Today we’re thrilled to welcome guest blogger Amanda Kelly to the Zollie blog! In this post, Amanda shares her process for using our color tool Palette Scout to create a quilt using fabrics from her stash.

"Splurge. Treat yo’self. You deserve it." These are the phrases I say to myself before random fat quarters and half yard cuts of fabric are purchased, destined for the drawer of misfits. I don’t always have a plan when I buy fabric, but I just know I will use them someday. 

And then a week passes…a month…a year And somehow I’ve accumulated fourteen different shades and prints of…citron. Sound familiar? You fall in love with an edgy color and swear it’s the bee’s knees. You love it. You’re going to use it. And yet…it sits, condemned to have permanent crease marks from being folded and forgotten.

That ends today. No longer will fabric sit forgotten, accumulating dust and an out of print status. Today I will use my citron and make it fabulous.

Step 1: Start With Your Anchor Color

The first problem I’m faced with is how to use this color for anything other than a Halloween theme. I see citron, and I think orange and black. Sure, I could buy a full fabric collection and use whatever prints and colors the designer put together. But where’s the fun in that? I don’t want a quilt that is the same as everyone else’s. I want something with my own flair and creative energy. I also want something that I put together without polling the audience or phoning a friend to get their input.

We are all taught in school what our primary colors are. We move on to color theory—and complementary and monochromatic colors, hues, tones, values, intensities, shades and tints. But at some point colors start to get confusing, and it's more like work than “fun quilt time with fabric." Does this print go with that one? Does this shade complement that tint, or is it too dark? Am I going to have this fabric pull finalized before August? That’s where Palette Scout comes in.

Palette Scout is a deck of 180 color cards that offers a fun, easy to use system for building beautiful color palettes.  If you’re like me and cannot remember any of the above color theory lessons from art class, fear not. Palette Scout comes with an informative pamphlet and videos to stir those memories back up like a paint bucket at the hardware store. 

Step 2: Match Your Anchor Color To A Palette Scout Card

The master card (as I call it) in the Palette Scout deck shows the 18 hues that make up the color wheel. Each is represented by a colored shape, and a name organized in alphabetical order. I snagged my citron prints and matched them to the closest base hue of Reed in the Palette Scout deck. Full disclosure: I’m not a green gal; this is one thousand percent outside of my comfort zone to use. On the Reed Palette Ideas card, one side features all of the colors for the specific hue chosen. The other side helps guide your palette combinations. With five combo options, I know I can find another hue that will work with my citron fabric perfectly. 

Step 3: Explore Color Palette Options With Palette Scout

Of the five springboard palette suggestions, I am most drawn to the Split Complement triad. Based on the Reed card, I need to snag my Hibiscus (the reddish pink square) and Jewel (the purple triangle) sets. Things are starting to come together as I lay out my cards, and I can begin to see a direction I need to head into.  

Pretty good, but if I’m being honest I want a little more oomph. Looking at both the Reed and Jewel cards, I search for another hue that complements both colors. It looks like Buttercup (the yellow square) might work, so I lay the set out above Jewel. 

It’s not quite right. Don’t get me wrong, I love yellow, and clearly Buttercup is a perfect complement to the other hues—but for this project it is not what I am looking for. It’s feeling a little too close to Halloween for comfort. So I discard the Buttercup and keep scouting. 

For a fresh perspective I move the Hibiscus set above Jewel, and leave space open below Reed to check for another pairing. I want to keep it simple, and nothing can be more simple than a basic Complementary pairing, right? So back into my deck I go to search for Ibis (the pink circle).

I lay out a couple Ibis cards below Reed, and it clicks. This is it. This is the citronprint to create my quilt palette (Get it? Instead of a blueprint? Citron?)

Step 4: Refine Your Quilt Color Palette

Each Palette Scout hue has five color cards (the pure hue, two lighter tints, and two darker shades). Since I’m using four hues, this means I’ve got 20 cards to work with. With so many options to choose from you may be asking “How do I narrow it down?” 

In reality all you need is two or three cards to create a palette, but I am of the impression bigger is better with fabric (and like I said, I have fourteen prints to choose from of just citron.) I picked eleven color cards. This part is easy—pick the colors that speak to you. It may be helpful to take a photo of your palette using the black-and-white option on your phone camera to ensure there are a range of values in your palette.

For more fun, you can flip the cards over and explore different tones of the same colors you’ve chosen (the tones have a dot on them to differentiate them from their bright counterparts). Tones are calmer and a bit more muted. Personally, my stash is bright. Muted fabric isn’t really something I shop for, so I find myself creating bright palettes more often than not. Knowing this, I am able to approach creating a palette knowing that I want to lean into brighter, lighter palettes more than moody/muted. There are no right or wrong ways to pick your final colors. However, palettes that incorporate tones and brights will add more depth to the final design.

Step 5: Match Your Palette To Your Fabric Stash

Once I settle on my final palette, I can then match the hues to the fabric in my stash. Zollie also offers a PDF Kona Cotton Matching Guide (along with ones for DMC Floss and Aurifil Thread) which can further expand your fabric palette horizons. Matching the cards to fabric proved to be easier than anticipated, meaning I can immediately get started on my new stars. I designed an off center, star block that would allow me to feature my citron prints and their new counter parts. These bright, happy colored blocks became a new pillow cover to welcome summer to our home.

My quilty, fabric-loving friends, the time has finally come to use your stash. Even the oddly colored fabrics you purchased on vacation. Use the funky fabrics, the loud prints, the bold colors. The time for taking the guesswork out of the palette process is now. Your stash of fabric, felt, yarn, ribbon, thread, paint, or paper is calling to be used. Let Zollie’s Palette Scout guide you to the perfect palette and allow your fabric and creativity to shine.

About Amanda Kelly

Amanda Kelly is a collector of fabrics, all sorts of craft supplies, and the designer behind QuiltCakes. She made her first quilt in 2007 with her grandmother, and has been hooked ever since. Her quilting journey evolved into pattern design in 2020, where she continues to blend traditional blocks with modern twists that appeal to quilters of all levels.