Thanks to everyone who voted in the comments or purchased a copy of the Mod Star Tree quilt pattern and Transparent Ribbons quilt pattern. I wanted to share a quick tally of how the color choices were distributed in the comments, in the purchases, and combined overall.
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The differences in the Mod Star Tree pattern were very subtle. The cover quilt is the same, but the pattern itself is framed in either a red or a green setting.
In the comments, the majority clearly favored the green setting. For those that purchases, a slight majority favored the red, and when all the “voting” is tallied up it came in at almost an even 50/50 split for these options.
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Transparent Ribbons, on the other hand, was two completely different cover quilts (one in prints, one in solids).
Again, there is a difference in percentage of preference between the comments and purchases, but this time blue was always favored over the pink. It’s a tough call for me on this pattern as well; blue is my favorite color but I do love the berry/cerise/pink colorway of the original solid quilt that I made!
All of this information is really interesting to me. If nothing else, I am inspired to show other colorway renderings and I will definitely be really thoughtful about the color choices I make to frame my quilt patterns in the future.
Overall, though, I hope that I continue to work with and experiment with different colors. I am glad that I have been using pink more and found that I enjoy working with it. Perhaps it’s time I spent some time with red, as it’s a color I very rarely use! What color do you think you might want to incorporate into a project in the future? Would you be willing to try branching out (and does that mean using brown? branch, brown, haha, maybe I’m the only one that finds that silly)??
orange and brown I rarely use, but the colour for April was orange, so Thumbs Up Ted is done. Years ago, at quilting classes, our tutor said” You need some yellow to zing up a quilt” but if I am really truthful, if a pattern, outside cover, jacket on a book, frock or anything else is in a colour I do not like, the whole item will not appeal, even when I know another shade will be available. How fickle our minds are at times. Your stats are impressive.
Its a good idea to offer more than 1 choice in color for a colorway in a quilt cover or a pattern. I know if I only see 1 choice on the cover, and its not in the colors that I like, I have a really hard time trying to envision it in my color choices. Since I buy most of my fabrics now over the internet, I don’t have the help of staff in a quilt store to help me convert a pattern into my “vision”. Your patterns are good though! Warm and cool choices are good!
I plan on using purple in an upcoming quilt…..I don’t use this color very often. I like the idea of showing several colorways for a quilt pattern. It helps me feel a little more creative when I then go to pick out my fabrics.
Branch – brown. Haha! But actually, if you look at a branch closely, it’s not just brown. One of my favorite photos is a mossy tree trunk. I like all the varied colors of greens, grays and browns in it. It would be a fun colorway to experiment with, although I’m not really a fan of brown. I don’t use much purple, so trying a quilt in that color would be a stretch for me.
I thought this was an interesting experiment, so thanks for sharing your findings. I rarely choose red, and when I do, it is warm red, leaning towards coral or brick. Your comment about brown was funny! I just learned that my 4yo niece loves brown. She’s the first person I know to choose brown as a favorite! I’m glad she does—she has beautiful brown eyes and hair, so brown is beautiful on her. So, I have fabric to make her a quilt with a brown background.
Very interesting results! I admit I wouldn’t branch out unless someone put together a kit and I already know the color works. I just mess up too frequently on colors! But the only color that I don’t normally touch is brown and dark greens.
Ha! Ha! I got the branch-brown right away! I should probably try to use some more of the warm tones. I tend towards cool colors & clear tones.
ACK!!! Not brown!!! I spend waaaay too many years in the 1970s wearing, seeing, living with brown to be excited about it, but having said that, it’s good as an accent. Brown comes from three different colors (adding black to yellow, orange-yellow, orange) and I like the orange-origin the most. The yellow-origin I seem to be allergic to. Of course, you can keep on adding black to red-orange or red, but then those tend to turn to rust and maroon, which is a *branch* of a different color.
Fun to read this post!
I have hated pink for years and now I find I am using it in my quilting thanks to Tula Pink. I love all her fabric even the pink and now the colour is sneaking in with other fabrics although I am not wearing it yet.
Its funny – working with fabric so long I can appreciate things done in many colors. That being said, orange and yellow are colors I don’t use very much. Purple and red I love….jewel tone girl here!
Those are definitely interesting results. I do remember reading somewhere that cool colored quilts are more well liked? But I don’t remember where I read that. Either way, pretty need to start collecting data on your customer base!
If you look at my stash, I don’t have a lot of yellow, orange or brown. But I’ve made whole quilts using those colors. So I’m not sure how to answer that question.
When I was a beginning quilter, I was very influenced by the colors in the quilt on the pattern cover and, in fact, everything about the pattern cover. Seeing the results of your color experiment is interesting.
Strangely I voted for pink in the Transparent Ribbons yet pink is a colour I don’t usually buy, I would normally choose blue any day, What I would like to make is a black and white quilt with maybe a colour pop, it will have to get in line I’m still in my brights phase although I must admit I’m coming out of it, at least in multicolours.
now now, brown has feelings too. The problem with brown is we think 1970s brown floral quilts, which are quite frankly something to run scared from. Brown teamed with the sort of orange ~Anja uses is cool. Let’s rehabilitate brown.
On the other hand, if you design and sell a brown pattern, it could well linger in the reduced section and I would hate to be responsible.
Interesting results. I find it especially interesting that the red/green options showed almost no difference. So maybe the pattern cover colour doesn’t matter as much as the quilt colour?
Great recap of the color responses!