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Bryan House Quilts

New Free Colorful Pattern! Rainbow Jacks

Playful Color· Playful Color Month

20 Sep

Welcome to back to Week 3 of Playful Color Month. This week we’re learning about one of my favorite color tricks, the Personal Color Wheel exercise.

As a quick refresh, during Week 1 we talked about symptoms of color trouble (how do you know when you’re having trouble?) and the causes of color trouble. In Week 2, we started to tackle color trouble by beginning to add tools to our Playful Color Toolbox.

Today’s Goal: Tuesday I introduced you to the Personal Color Wheel exercise. Today I want to show you how to use the Personal Color Wheelhouse exercise to choose colors for a real project. To that end, I’ve made my Jacks pattern available as a free pattern to my Newsletter subscribers.

Using the Personal Color Wheel to choose colors for new projects

In the past, without a personal color wheel, I have struggled with putting together colors quickly. I discovered that having a go to Color Wheel has streamlined the color choosing process and let’s me get to the fun part – the sewing. As I mentioned on Tuesday, you can use your Personal Color Wheel to help you generate palettes quickly for new rainbow quilts. And it can help you choose the colors when there are fewer or greater than 12 colors. For example, Rainbow Jacks calls for 16 colors.

 

On my very first ever Facebook live, I demonstrated how I use the Personal Color Wheel to choose my palette for a pastel version of Jacks. (Subscribers: grab your copy of Rainbow Jacks in the Free Pattern section of the BHQ Resource Library.)

Once I have my pastel color wheel drafted, I can quickly pull fabrics from my stash and get to sewing. Aren’t those fabrics pretty!

And the best part is that choosing the color this way makes it so much quicker and easier. Yah!

The Playful Color Month Goal

My goal for you this September is to start you on the path away from “Color is hard and I can’t do it” to “Color is hard, but I have some tools to work with Color.” (I love that gif!)

I’ve struggled in the mires of color for years. As I fought my color battles I learned lots of color tricks. And I am here to share them with you so that you can maximize your creative fun time.

And by now I hope you are seeing the potential of my Playful Color Toolbox and are getting excited about playing with color!

Playful Color Toolbox

So far we’ve added three ways to play with color to our Playful Color Toolbox. Yah!

1. Playful Color Tool: The best way to use big, busy, bold fabrics is to reign in the chaos by organizing your quilt either by pattern or color. 

2. Playful Color Tool: a Framework for Mixing Fabrics

3. Playful Color Tool: Personal Color Wheelhouse

Up next

Tomorrow I’ll be hosting a live event where I show you how I pull fabrics using my Personal Color Wheel for the new(ish) free pattern, Rainbow Jacks. You can join in live in my Facebook Group.

Next week, I’ll be showing you some of my personal favorite supplies I use to explore color and the Fall Session of Playful Color Theory for Quilters will start. I hope to share more details very soon!

If you are loving these Playful Color Tools and you want more, you’ll love my online workshop launching at the end of the month, Playful Color Theory for Quilters. Registration is now open (newsletter friends, wait for the discount code in your inbox before registering!) for the Fall session and will close on September 30th.

This workshop is a great resource to learn more about color theory and to add more tools to your Playful Color Toolbox. Specifically you’ll be learning alllll my tools in that workshop, should you choose to enroll. In the meantime, enjoy the video.

Schedule of Events

Subscribe to the Playful Color Month Emails

SUBSCRIBE HERE

As a reminder here’s the schedule of events and please remember this plan is a bit fluid because of my life transitions. (I just can’t wait to be perfectly settled to share this awesome stuff with you!)

Week 1

Tuesday September 4 – My Top 9 Symptoms of Color Trouble – Do you have a problem?

Thursday September 6 – The 2 Root Causes of Color Mistakes

Week 2

Tuesday September 11 – How to use Busy, Loud, but GORGEOUS Prints

Thursday September 13 – How to Mix Fabric Lines for a Custom Look

Week 3

*New(ish) Free Pattern this week!*

Tuesday September 18 – The Color Secret Artists use to Maximize Creativity

Thursday September 20 – Using the Personal Color Wheel to plan Rainbow Jacks (I’m planning on a live event!) (You are here!)

Week 4

Tuesday September 25 – My Favorite Playful Color Tools

Thursday September 27 – I’m sharing and demoing live (I think!) one of the painting exercises from the Playful Color Theory for Quilters online workshop.

Next steps after Playful Color Month

Registration for the Fall Session of Playful Color Theory for Quilters is now open and will close September 30th.

 

Previous Post: « The Color Secret Artists use to Maximize Creativity
Next Post: Catch me on American Patchwork & Quilting Radio (Part 2) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JANNINE AMATO says

    August 8, 2019 at 11:30 pm

    Diid you make your own color chips or can they br bought dirctly from moda?

    • rebeccabryan says

      August 15, 2019 at 7:19 am

      You can buy color cards from Moda, or any of the other fabric manufacturers. Mine are from Robert Kaufman.

Trackbacks

  1. Quickly Generate a Fun, New Palette Using Secret Colors says:
    September 27, 2018 at 7:43 am

    […] September 20 – Using the Personal Color Wheel to plan Rainbow Jacks (a new free […]

  2. Why you shouldn't use fabric to explore color - My favorite color supplies - Bryan House Quilts says:
    April 16, 2020 at 9:39 am

    […] September 20 – Using the Personal Color Wheel to plan Rainbow Jacks (a new free […]

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About

Hey there! I’m Rebecca, an author and teacher and freezer paper piecing evangelist. I’m also the founder of the Make Modern Triangles Quilt Club.

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Just so you know, my site includes affiliate links from which I (it’s me! Rebecca!) receive payment or compensation. Something to consider as you peruse my website. Thanks!

Latest on Instagram

Comment ‘FREE’ to take my free class where I teach Comment ‘FREE’ to take my free class where I teach quilters the freezer paper piecing technique that changed my life! ✨

My tip for you this week is to set your seams by pressing after you remove the freezer paper!

Set your seams by pressing on the right side first, then flip and press in the direction your pattern suggests. Pressing is just as important as the piecing itself! 

Remember: press in one spot for about 5 seconds... no sliding! This keeps your fabric happy and prevents stretching.

Taking the time to press as you go will make a huge difference in how crisp and polished your finished blocks look.

Trust me, it’s the secret ingredient to freezer paper piecing perfection! 🔥

Comment “FREEZER” if you’re curious about learning this technique! 💕

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
Experienced quilters, share what I missed in the c Experienced quilters, share what I missed in the comments! 👇

Comment ‘FREE’ if you’re a beginner quilter and want to take my free class, give quilting a try, learn a new technique, or simply improve your skills! 

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
I don’t know about you, but for me, quilting has n I don’t know about you, but for me, quilting has never been about just making quilts.

It’s about slow mornings, quiet time to myself, creating something with my hands, spending time doing something textile, not scrolling on the internet, spending more time creating and less time consuming...

And I think that’s exactly why so many people are being drawn to quilting today.

You want to get offline, learn something new, and have more quiet time that is just for you and your imagination. ✨

I think we could ALL use more of that in our lives, and if you want to give it a try, I’ve got a free class you can sign up for by commenting ‘FREE’ below. 💕

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
I’ve taught thousands of quilters over the last de I’ve taught thousands of quilters over the last decade, and I’ve been quilting myself for over 15 years, and this is what I’ve learned. ⬇️

What’s stopping you from quilting isn’t that you don’t want to do it. It’s because you have already convinced yourself of something before even giving it a fair shot. 

You’re probably thinking something like...

👉 “I don’t think I’m creative enough.”
👉 “It looks too complicated.”
👉 “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
👉 “I don’t have enough time.”
👉 “What if I spend all that money and I’m terrible at it?”
👉 “I’ve never been good at sewing.”

If any of those thoughts have crossed your mind, can I let you in on a little secret?

Almost every quilter I know started with one of those ideas in their head, including me. 🤫

The beautiful quilts you see today didn’t begin as beautiful quilts, they began as just an idea and a willingness to try.

Nobody sits down at a sewing machine and automatically knows how to quilt.

You learn by just doing it, sewing stitch by stitch, and every time you enter your sewing room, it gets a little bit easier, and you start to enjoy it more and more. 

If something has been holding you back from quilting, I invite you to take my free class where you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. 

Comment ‘FREE’ to sign up. 💕

#modernquilting #quiltingtechnique #quiltpattern #quiltdesign #quiltersofig
Comment ‘FREEZER’ if you want to take my free clas Comment ‘FREEZER’ if you want to take my free class and learn this amazing technique! 👇

Freezer paper piecing tip number eight is to press every seam right after sewing it. 
 
Don’t wait until later or until all of your blocks are done. Press those seams right away!

It might feel like it slows you down in the moment, but it actually saves you time (and frustration) later.

When you press as you go, your seams stay crisp, and your pieces lay flat, which makes lining everything up so much easier. You’re not fighting bulky seams or trying to “fix” things at the end. 🙌

Plus, pressing helps set the stitches and keeps your fabric from shifting as you build your block.

Think of it as part of the sewing process, not an extra step.

Your blocks will be flatter, sharper, and way more accurate… and your future self will thank you!

Comment ‘FREEZER’ for my free class! 💕

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
MAKE A TEST BLOCK!!! Please, I am begging you. 😅 MAKE A TEST BLOCK!!! Please, I am begging you. 😅

You’d think after 15 years of quilting I’d be able to skip it...

And every once in a while I convince myself that I don’t need a test block because I’ve made this block hundreds of times or my freezer paper piecing skills are good enough to skip it... 

And do you know what happens every time I convince myself that I don’t need a test block? 🙃

I almost always regret it and end up having a nice long date with Jack The Seam Ripper as a consequence. 

Learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to learn from your own and make the test block EVERY TIME!!!

Are you making test blocks? Tell me in the comments! ⤵️

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
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Comment ‘FREE’ to take my free class where I teach Comment ‘FREE’ to take my free class where I teach quilters the freezer paper piecing technique that changed my life! ✨

My tip for you this week is to set your seams by pressing after you remove the freezer paper!

Set your seams by pressing on the right side first, then flip and press in the direction your pattern suggests. Pressing is just as important as the piecing itself! 

Remember: press in one spot for about 5 seconds... no sliding! This keeps your fabric happy and prevents stretching.

Taking the time to press as you go will make a huge difference in how crisp and polished your finished blocks look.

Trust me, it’s the secret ingredient to freezer paper piecing perfection! 🔥

Comment “FREEZER” if you’re curious about learning this technique! 💕

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
Experienced quilters, share what I missed in the c Experienced quilters, share what I missed in the comments! 👇

Comment ‘FREE’ if you’re a beginner quilter and want to take my free class, give quilting a try, learn a new technique, or simply improve your skills! 

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
I don’t know about you, but for me, quilting has n I don’t know about you, but for me, quilting has never been about just making quilts.

It’s about slow mornings, quiet time to myself, creating something with my hands, spending time doing something textile, not scrolling on the internet, spending more time creating and less time consuming...

And I think that’s exactly why so many people are being drawn to quilting today.

You want to get offline, learn something new, and have more quiet time that is just for you and your imagination. ✨

I think we could ALL use more of that in our lives, and if you want to give it a try, I’ve got a free class you can sign up for by commenting ‘FREE’ below. 💕

#modernquilting #paperpiecing #foundationpaperpiecing #quiltingtechnique #quiltteacher
I’ve taught thousands of quilters over the last de I’ve taught thousands of quilters over the last decade, and I’ve been quilting myself for over 15 years, and this is what I’ve learned. ⬇️

What’s stopping you from quilting isn’t that you don’t want to do it. It’s because you have already convinced yourself of something before even giving it a fair shot. 

You’re probably thinking something like...

👉 “I don’t think I’m creative enough.”
👉 “It looks too complicated.”
👉 “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
👉 “I don’t have enough time.”
👉 “What if I spend all that money and I’m terrible at it?”
👉 “I’ve never been good at sewing.”

If any of those thoughts have crossed your mind, can I let you in on a little secret?

Almost every quilter I know started with one of those ideas in their head, including me. 🤫

The beautiful quilts you see today didn’t begin as beautiful quilts, they began as just an idea and a willingness to try.

Nobody sits down at a sewing machine and automatically knows how to quilt.

You learn by just doing it, sewing stitch by stitch, and every time you enter your sewing room, it gets a little bit easier, and you start to enjoy it more and more. 

If something has been holding you back from quilting, I invite you to take my free class where you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. 

Comment ‘FREE’ to sign up. 💕

#modernquilting #quiltingtechnique #quiltpattern #quiltdesign #quiltersofig
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