Project a Month: Wrap up - Color Theory with Karen Barbé

How do you like that little peek of my Final Project for the Color Theory class with Karen Barbé? You'll see the rest of my project at the end of this post!

It's no secret now which color combination I chose, after a lot of internal (and external) debate on my last post...

I chose the Analogous color scheme, with a nice blue-green, bright yellow-green, and dark forest green:

DMC 597, 166, and 895 - you may notice one of these is a vintage floss that is likely well over 25+ years old. I love to use my vintage flosses if they are in good shape, as this one was.

I transferred my design with my trusty Aunt Martha's transfer pencil - I have been using the same pencil since I wrote my original How to Use a Transfer Pencil post, oh about 13 years ago! I think it's funny how I used to love vintage transfers and embroidery, and now my own embroidery is old enough to qualify. Way to feel old. Wait, not old... vintage. :)

Hope you love chain stitch, because I used lots and lots and lots of chain stitch! I decided to do my entire project in only those 3 colors of floss - so I diverged from the whole point of Karen's class - as she does encourage you to create a whole palette of colors. But I was so fascinated with the 3 colors, I wanted to try it and see what I thought of the finished piece...

Washing and Ironing My Project

Since the pink lines from the transfer pencil were showing through, I decided to give my project a wash when I was finished:

I soaked it in regular dish soap and cold water, and all the transfer pencil lines came out.

Then I put it on a towel to soak up the excess water:

Last, I turned it face down on the towel and ironed the back while it was still wet, to get it nice and smooth, without smooshing the textured stitches...

If you have a sharp eye, you'll see that any long, unsecured stitches got all wobbly and funky. I had to pick some of those out and re-stitch them, lesson learned:

My Finished Project

And here's my final project, all finished!

It was a fun experiment in simplicity, but I did get a bit tired of just 3 colors. I think an ideal number of colors for a larger piece like this is 5-6.

To make each area look unique, I used as many different types of textural stitches as possible!

Most of the piece was chain stitch, outlined in back stitch, using 2 strands of floss, but I also used stem stitch, split stitch, satin stitch, and my messy version of a Cretan stitch (see Mary Corbet's beautiful version on Needle n' Thread - Cretan Stitch). I had a lot of fun playing with texture in this piece, I think it made up a bit for the lack of variety in my color choices.

I really love how those little blue acorns look - I used split stitch with 2 strands of floss - time-consuming, but I think it's a lovely effect.

Here are all the other mini pieces I stitched, looking at them all together, I do think the best choice was the one I picked, or the one with red.

And here is my finished piece! What a fun project, truth be told, the main reason I took this class, was to be able to stitch that pattern!

Final thoughts

I learned SO MUCH from this class about color, and I spent countless happy hours thinking about colors, playing with colors, and it was just an absolute joy for me. So, do I recommend Karen's Color Theory class - absolutely! As I mentioned before the class is all in Spanish, but if you don't speak Spanish all of the concepts are covered in her book, Colour Confident Stitching.

Thank you for following along with me in this class - and stay tuned for later this week, when I reveal this month's new project!

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#2 Color theory with Karen Barbé
#1 Color theory with Karen Barbé

Project a Month: Color Theory with Karen Barbé

Hello all, I'm here again with my progress on this month's Project a Month - a lovely Color Theory class with Karen Barbé (in Spanish) on Domestika.

As I mentioned last week, if you don't speak Spanish and would like to follow along, all you need is Karen's wonderful book Color Confident Stitching - it covers all the concepts here!

Color Palettes Based on Color Harmony

Now on to my favorite part of the class - selecting color harmonies using the color wheel! (p.50 in her book)

Here are the first 3 color harmonies I constructed, using paint chips. I hesitated at first, thinking, wouldn't it be more accurate to just use my embroidery floss instead? But I'm glad I did - playing with the paint chips to select my colors helped me see the colors in a new way, and think of them more as colors than as floss, if that makes any sense.

I chose my favorite color - a teal blue-green, and based all of my color harmonies around their relationships to this color:

Monochromatic

Analogous

Complementary

Near Complementary

Triad

Wasn't that fun? As you see, I stitched a tiny portion of the final class project in each color harmony, so I could pick my favorite. but it didn't work - I liked them all equally!

Do you have a favorite? My Instagram feed is currently split between the Near Complementary and Analogous color schemes. :)

Another thing I loved about building these color harmonies is that when I was done, I had a grouping of colors that all looked wonderful together. So, this is a great way to build up a color scheme if you aren't sure where to start - all you really need is 1 color you love to begin! Sidenote - it's also a great way to write a poem, if you use those marvelous color names as starting points. :)

So there we are - I hoped you enjoyed this walk through Karen's Color Theory class so far! Next week, stay tuned for my (hopefully) finished class project, in the color theory palette of my choice!

Last week's post: http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2019/02/project-month-color-theory-with-karen.html

Project a Month: Color Theory with Karen Barbé

A year and a half ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing Colour Confident Stitching by Karen Barbé, and I was immediately taken in by her gorgeous book.

Last month, I was very pleased to discover that Karen was teaching an online Color Theory class on a Spanish-language site called Domestika.



I knew nothing about Domestika, but the intro video Karen posted on her blog really piqued my interest. Spanish was my first language, but my speaking ability is clumsy at best. But I took the plunge and purchased the class, which was on sale for half price, and decided I would use this chance to improve my Spanish AND my color skills.

Follow along with her book!

Don't speak Spanish? The good news is all of the concepts in Karen's online class can be found in her book Colour Confident Stitching, so if you want to try what I'm doing, I'll give you the corresponding page number in her book!

I am often pressed for time when I do book reviews and I find it difficult to do a thorough review. So there were many wonderful concepts in Colour Confident Stitching that I didn't have time to explore - this online class gave me all the inspiration I needed to take it all further!

Floss Color Cards - "Color Compasses"

My favorite thing about Karen's color theory class so far has to be her floss color cards:
(p.28 in her book)

With the color cards in the center, I sorted paint chips (the kind you find in hardware stores). Karen calls her color cards in Spanish, brújulas cromáticas - color compasses. They help you understand where a color sits on the color wheel, if the color is lighter, brighter, more muted, or dark, and by extension, whether the color is warmer or cooler.

I LOVED sorting colors, and it opened my eyes to color relationships I had never seen before!

Here I am, repeating this exercise with a bundle of fat quarters... I chose this fabric bundle randomly, but I love how closely they match the paint chips I brought home from the hardware store! It looks like I have certain colors I gravitate towards, and others I clearly do not (hello orange and medium green!)

Holding Karen's color cards against fabrics is a tactile way to measure color temperature:

These 2 fabrics are options for my final piece - pale blue and pale pink. I couldn't decide if the pink was warmer or cooler, so I included 2 color cards - red-violet and red - what would your guess be?

These cards have helped me understand color in a way I never have before - and I've been stitching for over 10 years now!

Stitch along!

If you are a Spanish speaker, I fully recommend Karen's class - Teoría del color para proyectos textiles. I was not paid to review this class, I found it on my own, I have already purchased 2 more embroidery classes on Domestika and they are gorgeous. I am very impressed by Domestika - the quality of the videos, the talent of the artists, and their site and forums are wonderful.

If you are not a Spanish speaker, as I mentioned earlier, and color theory interests you, I highly recommend Karen's book, Colour Confident Stitching, you will have all the materials you need to follow along!

Next week, I'll show you the 5 color palettes I chose, based on color wheel harmonies - here's a preview!

I stitched 5 small examples so I could decide on a favorite palette - do you have a favorite? For my final post, I'll show you my rendition of the final class design!

Review: Colour Confident Stitching by Karen Barbé

It is a pleasure to review this fabulous new book, Colour Confident Stitching: How to Create Beautiful Colour Palettes by textile artist Karen Barbé. If you are at all curious about expanding your use of color and texture in your embroidery, this is the book for you!

Just so you know, the book link above is an Amazon Affiliate link - clicking through the link and buying is one way to support our volunteer reviews - we use funds in our Amazon account for new giveaways and reviews.

When I received this book from the publisher I was in the middle of planning some of my own projects, and I found reading this book and taking in the way Karen approaches color to be very inspiring. I had already started making little color cards of my own to keep track of my embroidery threads from project to project - Karen's approach of lining up colors as inspiration before you begin stitching is marvelous, too!

I find Karen's stitching within the book very inspiring - I am reminded of the loveliness of designers like Yumiko Higuchi, Irona Happa, and one of my favorite embroidery books ever, Handbook of Lettering for Stitchers by Elsie Svennas (read a wonderful overview of it on Pintangle).

Color Theory - The majority of the book is about color theory - and I love the way Karen writes about color. Her analysis of different color palettes, and how to develop them, is very inspiring. In particular, I love that she talks about how having a different color background can change the entire mood of the piece.

Color Palettes - I really enjoyed this section - there are 9 example color palettes drawn from a variety of different sources - fabric, collections, images, home, and places, just to name a few. They are all quite beautiful and could be a wonderful springboard for anyone who is intimidated by choosing a palette of colors for a new project.

Patterns - there are 5 projects in this book, so it is light on patterns. But I will say the patterns are versatile and they inspire you to think deeply about color.

Here are the patterns included and the stitch you will learn / practice with it:

• Sleeping Mask: Laid stitch, couched cross stitch, sewing, embroidery floss
• Embellished Knitted Sleeves: Duplicate stitch, crewel or tapestry wool
• Tea Towel with Woven Patches: Weave stitch, pearl cotton
• Framed Embroidery: Chain stitch, satin stitch, embroidery floss
• Cross Stitch Tea Party: Cross stitch on cardboard, embroidery floss

My favorite project was the framed embroidery, because it included 2 types of stitching I've been wanting to practice: densely packed chain stitches as outlines and geometric satin stitches.

Following along with the pattern was tricky for me since the pattern is quite small and thus requires for absolute precision in drawing and stitching.

Beginners, take note that you will feel less frustration if you enlarge the pattern on a copier and practice the intricate chain stitch. Tiny details are key in this project.

I broke up the large design into two parts, first a few chain-stitched motifs:

I would have loved to have a larger image of the stitching so I could decide how to tackle the project.

Second, I tried the satin-stitched circle, and practiced making woven patches:

My satin stitching is very far from perfect - but this small project was a great way to practice it! I used 4 strands of floss for the woven patches. You can see more of my process photos on my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/nyfloresita/)

One of my takeaways after reading through this book and trying out the projects is just how detailed, meditative, and slow Karen's creative process is - it makes sense that she is a textile artist, because you can see how she is willing to take a time-consuming task and make it into an art piece.

Crafters who would love to add new stitches to their repertoire, learn to think about color in a new way, and appreciate detailed patterns and projects will love this book.

I highly recommend this book for all levels of stitchers, with a caveat for beginners - the stitches and processes in this book are not simple, but if you approach your work slowly and meditatively, you will be rewarded for your time.

To see more of the inside of this glorious book - visit Karen's blog for some lovely images:
http://www.karenbarbe.com/blog/colour-confident-stitching-book-is-here/

I also highly recommend a visit to Karen's blog - I spent hours happily scrolling through her gorgeous posts: http://www.karenbarbe.com/blog/. You can also find Karen on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/karenbarbe/