A Little Exercise or Colour Therapy

It was a pile of old issues of Home and RealLiving magazines that was collecting dust and taking up some space for a very long time that I saw on Friday afternoon in my sewing nook. These magazines are full of interesting decorating ideas, living spaces solutions, great finds, handy hints and other stuff like that. But most of all they are full of colour. I was going to see if I could find some inspiring pictures for my sewing projects and then throw most of the magazines away. But instead I decided to give myself a little exercise.

While flicking through the pages, I realised that I was mostly attracted to colours, not the pictures of objects themselves, maybe because of the pain I was experiencing at that time, my mind was somewhere else. So I thought what if I flip through the pages and pay attention only to colour combinations that would captivate me. Armed with a cup of tea and a pair of scissors (a great work out for my left hand again!) I sat comfortably and began my colour therapy. It was interesting! I had never done this before. You look and see only colours ignoring anything else, any other details. Quickly I had a pile of small cut out pictures that looked like that put together.

What a splash of colour! I wish I could do the same with fabric, just throw bits and pieces together and be happy with the end result. I still find it quite challenging at times. I was really surprised to see that it was not the pink colour that attracted me (as I always thought) but mostly yellow and green. After staring at the collage for some time, I came up with one more little exercise. Match one of the picture palettes to the fabrics from my stash. Entertaining, challenging (for me) and educational. This is what I came up with.

I really like these three prints together, the colours are very pleasant, fresh and make me think of Spring, lemons and mint for some reason.

I like these three colours together but not too sure about the prints though, but it was the best I could find for this palette in my limited stash.

These are lovely colours, just a tiny touch of red. I can see hexagons happening here.

I never was a big fan of orange, but lately I find myself more and more attracted to it especially when it's paired with apple green.

The combination below is very simple, but I think might work well in a quilting block.

Who knows, the combinations above might turn into something interesting one day or be never used at all. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this little exercise. I discovered new possibilities and interesting ways of pairing colours and prints. And the colour therapy did the trick, it settled my pain as well.

What helps you in choosing fabric for your projects? How do you combine different prints and colours? What methods do you use? Do you follow certain rules or you purely follow your heart?