Wednesday, October 23, 2013

New Colors of Peppered Cottons on the way

As if twenty five colors weren't enough, we've been pushing the envelope on new shades in shot cottons. (photo to left by Bonnie Hunter) Speaking honestly, some combinations work-beautifully-and others not so much. One of the puzzlements was producing a really exciting red. When you do the shot cotton formula (warp one color and weft another) it does not, by definition, produce a single strong color. But when it comes to Red, we love a true, true red. What to do? We
blended red with black--too dark and utterly out of the red category. We already had a red+dark blue and a green+red. We dropped back and realized that a true red had to go all red through and through.

So that's what Flame is. The warp threads are bright true red and the weft threads the same. Not strictly a bi-colored shot cotton. But when threads are spun and dyed prior to weaving, they achieve a depth of color you can't get by immersion dying (dying a fabric after it's been woven). So that true red-Flame (#16) is our lead-off color in the newest offerings. All the others are shot cottons that combine colors.




We realized we didn't have many light shades so here's the first--a romantic color called Ashes of Roses (#51)--a synthesis of cocoa brown and pale pink.







Then Citrus Yellow (#91). Don't let the name throw you off. It's bright yellow plus lime green. Think of those bright, bright safety vests that highway workers wear-that's it!







Followed by a pair of newly-minted colors-Greige (#97), a lovely medium tan+grey/blue and Grellow (#90) a lemon yellow+medium grey.







Fans of the neutral and taupe color schemes will rejoice in True Taupe (#99),  a strong mixture of tobacco brown + grey.




The shade called Pearl (#20) can pass as a pastel or a bridge between its parent colors of candy pink and light taupe. Think of the nacre on the inside of a shell--that's this elusive color.







Can we ever have too many blues?

Lake on the upper left (#00) is a medium grey + sky blue.

Seaglass (#01) is bright turquoise calmed by a tan secondary thread.
                                                                                                            
The last color is Sunny Aqua. When bright turquoise meets lemon yellow, a wonderful combination resulted.

The market expert at StudioE Fabrics, Laura Gilvin, designed this gorgeous wall hanging with the ten new Peppered Cotton colors and it was pieced by Deb Fenton. The wonderful machine quilting is by Lisa Snipes. Modern. Fresh. Interesting. Urban geometry. Three-dimensional. Better than I could have hoped for!