stories from my red thread life

All adoption amazing people an artist's life Apfelstrudel art installation artisan life artisans Bangladesh banners Behind the Scenes Berene Campbell best place to live boys in tights bravery building collapse buy local buying clothing for children Canada Day Canada Mathare Education Trust Canadian made caterpillar dress cgmonsters children helping out children's clothing Children's clothing stores in Paris China Chinese factory workers choosing fabric clothing design CMETrust color psychology community community project costumes craft show craft show booth craft show prep Craft Shows craftspeople CultureLink decluttering design inspiration design studio designing a collection DIY costumes dressing girls in pink easy costume ideas education in Africa Ethical Shopping Etsy copying Etsy: Made In Canada etsymadeincanada Fabric Fabric and Design fabric heaven factory collapse factory fire factory workers Fall clothing fall fashion fashion designers FlowerPot Designs Free to Be You and Me garment factories garment factory garment workers gender identity gender stereotypes gratitude Halloween handmade handmade business handmade costumes HappySewLucky healing from tragedy home-based business I love Canada infographic Inspiration is handmade dead Japanese fabric Joe Fresh Katrina Onstad kids costumes Kiriki Press Liberty of London Lilly Pulitzer living in Toronto local business local clothing local production Love Dress low prices Made in Canada made in Toronto makers Mathare Mom Inc. mompreneur moms helping moms moving Musings Muskoka Arts & Crafts Muskoka Arts and Crafts My Amazing Customers new collection New products New Year north york North York Arts O Canada One of a Kind Show organizing fabric Ottawa Modern Quilt Guild overseas production Parenting Paris children's shops Peace and Love photo shoot Primark quilting quilts for refugees Red Thread Red Thread women red threads Romero House Running a Small Business self-acceptance sewing sewing camp sewing classes sewing with kids shopping Shopping in Paris shopping with kids Sister Valentine SONP2013 Summer of No Pants taking the plunge Target The Economist the life of a factory worker The Love Dress TMQG To Boston with Love top ten facts Toronto Toronto craft shows toronto love project toronto van rampage torontoLOVEproject Triangle Shirtwaist Factory van attack VMQG We Heart Willowdale weather disasters willowdale wishes wonderful cities worker safety

Much Ado about Colour

— devorah@redthreaddesign.ca
Tagged: choosing fabric color psychology Fabric and Design Musings quilting
Last night my sister came to me with a mission: she’s taking a quilting class and wanted to select nine harmonious fabrics to use in her first quilt. Because I own a vast amount of printed cotton fabric, she expected this task to be easy. It wasn’t! As she pulled out bolt after bolt and ruminated over multiple possible combinations, I started to think about what makes a colour or a print pleasing to one person and ugly to another. I spend a lot of time making decisions about colour and scale and pattern, but it was interesting to watch somebody else engaged in this process. We all know what we like when we see it – something in our brain just clicks. We live surrounded by visual stimuli and are constantly judging what we like and dislike from a multitude of choices. But I wonder how much of this is subjective, a reflection of our personal or cultural associations and biases, and how much is attributable to science. A recent (2010) study at UC Berkeley by a team of psychologists devoted to the study of colour perception and aesthetics, postulated a new theory of colour preference. “Ecological Valance Theory” [...]