Color Trends

I was reading Ryan Walsh's blog, I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts, the other day and he had a really interesting post about the color gray as a trend in the fabric market. He is starting a new thing called "Trendy Tuesday" where he talks about the latest trends going on in the fabric industry, which I think is really cool. I have always been interested in fashion and fabric. I actually took several classes in textile and apparel management when I was an undergrad. One of my most memorable experiences was the textile class I took where our exam consisted of identifying 100 swatches of fabric according to its material, hand, and weave. Call me crazy, but I thought this was the coolest test ever!


As a new quilter, one of the most exciting things for me has been learning about, selecting, and working with different fabrics. Although I have been working with all cotton in my quilts (and will probably continue to do so), there are so many different options out there as far as prints, colors, and textures. I love staying "in the know" about color trends and watching for new collections coming out from my favorite designers, such as Amy Butler and Michael Miller.

So, back to Ryan's post about the color gray. It struck me that the color gray is to the fabric industry as the color black is to the clothing industry. It's sleek, sophisticated, goes with everything, and never goes out of style. I have used gray in several of my quilts so far (my "Little Man" quilt and "Metro Pinwheels") and I love how it gives a modern flair to my quilts. I like that gray is neutral, but not white, and that it looks great paired with brighter prints. I have also been drawn to the fabric lines that contain a lot of gray such as Aneela Hoey's Sherbet Pips, Michael Miller's Citron and Gray,  and Bonnie and Camille's Ruby.

I love the pink and gray combo of the Sherbet Pips collection. It would be perfect for a little girl's quilt!

I used part of this line in my "Little Man" quilt.

I have some charm packs in the Ruby line and can't wait to make something out of them!

 On a side note, did you know that "gray" actually does have two spellings- something that I have been confused about for some time now. I did a google search on it and would you believe that there is actually a site devoted to this very topic: http://www.greyorgray.com/. Who would have thought? And, both spellings ("grey" and "gray") are correct! The difference actually depends on where you live- if you live in the U.S., "gray" is more popular. Whereas in England, it's "grey." Weird, huh? The English teacher in my thinks this is interesting, but probably not all that interesting to anyone else.

Anyway, the point of this post is that Ryan's post on color trends inspired me to think about color. And what I realized is that color trends are everywhere. For example, how cool would it be to base a quilt on color trends in nail polish? This proves that inspiration can be found anywhere if you take the time to look for it.