christine's work has been published in American Quilter, Threads, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, For The Love of Quilting, and Fabrications, a British quilting magazine. She lives in Northern California's Gold Country. You can see her work at christinebarnes.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fabric-based book on color, January 10, 1998

By 

Mary P. Reeve (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color: The Quilter's Guide (Paperback)

If you want to know why some of the color schemes in your quilts work or don't (!) this is a great book to read. Unlike many other general texts on color, this book relates to the color and texture of fabric, making it easier to apply color techniques to your own quilts.

I would have liked more examples of each of the types of color schemes and fabrics on the color wheel, but it has definitely changed the way I view fabrics and color in the world at large. I would definitely recommend it if you want to learn more about color interactions.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eye opener, December 10, 1999

By 

Shanti Subramanyam (Saratoga, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Color: The Quilter's Guide (Paperback)

This is a beautiful book. I have read it over and over again, studying the various blocks and quilts. It has inspired me to try my own color schemes and improved my confidence in choosing the right colors to go together in a quilt. A big thanks to the authors !

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More then a Primer on Color use in Quilts, August 31, 2005

By 

Melody Lopez "msnewquilter" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Color: The Quilter's Guide (Paperback)

I purchased this book after watching a quilting show hosting the author and her specific knowledge about the importance of color in quilting. Before I took my first beginning quilting class, I STUDIED the first few chapters on color so that I could make proper fabric selections for the class project. I can tell you that my piecing and quilting were just "okay;" however, the quilt itself is beautiful because I great fabric combinations. I couldn't have made such a nice first quilt had I not carefully learned the importance of all aspects of color (value, intensity, etc...) as taught by this book! Its advanced in lots of ways...but if you stay focused on the crux of what it is teaching...you'll get so much out of it!