As May draws to a close, and with the three-day holiday weekend ahead (in the States, anyway), methinks it’s a great time for a give-away!
And not just any give-away, mind you! No, no! It has to be great! And what could be better than one that feeds the Inner Thread Junkie in all of us?
Today, courtesy of Needle in a Haystack, three of you will have the opportunity to acquire six brand new spools of gorgeous silk embroidery thread in your choice of colors. It’s a terrific way to add to your thread stash, or, for newbies to silk, to start it!
If you’d like to join in, read on, my friend…
Last week, I showed you up close Sajou’s Fil au Chinois silk perle #30. You can read all about the thread here, along with some tips on how to work with it.
As a perle silk, it’s used straight off the spool in the single strand. It’s suitable for surface embroidery, needlepoint or canvas work, crazy quilting, and any application where a twisted silk perle would look great!
If you’d like to join in today’s give-away, please follow the guidelines below!
Give-Away Guidelines
Three randomly drawn participants will get to select six spools in their choice of colors from those listed here on Needle in a Haystack’s website.
This give-away is now over. Thanks for participating!
1. Leave you comment below, on today’s article on Needle ‘n Thread. If you’re unsure of how to get to the comment form, just follow this link. Comments left on other articles or sent in via email are not eligible.
2. Please make sure you fill out the comment form correctly, with a name (anonymous comments are not eligible) and a working email address in the correct lines on the comment form. If you do not own or write your own website, please leave the “website” line of the comment form blank. Please do not include any personal information (address, phone number, or email) in the large comment box, where you write your comment.
3. In your comment, discuss the following:
Let’s talk color! What’s your favorite color combination for needlework? Is there a particular color palette that grabs your eye when you look at kits? Is there a particular color palette you go back to frequently when you select your own colors for a project? What colors do you like to see best in needlework? Tell me about your color preferences!
4. The winners will be randomly drawn on Saturday, June 3rd, at 5:00 am Central Daylight Time (Kansas, USA) and announced that day. I’ll contact the winners via email as well.
That’s it! Easy peasy!
So join in before next Saturday, and before you know it, you may have six luscious new spools of silk arriving on your doorstep, looking for a happy home!
I would love to try these threads on some small needlepoint projects. My favorite colors are those of the fall, oranges, browns, greens, greys and muted rather than bright. Pastel colors can be used to blend in some shadow, but generally I gravitate toward the dark colors.
My preference often varies according to the seasons of the year or my mood, but I tend to choose blues and greens, my favorite pair to use in combination. Aqua, teal, turquoise, grass green, sky blue, there are so many possibilities! I find them soothing as well as stimulating.
I love your work and messages. My favorite color of needle work is crisp blue and white, then the greens, all the greens!
Hi
My favourite has to be the blue range. Right now, however, I am doing a lot of work in more of the turquoise range. I will be designing a studio and am planning on white with turquoise accents. thanks for this, have a great weekend
Hello Mary! Gosh! Where to start? I love color! Vibrant pinks, deep plums, and yet soft vanilla or lavenders! I do know that when I look at a print to stitch, the colors have to appeal to me first, before I think of stitching it. Of course the best thing about embroidery is that you can change the colors to suit your tastes! That makes it your own!
Thank you for another give-away, and a Happy Memorial weekend to you!
My favorite color palette is dark, rich blues and purples with some lime green, orange or yellow thrown in for contrast. Love to use these colors while stitching on 18 count canvas.
When buying thread I love rich, saturated colours, peacock blue-greens and bright through burned oranges etc – yet I always seem to end up stitching things in subtle natural shades and never having enough! I need some brightly coloured projects to dig into my stash…
Rich blues, and vivid purples catch my eyes. I am drawn to those colors more than most others. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the lighter side of things too.
My favorite color palette is shades of purple, punctuated with accent colors such as yellow, blue and red. Think of pansies in the spring, or irises. Perhaps I’ve always been partial to purple, even from childhood. But I do love these color combinations and find myself returning to these colors, from flowers to William Morris designs. I’m working on needle painting now, and use these colors in my practice designs. I hope to improve my techniques
I have always done cross stitch as a hobbie but would like to do more embroidery. Blue is my favorite color so a palette of blues would be great. Jewel tones are always nice as well. Thank you!
Sorry, spelled hobby wrong!
What color combo am I drawn too. Actually I have a couple. I love the dark jewel tones – the deep reds, blues, greens and purples. But then I am also drawn to the hot pinks, bright teals and accent them with the bright whites and black. Ok it may seem a little strange – but it works. thanks for the chance to win.
Ronda
The colors are often the reason that I want to embroider. I love taking a clean piece of fabric and watching the colors transform it. At the moment I’m working with blues – from the palest baby blue to navy blue with turquoise and teal shades thrown in for fun.
Thank you.
Kendall
Hello, I just love silk shading and am currently working on a Trish Burr design from an Inspirations magazine. The colours that always attract my attention are reds and pinks. They are so vibrant and eye catching – both elements of which are perfect for silk shading. Here’s to a long weekend of stitching!
Julie
Hi, it’s very exciting to have a chance to win here beautiful threads. I’m a newbie, and the colors I am drawn to are pastels, I love the Lavenders, pinks and blues.
Thank you Mary, sincerely,
Carol
If I choose a favorite colors I wouldn’t want the rest of them to be left out! Sometimes I’m in the mood for muted colors, sometimes I’m in the mood for Halloween colors and most of the time I’m in the mood for Christmas colors!
Lately, I’ve been leaning toward the neutrals – shades of brown and cream. Add a bit of copper in terms of beads, wire, ribbon and I’m all set!
I like jewel tones best…teals, majenta, gold and purples!
I’ve always been drawn to warm autumn colors…eggplants, nut browns, muted greens, dusty oranges, etc. Perhaps it’s because autumn is my very favorite season!
My favourite colour combination is pink, grey and white. My other favourite colours are the Christmas reds and greens and after that, blues, mauves and purples. To have the opportunity to try out these new silk threads would be wonderful!
Jenni
Hi Mary,
Most of the projects that I do have floral designs in them, so Green is always there and Reds and Yellows mostly and then Blues. After the general surface embroidery, Kasuti is my favourite type of design, which I do mostly in White and Oranges. So those would be the colors I will always have.
Manasi
I live in the Sonoran desert and am an herbalist and I really love embroidering the plants of the desert.
So I’m drawn to those desert earth shades, sage greens, Magenta and sandy beige.The colors of the painted Desert really appeal to me even the coppers and turquoise.
I’m Also very drawn to white work and red work….there’s something about the simplicity of a piece that stitched in one color that really speaks to me.
I am drawn to turquoise, green, blues that remind me of the tropics. I also wear a lot of these colors. They make me very happy.
Blues and greens always draw me. The colors of the ocean and sky, trees and forests: aquamarine, teal, seafoam, cobalt, fern, olive, and mint. The purple family comes next, with lilac, periwinkle, amethyst, eggplant.
Hi Mary,
As a visual artist, I have an extensive background working with color. In needlework, many of the same principals apply. For example, opposites on the color wheel are always complimentary, i.e. yellow/purple, red/green, orange/blue. Or, a secondary triad such as orange/purple/green are my favorites to put together. I also love the Early American color scheme of turkey red and olive green. My other secret that I learned while quilting is that a dab of orange or any melon color will work in a piece to give your work excitement. Thanks, this was a fun question to answer!! Have a wonderful weekend. <3
Until you asked the question about color, I never really thought about it. But now that I have, I tend to gravitate to fall colors i.e. gold, bronze, green etc. So I’ve decided that I need to start thinking out of my fall box especially when I see bright colors being used. I just have to figure out what I want to do with them. Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
I love working with bright, complementary colors. I’m working on a series of vegetables and love the bright orange carrots with vibrant gen leaves and st ms. The eggplant I completed had deep purple stitching with yellow accents.
I prefer to use vibrant colours. When completing projects/gifts for others, of course I use colours they would prefer. My most recent projects were using fall colours – reds, greens and yellows, that my daughter loves and that were even in her wedding bouquet.
I have just purchased a couple of patterns to make for gifts and they will be using “country/folk” colours. I am excited to get started on them.
Colour! I love them all. Recently I have been drawn to the rich and “royal colours” of Royal Crown Darby china- indigo, salmon, gold and white- and how to develop that into a piece of my own! That’s last week….now I am on mu way to the East Coast and will be inspired by the many shades of ice bergs and wildlife!
I’ve always been partial to bright, vivid colors, but lately I’ve started experimenting with muted colors (especially creams, black, browns, greens) and even some variegated threads. I’m really enjoying exploring new colors and new threads and these silks are lovely. I’d love a chance to work with them.
I LOVE color and especially bright happy colors that tend toward those in the rose to red family with accents of yellow and blue. So excited to try a new thread (to me) and hope I win! Thank you for the opportunity to participate!
I really like working in the pastel colors. Just not a dark color person. In with the pastel color I also like to bring in the gold and silver metallic. If I am using beads I use a deeper color than my thread so they stand out more. In the pastel colors like to use purple, pink, aqua, blue and naturally green and I believe you can never have enough different shades of green in your stash of thread.
I love all blues. They mellow me out. I all love black and white combos also.
My favorite color combinations just about always involve some version of blues and greens. I like lots of contrast also and probably the brighter the better! I do try to keep an open mind about color though – sometimes a “wild card” color thrown in can really set a design off.
I have magpie tendencies – I like shiny things too. The sheen on silk threads is quite tempting. I am a newbie to silk and most of the embroidery I do is free form. I always have a tree ornament project going – a little series of matryoshka dolls.
I love the colors of autumn. Golds, Greens, Oranges, Reds, Browns they call to me. I also find I love embroidering with variegated thread. The colors changing as I’m stitching just make it so enjoyable for me.
This is exciting. I love silk and I am slowly returning to needle work after years so I do not have a “real” stash to work from. Reading your emails provides not only enjoyment but also education. Thank you
I like to sew with reds, yellows, or reds with pink. I have done some table scarves in blues for my bedroom. I’ve not embroidered long but really love it. Hope to learn as I go. Thank you for your site, it has been very helpful.
Oh this is a great give away. My favorite colors for needlework are blues and greens; I like the range of shades and the way they blend. Just like they do in nature. I love peacocks and the way the blues and greens blend and shimmer. Also these colors work with many different décor choices. Also it is easy to add some other colors in for accents. Again thanks for the give away.
When I choose embroidery floss for a project which is usually a floral project, my eye immediately is drawn to shades of pink and rose and soft blues and a touch of yellow and beautiful shades of green for the leaves. I love pastels and soft heathery colors. Adding beads to a project sparkles it up a notch, too! No bold crayon box primary colors for this gal.
These shades mirror the colors in my flower gardens.
Thanks, Mary!
All shades of blue get my heart excited. I’ve been thinking of doing a hoop with fish in shades of blue. But I’m terrible at drawing and designing.
I love pinks, purples, blues and purples together!! Reminds me think of wildflowers flowing in the breeze. What is better than that?!?
Thanks – love your site & blog
Hi!!
the colors that atrack me the most are blues and purples and jewel tones.
I look forward to your articles.
Thank you!!
I love the bright primary colors! Every time I try to do something with more subdued colors, it always ends up with some red in it!
Thank you for such a great giveaway – the opportunity to try out a new silk is never to be missed! As for the question, so much depends on the project, my mood, the season and so on, but if I had to pick one it would be bright rainbow colours – red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, and possibly black to set them off. Think Victorian stained glass!
If I’m allowed several, then I would add Wedgewood blue/sage green/beige, and either red/green/gold or blue/white/silver.
Now I’m off to see if any of these colours feature in Needle in a Haystack’s catalogue 🙂
Silk thread is so shimmery. On your recommendation, I bought the newest RSN book and this thread would be perfect for a project. I love bold reds. Projects with reds and maybe touches of black and gold really catch my eye. I probably like the jewel tone families best, though I wouldn’t rule out any color family. Right now I seem to be looking at the blues and greens which remind me of the sea. Carol b
I’m doing long and short stitches from Trish Burr book and would live to embroider my emboidery (white work in colours) in this gorgeously silky thread. Colours. That is a big quesion. Any colour will do. I will incorporate in the project.
Kind regards.
I keep on going back to pink/blue/purple, so I’m making an effort to try other colours! I love turquoise and sand together, and I’m really getting into orange….
My favorite – feel good – colors are fall palates… deep reds, browns, greens, tan, purple, gold and orange! Beautiful threads and thank you!
Silk thread give away! Love the sound of it! I have never tried embroidery with silk thread, but you make it should wonderfully easy! Please draw my name! Jane Hancock
Color! What could be more fun to discuss and especially in silk. These threads make my fingers twitch and want to play.
My favorite color combos are blues with teals or blues with purples. I am trying to reach into new colors schematics with blues & turquoise with the reddish browns. Value is very important to make these combinations “work”.
Thanks Mary! I look forward to reading your blog each morning.
Blue and yellow will draw me every time – much like Monet’s cut outs, or Blue Willow China on yellow placemats. There is something so fresh and inviting about these colors. I love color and live with it – no grey house walls for me. My living room is painted in candle yellow and furniture upholstered in navy or navy and yellow prints/Stripes. My fall back is hot pink – a color of joy and fun and energy.
I thoroughly enjoy your site and you have taught me a lot. Thank you! I am new to hand embroidery but seem to be enjoying it much more than ever. As an art quilter there simple touches that can be accomplished with hand stitching. I currently use cotton thread because I see it more than others. I use some silk thread for my machine embroidery and know it is not the right thread for hand stitching. From many garage/yard sales I have accumulated some silk threads in gold and know they are special. I am seen to warm colors, purple, Orange, greens and anything that says Autumn. I will continue t learn new stitches and apply it when I can to my art quilts. Thanks again for your blog.
I would be so happy to win these beautiful silk threads! I currently do not have any silk threads and this would be a great way to start a stash. My most favorite color combination for anything decorative is autumn colors of russets,golds,burnt reds,oranges and anything autumn. Thanks for the giveaway and have a great holiday weekend!
Mary Ann, Cincinnati,Ohio
I have become enamored of orange: red orange, yellow orange, even screaming orange. I like the bright palettes of analogous colors with orange, or the striking contrast of complementary or split complementary color palettes with orange. I do love cool and serene blues and greens, appealing pinks and purples in floral designs, and even the monochromatics in whitework. But give me orange.
I have always been a blue person as far as clothing is concerned, but checking my embroidery, it’s hard to find a color I don’t like. I do like rich color and mostly how the colors fit together, to create something unique. It was the combination of colors that lead me to making the Modern Crewel, with it’s shade of blue and green. Thank you again for all the help you give.
My favorite color combination is and has been Blue and Green. Different hues of these two colors make me happy and peaceful.
When I look at the colors in my clothes closet I see light lilac, teal and peach. These are the same colors I’m drawn to when I paint with acrylics and thread. They are restful colors that make me feel content within. Love to try those silk threads for the first time, thanks.
Colour is such a person thing. Like my flower garden, I love using different shades of the same colour palette. I am drawn to blues and greens, for sure. I’ve just started embroidering and I’ve been reading about incorporating beads and metal threads into my projects. I can’t wait to work them into my designs! Blues and shiny golds – YUM!
I am a jewel tone girl. I have been through different phases in my work, but I always come back to jewel tones. The vibrance in the colors just seem to feed my gyspy soul, I suppose. First, middle, and last, they are always the colors I am drawn to. As a child, I grew up in the Episcopal church and was always mesmerized by the stain glass windows in the my own church and the cathedrals we visited over the years. Those colors in the windows are the one I most often use in my work.
Thank you for the contest and your newsletter. I do so enjoy your work.
Thanks for this great giveaway, Mary! The combination of pink and orange will reliably catch my eye every time. I love the way they spark off each other. Then you can pair them with any background colour, and it feels like a full and complete palette. It is no wonder I keep using them 😀
Lovely thread and I’d love to be the winner! Color – wow – a much debated topic! I tend to prefer bright, jewel tone colors, fresh and alive! But I also love classic combos like black and camels, navy and white. What do I tend to stitch with most – brights mostly aquas, corals, golds, limey greens but with soft white or linen colors to temper them. Maybe it comes from living in FL so many years!
I love bright colorways especially with orange or purple. I even enjoy what is popular nowadays, turqoise. I don’t have any silk threads and would love to try some.
It depends upon my mood. When upset or angry and I need a lift, I reach for vibrant reds of many intensities. I use them jarringly or in a smooth transition, depending upon my need at the moment. When I’m happier and just want a nice kick of color, I go for oranges and yellows, and work a sun in thread and fabric. For a quilt made in peaceful times, I’ll pull blues from deepest ocean to Caribbean sunlit seas and embroider calm stitches.
I love working with colour! I would have loved to be an artist, but I don’t have any talent in that direction. So, with stitching I get to play with lots of colours and work lots of fabulous designs – very fun! My very favorites are blues.
Thanks.
Mieke, Nova Scotia
Works beautifully for needlepoint.
Mary,
Thanks for the give away! The silk threads are wonderful! My favorite color combination is a turquoise, blue and green motif. I do like projects down in muted colors or one basic color such as blue. Also, I like projects with browns, tan and white.
I usually have quite a problem choosing colors for a project. I don’t have a favorite color combination, so I will find a piece of fabric that I’m love with and will take the colors from there.
All sorts of pinks and many greens and some reds, violet, magenta, gold and copper all very pretty in silk threads.
Hello Mary!
My favorite colors are every shades of purple and turquoise. I bought the “Seven Seas” thread colelction from House of Embroidery when you offered a discount through your blog, and it has the most bleautiful shades of greenish blues, all the way to a beautiful navy/deep purple.
Lately though, I’ve done a lot of projects in shades of pinks and greys though. I like it too, the grey adds a modern twist to the pinks, so that it’s girly but not sickly sweet.
Spring apple blossom pink, baby leaf green and stamen yellow.
I am drawn to blues! I have so much blue it’s silly. However, I really like the combo of turquoise, royal purple and sapphire blue. The colours really pop for me.
The new silk threads look wonderful. I do a lot of embroidered quilt blocks and the new threads should work well in the blocks. My favorite color combination are greens, browns and blues.
Color…where to start. I love whitework and always told others that I liked whitework because I didn’t have to select colors! I’m more comfortable with color now (but whitework is still a favorite). I like what I would call “muted” colors. If I’m doing a sampler, I tend to select those colors from Gentle Arts sampler threads or Weeks Dye Works. Over the years, I’ve become more at ease with changing colors where appropriate for my own subdued tastes. I have found that if I don’t care for the colors, I probably won’t finish the project!
Orange and red is a glorious combination. Or orange and purple. Or orange and turquoise. Did I mention I like orange?
I love rich, dark colors like navy, burgandy, khaki, gold, etc. Another favorite palette is turquoise in various shades with accents of rose shades. I also love strong but muted colors. I’m not much of a pastel person. Also love monochrome palettes. Just generally love color!
I love the color blue and automatically move toward that color. I tend to pair it with yellows or peaches, but of course it depends on my project.
I seem to always be drawn to the blue and green colors. There are so many variations in both of those colors that the combination is almost endless. Thank you for the great giveaway!
I love Sajou silk. I bought half a dozen spools when I was in Paris last year. Lets face it, I love anything Sajou!
Pink and Green are a favorite color combination for me. I’m also a sucker for reds – all shades of red together. It’s hard to pick one favorite combination!
Color, I love color. Looking a wall of threads makes me drool. My favorite pallette for stitching is earth tones. They work with my home. When working on painted canvases, I usually migrate the colors to those that work best for me. Embroidery projects that appeal to my are usually already in that palette.
That said, I also love the blue/yellow/acid green combination when I’m feeling in a summery mood.
I love a palette of blues so restful fresh and dutch. For something striking red and black can t be beat!
I am partial to warm colors, but the subject matter has a lot to do with color palette suitable for it. The combination of blues, teal and light lavender takes my breath away. It certainly would be an adventure to experiment with the silks.
Thank you, Esther
I like Pink and Purple with accent colors.
I can fall in love with most color combinations, but lately green and its interesting relatives have become a favorite. A gray, cream and brown scheme always grabs my attention, though I seldom work with it. I do have an interesting design now in progress which is being done with a group of dusty rose flosses in close values and hues. Color is always surprising!
My favorite colors to use are various shades of pinks, purples, and greens. I prefer bright vibrant colors for my projects. I like thread painting more than embroidery. I do like to use the silk thread for my applique projects as well. The color blue is starting to attract my attention now.
My favourite colours are cool colours, I love to use neutral/ earthy tones and then I add an splash of vibrant highlights.
My current project has a range of browns, which I thought could be boring but it is working well. I’ve added a splash of Autumn reds and golds which is really helping to lift the project.
I’m in the process of knitting a cardigan and it is a rich deep plum, I think I have a new favourite colour this winter =)
I love hand embroidery and would love to try these threads. My favourite colour scheme is the purple,green and gold
What’s your favorite color combination for needlework? Whatever suits the piece I’m working on.
Is there a particular color palette that grabs your eye when you look at kits? I don’t do kits but like the look of metallics.
Is there a particular color palette you go back to frequently when you select your own colors for a project? Rich colors.
What colors do you like to see best in needlework? Any combination that fits the project.
Tell me about your color preferences! I embroider on old photographs. Quotes mostly. Color choice relates to the idea expressed by the quote, the colors in the photo, and what will “read” when stitched in.
I have had a vague picture of a design floating in my head for a few weeks with pink, red, orange, yellow and grey. This would be a great opportunity to find a way to get this out and onto a canvas.
WOW Mary, that is a really tough question. I guess I would gravitate primarily to pinks and blues, but really I am a thread junky. I prefer a profusion of color, it is just like candy for my eyes. I can remember going into a shop in Morocco once, and it was wall to wall silk thread spools. So bright and vivid. I was just dazzled, so much so I forgot to take any pictures. I know, kick me now! The memory is pressed right into my brain. Thanks for facilitating the give-away! Hugs!
I love the green’s and blue’s, If I’m not careful I’ll use them almost exclusively. I love to work on a crazy quilt. which sort of forces me to use multiple colors for the background. The various stiches calling for different threads, textures, beads, and ribbons, only adds to the fun. I just bought a kit of a fox to try my hand at using silk, because of your article on thread, it sounded like a good addition to my work basket, well, room is probably more accurate.
I love all colors I love to embroider I love pinks and purples but any color is fine
Color!!!!! My absolute favorite topic, interest, obsession 🙂 My favorite colors are yellow, warm greens, and oranges, in that order – whether soft pastels, tones, pure & saturated hues, or rich fall colors. Luckily, I love to embroider flowers! And then comes the whole wonderful rainbow, to which I often add cyan and magenta. As a dyer, I use those two plus yellow for all my dyeing, so it hardly seems fair to leave them out of the rainbow they help create 🙂 We have long, gray winters (though heather gray makes the perfect backdrop for all colors!) where I live, 6+ months of little sunshine or color outside, so playing with color indoors keeps me reasonably sane, or so I’d like to think!
Holly
Love the colors and the threads shown.
Love red too. I like that the tread is on
A spool and you use one thread
Burgundy and olive green always seem to make an appearance in floral pieces I stitch while the rusty oranges and red ochre of the Australian landscape never fail to please me. I have recently tried to break away from this and work some small pieces in colours I wouldn’t usually choose for myself, pale green and pink, orange & khaki green, purple & blue – they all came out surprisingly well, but did not make my heart sing like the rustic, earthy, country colours above. It’s strange though, if I was asked my favourite colour I would say blue, and yet it hasn’t featured in a lot of my stitching.
I really love the jewel tones – purples, rich reds and deep blues. I am much bolder with my color choices in embroidery than in clothing or decorating. This makes it challenging sometimes to get my embroidered things to “fit” with my clothing or home decor since the colors are so much bolder. And I haven’t tried this silk thread, but it sounds wonderful!
I tend towards teals with purple both vivid and heathered. But it depends on the project. Sometimes I like a range of neutrals for a subdued look.I often like to use an overdye with solids complimenting. I have a huge stash of threads and try very hard now that I am getting older to use threads from it. There is a wide variety of colors and thread types as my tastes have changed over 45 years of stitching. It is interesting that as I age I like brighter colors both in stitching and clothing. Wonder why? What do you all think? Have you noticed changes like this in your life?
Love color! Love silk! My color palette has definitely gotten brighter recently. Lots of jewel tones–purple, pinks, turquoise, greens, yellows and even oranges. I still go back to whitework a lot, but then I begin to crave COLOR. You can’t beat the color of silk.
I am most drawn to greens. All greens.
Thanks for setting up a great give-away! I love any color, but I especially like the colors in a sunrise-oranges, turquoise, lavender, pink, yellows. These are my favorites and I love to find kits featuring these. I also like dark fall colors, reds, burgandy, greens. And don’t forget metallics-If I can add a little bling in an outline around an object, it’s all the better.
I seem to be drawn to the deep rich blues, purple and burgandy to red. The richer the color, the btter it reminds me of court during held in Queen Elzabeth I ‘s reign.
“Red and yellow and pink and green, purple and violet and blue – I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow for you.”
I would if you could hear me.
❤️
“Sing a song of joy” for all the colours of the rainbow.
But my favourites are ” the blues”!!
My favourite colour palette is purple, yellow, a touch of orange and luscious greens.
It is hard to say which is my most favorite group of colors. I love them all. At present I am working on a piece with golds and dark maroons. On another it is soft grey greens and light peach.
Thanks again Mary for another wonderful giveaway and your wonderful site. Happy Memorial Day.
Thanks for another great giveaway! What fun!
As for colors, I’m really drawn to jewel tones on black, which makes the colors fairly glow. Once in a while, I like more muted, fall, homey tones, but I always come back to the jewel tones, particularly peacock colors.
For the most part I enjoy working with bright colors. Sometimes I add red just to have a bright happy color in a project. But then once in awhile I want to make a nice peaceful piece and I’ll choose pastel colors. Guess it depends on my mood. Thank you for the chance to win. I enjoy reading your updates and learning from you.
My favorite color palette is pastel to medium jewel tones. I love this blend of colors and always have since I was young, which is to many years to mention. This blend of colors makes my spirit sing. My grandmother was a master gardener and this blend of colors reminds me so much of her gorgeous gardens. The natural blend of pinks, blues, purples, soft orange, yellows, and of coarse greens. Then there was the occasional touches of soft reds in some of the flowers. A color that I have only begun to add to my pallet of choice. I lean towards this pallet heavily in my crocheted trims, embroidery and in my quilting. I never tire of this combination. However I don’t appreciate the dark jewel tones as much. They are good for a spark of color in a piece of embroidery or quilt design. I don’t like to use a lot of dark jewel tones as it makes the work feel to heavy to me. I have been wanting to try my pallet with silk threads in a quilt I am doing in applique and embroidery. A memorial to my grandmother who is my inspiration for all my creative projects.
I love all colors – I personally lean towards Nature’s palettes of greens, blues and browns ; at the present moment I am especially interested in gradations of one color
My go to colours are purple, orange and bright green- blue. My eye inevitably takes me to this combination with shades of each to add depth and allow the brighter colours to pop.
Thanks Mary for this opportunity and your continued inspiration and sharing of techniques.
I am currently working with silk threads using a technique that is seldom used these days. I am using as many different silk threads as I can access to discover their properties and how best to stitch with them. I use the silk threads on different designs from stylized to natural and, from old to ultra modern. It would be wonderful to be able to use a brand new thread to discover its qualities and the type of design for which it would be suitable.
Colors: That turquoise is totally suitable as the prime focus for a design that is cooking in my head. The extra colors for this design are the bright colors worn in Africa. I love colors but have no specific one I choose to work in. I just”love color” in its multiplicity of combinations.
Of course, I would love the opportunity to include this new silk perle thread.
I love jewel tones!
I love doing needlework with tone on tone color. Not exactly the same because I want it ti show but something that will be somewhat darker or lighter just to make a difference. I love looking at green and blues. I used to pick one color or another which I thinking I did not have it and realizing, once I got home, that it was already in my stash. So eventually I bought all the colours and now, I just need to get floss when I run out (bringing the numbers with me when I go to the store). I also very much like the variegated threads and the results it gives. I have never worked with silk thread. I guess it frightens me a little & more than often, I use coton floss or pearl coton which is more accessible in regular stores. I live in the middle of nowhere and when I go in a needlework store (may be 1-2 per year), I directly go to the thread section. It attracts me like a magnets.
Right now I’m in a more subdued palette mood – caramel, rust, navy blues and celery greens sparked with spice and russets.
Color, color, color! The ones I seem to be pulled towards are the aquas, teals, mauves and pinks. They just seem to go together so well and there are so many different variations of intensity. Bring them on!
My color palette is yellow, orange and red. I like strong bold colors in several shades. Flowers with these colors are most will grab my attention as well as sunsets and sky’s using these colors.
I love all colors – I personally lean towards Nature’s palettes of greens, blues and browns ; at the present moment I am especially interested in gradations of one color and studying nature’s use of it
I just walked around my house and found several pieces in shades of rose and shades of yellow-green.
My favorite color ways are the fall colors. They are so rich and autumn is my favorite season. But the pieces that catch my eye are often different shades of the same color. I just love them too.
Hi Mary, My grandson asked what is my favorite color the other day, and I told him I love all colors! Right now working on a spring crazy quilt, so at this moment in time, I’m loving the spring colors! Happy holidays to all.
As I fiber artist, I do embellishment of quilts, fabric pins, unquilted fabric wrapped wallhangings, etc. My color palette is often earth colors, especially for landscape pieces. However, I am going more contemporary is my designs, with lime green, purple and turquoise my current favorites. Having used some silk threads and reading about Mary’s insights , I would love to try this particular thread!
Hi Mary,
My favorite colors are mute colors. We need every colors when we stitch. For me favorite could change.Today, I like periwinkle. But for me it is easier to go with the colors I do not like yellow-brown, beige, but sometime we have to use it.
Thank you very much,
Nicole
The honey, leopard and olive would be wonderful to use as gimp in my bobbin lace.
I have used silk for applique for several years and only just started using it for embroidery. It is great to hear of a source for perlee.
Color choices are often greens and vibrant reds, purple and gold for flowers.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your work and expertise!!! Always look forward to opening up your newsletters!!! Your monograms are THE BEST!!!!
O my,it is hard to choose as to favorite colors.to me it would depend on the project and who i am giving this project to. I enjoy shades of purple. Many thanks for this give away
In embroidery, as in everything else, I gravitate towards bright/saturated colors – it used to be mostly cool, but I’ve been warming towards fire-colors recently. (With the continued exception of yellow, except in combinations with orange-and-red…)
I always drift to the warm greens. Just like the variety of spring leaves on all these N Texas trees today. But then I am equally partial to all the pumpkin colors fir fall stitchery. I have never used silk so this would be a win win
Depends on my project but I am always drawn to rich blues, greens and purples.
My next project for my Grandson due in June will be done is this colour palette with a splash of something bright maybe orange…
Thank you so much for all your tips, tricks, ideas and give-away’s. I look forward to receiving each and every email from you.
Cheers.
I love all colours but am drawn to shades of pink for flowers or any colour that I think would make a beautiful flower.
My color choices tend to follow those in traditional Persian carpets: deep reds, deep blues, turquoise, golds, and beiges or browns. And let’s not forget the greens. These sound like blary jewel tones, but nestled together they settle in and make for a rich harmony.
Paula
Oh.. how I love silk threads! I really do believe that using silk threads has made me somewhat of a ‘silk snob ‘ – but i don’t care! There is just something so decadent about being able to complete an entire project in silk. They take me to my happy place!
And color palette? …. why all the colors in this big beautiful world of course! Jewel tones, icy blues, soft pastels, gorgeous greens…i could continue, but I think you take my meaning…i just love color…
So thank you, once again, for a wonderful give away , which I would dearly love to win! Amanda
I recently went through my collection of embroidered items, mostly vintage. Certainly, there are no bad colors! But yes, there are less pleasing color combinations.
I found that a combination of cool colors (usually blues, greens) and warm colors (reds, gold, yellows) was usually most pleasing to the eye.
Thank you for the opportunity to enter this contest.
Spring colors are my absolute favorites. I love turquoise and coral together – they feel both happy and relaxing!
White work always catches my eye, but lately, I have been seduced by the colour combo of turquoise and lime green, although I do love vibrant, royal colours too. I’ve been gathering threads in the turquoise and lime green range for a project I have planned. Gee, some silk threads in those colours would work perfectly! Thanks for the chance to win, and have a wonderful long weekend!
I’m very cautious with color. It’s either so good, or so bad. Light colors are safest, but I love Cecil Facile’s crazy color combinations – wonder what her formula is. I love the clean look of Karen Ruane’s contemporary embroidary – she uses standard techniques in unsual ways with a clean color palette. Trying bring myself to create the thread palette exercises from Karen Barbe’s Color Confident Stitching.
Would be ever so happy to try out these new silk threads on my color journey.
I love all colors. My favorite color is blue and I like the combination of blue and white. Most everything I have done is based in blue but I love to add jewel tones to my work, too.
When I stitch it is always, always a combination of purples, pinks and greens……and the same colours draw me when I shop for clothes too.
I am a bright colour girl. I love red, yellow and greens together or pink, purple and lime green together. I also love white but with one splash of colour. I love silk shading and so some colours have to be gradual to achieve realistic shading but I still like strong colours.
Ooh. I love this type of thread and hope to win. I love bright colors and tend to gravitate to bright reds/ blues, but then find myself drawn to stitching colors of the sea and shells and realize… I love them all. Brights, pastels and I’m even beginning to warm up to green and purple shades I used to shun!
Have never used silk thread. Am anxious to try it. Hope I win!!’
I just love purple and green. All shades of purple from deep rich blue purple to the most pastel of lavender. Red purple or what others may call maroon to fuchsia. That with a yellow green or light green just screams spring to me. Like the lilacs in bloom it is just so beautiful.
I love jewel tones. I love colored thread and then, drip a bit of coffee or tea. I like everything I create to look like it’s very old and a family heirloom.
I love purple any purple, the one that lean towards red as in fushcia and the ones that lean to the blues. Then mix in some blues and greens and you have the perfect pallet. Than you have to add touches of all the other colours for emphasis and sparkle. Colour can be so exciting. I hope I win these threads. They would be so fun to work with.
Ricky
My favorite color palette is white to tan to gray – monochromatic. Otherwise I love anything green!!!
I like all colors so it is hard to choose. Bright citrus, lemon, lime and orange is cheery and great for kitchens. Fall colors work wonderful too-scarlet, gold, gray green, orange. The mix of colors that always catches my eye would be purples, greens and ivory. I find it very relaxing.
My absolute favorite color is red and all shades of pink. A lot of red in any project catches my eye, but in general I’m drawn to anything with the combination of rose pink, lighter pink, an olive green, with some brown thrown in. Of course, those are perfect colors for a flower and flowers are the motifs that I’m drawn to. I’ve seen some motifs that I wonder why anyone would want to stitch them, but they do. I also love combos of blues, greens and turquoise with of course a touch of pink thrown in. I would actually like to make a quilt with those colors. But hand stitching goes with reds/pinks every time!
My personal favorite colors to work with are traditional Williamsburg colors. However, lately I find myself drawn to coastal turquoise and tropical color palettes for embroidery. Color is such a vital part of life and art. It’s difficult to narrow it down. Thanks so much for the giveaway!
I. Fell. In. LOVE! These threads need a home and I volunteer!
I see peacocks, pink flamingos and all sorts of flowers and wreaths. Oh, and maybe a bell pull and mandala, just for the fun of it!
Threadplay is my favorite pastime and you should see my fabrics! Ok, the room is a mess and need some reorganization before I can show it to you, but I know you’d understand. Kansas to Maryland isn’t so far to escort those babies to me! please! And Thanks. A LOT!
Every time I add to my thread collection I have to talk my self out of getting more blues and yellows. Those are the colors I gravitate towards.
Blues are gorgeous in silk. The sheen enhances the color. I love to combine warm blues (teal) with cool blues (cobalt).
Pale pinks progressively morphing into plummy mauves… 🙂
I would love to explore working with these beautiful silks!
As an artist all color excites me and I usually design my own projects, so the colors are mostly picked for the person I’m making the project for. Personally I do tend to gravitate toward softer color palettes in blues, greens and purples, but I love working in bright shades of yellow, orange and gold as well.
I always enjoy your articles!
Joan P.
Hi
I like bold colors! Autum colors seem to brighten my world. Rich gold, copper, rust, yellows with splashes of greens. Also bright pinks and reds.
Reading your blog has spurred my interest in trying new threads. Silks are becoming my favorite. Maybe I will turn into a thread junkie too.
I’m very much ‘naturals’ kind of person, very much sticking to creams and browns, or pastels, never anything really vibrant, then I needed to do a ruby wedding anniversary, and I’d got a pattern for a golden wedding and had to change the colours. I hate to admit it, but I think I stumbled on the combination, rather than carefully thinking it out and trying the colours on a practice piece… and it included a bright red, along with a rather bright olive green in amongst the colour combination and it looked absolutely stunning! I have a soft spot for the turquoise shades. If choosing a kit, I try and vary it and force myself away from the natural colours now and again. One I did was a pale blue-grey with pink shades amongst them which surprised everybody, as that isn’t a colour combination I would choose normally. I have now forced myself to go to the really bright, in your face combination just to see what it looks like and go right out of my comfort zone. The autumnal owl in Trish Burr’s ‘Whitework With Colour’ book I absolutely adore BUT….. I have to say I also loved the bright one as well, so I think I’m coming around. I just love it at classes when we’re all doing the same design and have to choose our own colours, because they all look so different when placed next to one another, and you learn about colour choice by looking at what people have done. I’m definitely an autumnal girl – but you can get some glorious golds and reds in autumn as well as the browns,- with an occasional splash to my turquoises!!
Right now I am drawn to black as the embroidery background. Today I would love to do colorful flowers on black as in Still Life with Flowers in Inspirations #89 by Helen Ericsson. My other color scheme favorite is shades of taupe, gold, and cream on black linen, a big woven basket with long curly fern looking leaves and round abstract flowers. Thanks for your great posts and love the opportunities to win free goodies.
Colours that first attract my eyes are all shades of turquoise, blue and light greens. And that goes for embroidery, buying clothes and choosing yarns for knitting as well. And of course if it is silk, the shimmering adds to the attraction. Don’t know why….. Hope I am the happy winner. Have a good day.
I love vibrant colors, loud colors but rich colors. Brights Blues and deep red are my favs, but then i love glitter too so silver and gold metallic too, so my color palette is what i call jewel tones and rainbow brights with lots of metalic sheen…. your article just awhile ago on gold work was stunning pics.
thx Karen Powell kep@nbnet.nb.ca
Hello,
My favorite color is PURPLE! Everything and every shade of purple. My current project is a Painted Bunting bird in a garden of purple wildflowers.
Have a happy and safe weekend!
Ida Norred
Wow, colors… I love them all. My favorite combination would be bright orange, pick, green and yellow. Bright thinks get me attention. I’ve never sewn with silk embroidery thread …but I sure like to try.
Thanks so much for always giving us the best embroidery info out there.
I’m always drawn to turquoise and olive green; pink, orange and green; bright yellow and sky blue. These color combinations always make me happy.
My favorite colors for embroidery are jewel tones–sapphire, emerald, ruby, amethyst, etc. Unless it’s for something I wear, then I like pinks and other pastels.
I would love to try these threads. I have not done much stitching with silks. My favorite color combinations is mixing blues, greens and purples of varying shades.
Needle in a Haystack is my local needlework store. “Local” means I have to drive two hours to get there since only Joanne’s is left in my area and other than floss and a few needles they can’t be considered a needlework store. There used to be several but they have closed. Needle in a Haystack is worth the drive though since they have Everything for needle needs and the staff are wonderful.
Color palettes? My favorites are sky colors ranging from a glorious sunset to a somber range of grey blues. Blue is my favorite color, and any project with a good range of blues always catches my eye. I also like the French blue and yellow combinations-so cheerful! I lately worked on a project with pinks and browns that I also like-a lot- so I’m not locked into one palette. I do like working with silk though, in any color!
I tend to choose traditional colors( reds, blues, greens, yellows, neutrals). And , sometimes an off color. These work in any room of my home and I never tire of them. I avoid “trends” at all costs!
Mary Ingram
My favorite color palette for needlework is definitely in earth tones. I use a lot of greens, browns, oranges and yellows. These threads would be great fun to use on a seasonal piece that I could hang on my wall. Love that idea!
Wow! Where to start with favourite colours? Muted reds and oranges for fall or vibrant pinks and greens for springs? Maybe soft whites and blues for winter? So hard to choose! Thanks for this give away and have a great weekend!
I’m relatively new to embroidery projects and have dabbled so far. The closest I’ve come to using silk would be the satin DMC floss.
Having picked colors for lots of quilt projects, my other passion, my eye is always drawn to greens; especially teal, aqua and the entire blue/green, green/blue world. Those colors combined with darker shades of blue, green or even purples makes my mouth water. Those color combos just make me feel peaceful.
I appreciate the effort you put in to your blog and web postings. Thank you and thanks also for the give-away opportunities.
Yummy threads!
Silk thread sounds glorious!! As a newbie this would be a welcome addition to my tiny stash. I started teaching myself embroidery because I love flowers and see so many beautiful works with florals online. I am always drawn to pinks, purples, whites and greens… gorgeous feminine, fresh and spring like colours just bring a smile to my face. Thank you for your blog and all it has taught me so far!
I would go for the blues and the mauves, … they have their own understated elegance. And green is my favorite color, I feel it adds beauty and vibrancy to the piece.
Would love to try this silk thread!
I would love to win these threads! My favorite colors are colors used in antique samplers. I love all things needlework!!
I love pastel colors. I have a piece of Hardanger done in an overdue of blue and pink that I just adore. Pastel green and yellow catch my eyes also. I love flamingos so bright pink with orange gives me delight also.
I’ve always wanted to try silk embroidery but haven’t been able to pay the price for them. I love the luscious sheen of the silk. As for colors, think English Gardens: greens, yellows, pinks and blues all mixed up into a gorgeous, flamboyant garden. No neatly trimmed, standing in a row gardens for me. I also like to mix geometrics into my work, for instance a blue and white checked table cloth with a vase of flowers sitting ouon it.
Thanks for this opportunity.
My favorite color is blue. While I really enjoy monochromatic schemes, I think the blues combine really well with white for a bright combination, or black for a deeper, richer combination.
Thanks for the opportunity.
In crazy quilting, I find myself frequently drawn back to the “jewels on black” color scheme. It feels very antique, and the saturated colors against the black fabric patches (usually fabrics with various textures) is just so satisfying! But I also love white and cream colored fabric with pastel stitching…
I am a magpie for strong colors.
I tend to work monochrome or severely restricted color sets, mostly in counted styles, blackwork, voided styles with various backgrounds, and other historical or historically based or inspired types of work. Therefore I tend to go for strong contrast in order to magnify the delicacy or intricacy of the very simple geometrical stitching: black on bleached white ground; navy on cream ground; deep crimson on ecru or palest celadon hint ground.
Occasionally I do a work with two or three colors, and either use values “washed down” from my primary ( two or three shades of the red, for example). Sometimes I do a two or three tone with three strong colors that contrast strongly with the ground, but are equivalent in intensity or value (black with arterial red on white ground).
I have to admit that I am not a fan of pastels or faded colors at all, and my eye tends to slip past works done in those hues without anchoring any interest in the actual virtuosity or techniques displayed.
Well, I’m working on a big rosey pink elephant that I love. I’m also working on a rust and green kimono as well as Fall Harvest by Hazel B. Which I consider to beautiful neutrals. All are very different color pallets, but I love them all. I think maybe the colors I’m drawn to depends on my mood for the day. I love white work, so I guess that means I’m drawn to texture as much as anything.
These silk colors are all so beautiful it would be hard to pick just one. If I had the room I would have at least one of every color available.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend everyone!
Beautiful threads! Thanks for the offer. Regarding color favs: I am an avid perennial gardener and have learned over the years that depending on the colors and textures of foliage carries my beds through all the comings and goings of the flowers. I take real delight in putting yellows/golds/coppers, and red/burgundies of beautiful leaves with the various shades of green that are available in the plant world. And throw in some silvery blues and whites here and there to rest the eyes. It works with my needlework, too. Certainly not a limiting color palette.
I don’t know what it is about silk threads ( wool also) but I can’t get enough of them . These are beautiful . I would love to win. Thanks for the chance
Currently I am working with blacks and greys (metalic) threads. A friend of my daughter lovese to draw and she has completed a simple bat design that I thought would look good in gold work using using modern coloured wire.
However I am drawn to Cottage garden colourways when I am looking at kits or bright reds (I love poppy’s). I have come to the conclusion that I do tend to stick to a range of colours but am being stretched working on kits that are teaching me traditional methods – goldwork and crewel embroidery techniques.
Sheila
The colors I love the most are Autumn colors and bright neon colors.
Those color combinations catch my eye every time.
I like mainly classical color. My first choice for my cloth is black, grey, white and red. But for embroidery I like all the colors.
I like red and as long as a project has red in it I like and get along fine. Not just red but all its different shades along with pink and maroon, rose , all their different shades. It does not have to be a dominant color just has to be somewhere in the project and I am happy. Reds are certainly my color.
I would love to try the new threads. My favorite color combination is red/beigish brown /green. I tend to pick darker colors for my needlework.
This is hard question because I think my preferences change depending on the type of project–but I think I prefer jewel tone palettes. I love stumpwork and gold work and I am always drawn to colors like burgundy, purple, gold, pearl, sapphire and emerald. For example—your pomegranate project from a while back was one of my most favorite–in large part due to the depth of the colors—particularly the reds. There is something just so beautiful about the richness of those colors for me.
Ask about color & I am there! I love color. Bright colors grab me & I love interesting combinations. Shaded blues & reds are stunning. As a Leo, yellows, oranges & golds always attract me. I find that I tend to choose projects by the colors that are shown – the brighter the better. I took an applique class from Sharon Schamber that combines appliqueing with silk thread embroidery and would love to try these new threads.
For me picking out colors can be the hardest part of a project. I tend to group them in seasons. Spring colors, Fall colors, etc. My next project I’m thinking of going with various shades of the same color (green or blue) for something different. Happy Memorial Day weekend for those in the States!
Thank you Mary for sharing your beautiful work and wisdom!
Since I am a natural dyer, my favorite silk colors are shades of white, and ivory. I use indigo, madder, weld, walnuts and other flowers, leaves and bark to create my own palette on plain silk thread. Thanks so much for this exciting chance to win such treasures!
What’s your favorite color combination for needlework? Jewel tones seem to be my favorite go to colors. I like the richness of these colors: Cobalt blue, ruby red, emerald green. Oh and let’s not forget about Gold, silver, copper!!
Is there a particular color palette that grabs your eye when you look at kits? Again it’s Jewel tones or Medieval Tapestry hues. Always loved history and the needlework that came out of those times.
Barbara
Mary,
I am in love with flowers… all kinds really, all the beautiful colors and the infinite variety! From deep pink to purple-violet, buttercup yellow, cornflower blue, geranium red and daisy white. And then you can’t forget to add foliage – from deep fern green to bright leaf green to the nearly chartreuse green of new stems. From a bunch of wildflowers to a formal arrangement of roses and everything in between, I will never tire of flowers and all the ways they awaken my creativity. Thank you for the opportunity to win this lovely thread.
Warm regards,
Ruth L
While you can never go wrong with black and white with a touch of red. They are my go to colors. But the brighter the better for me. I like colors that make people happy 🙂 Looking at Needle In A Haystacks web site, I would have to choose.. white, black, red, celadon, bon bon and lime. Thanks for a wonderful giveaway.
Generally I like the cool colors, violets, blues, and greens, but since I’m always drawn to floral designs some warmer colors are often included. I can’t use analogous colors for everything, now can I?
The color combination I always go back to is a mix of hues of red and green. Specifically, either the combo of teal and coral or of olive green and burgundy are what i use the most. Also light gray, yellow, and teal look very good together!
Lately I gravitate from blues to violets on the colour wheel, but when I look back over the ( many) years, there were often touches of those colours in most projects.i have never worked with silk threads before so it would be a new adventure.
Oh je suis une accroc des fils et de plus en plus lorsqu’il s’agit de soie …
Je m’en sert pour de la dentelle au fuseau, différentes broderie: hardanger, broderie d’ombre, petit points etc ..
La douceur et la brillance de la soie me fascine.
Si je suis l’heureuse gagnante d’un de vos 3 tirages, la gamme de mes couleurs préférées serait : dans la palette de couleurs de lilas en direction de mauve ou bien dans une palette de bleus . Je me souhaite de la chance pour votre magnifique offre, et bravo au commanditaire. Micheline
I’m always drawn to a soft color palette. Anything with creams, pinks and green always grab my attention .
I particularly like the combination of various shades of rose pink (a fairly muted “old rose”) with greens, and a pop of golden yellow – particularly for crewel work flowers.
Oh, what difficult questions! Instead of favorite colors, it’s easier to mention colors I don’t usually work with….orange and purple, although peach and mauve are lovely. Icy pastels and soft colors taken from Nature’s palette are pleasing. Narrowing choices even more, soft pinks and greens are at the top of the list. They are an especially nice combination for needlework, as seen through my eyes.
Thank you for the interest and enjoyment you send our way.
I have not used silk threads but would love to try them. It is hard to choose one color pallets as I like most colors. I am drawn to designs that use many colors. I do like red work done in all red or in blue.
I love flowers. My pallet is soft colors – peaches and yellow with greens and soft blues and lavender. I have to force myself to use bits of darks to make my pieces pop. I like warm flowers with cool leaves but again I have to force myself to make sure I add some warm leaves here and there.
I love luscious colors — beautiful saturated jewels — and am also drawn like a magnet to soft tones. When those two types of color combine, as in these beautiful silks, you just want to stroke them. I’ve been doing needlework (mostly quilting and fabric collage) for a long time, but am new to embroidery and enjoying it a lot. Thank you for all the instruction on your website — it’s inspirational!
I love the blues and rich jewel tones. They relax me. Second favorite would be the gold black and white look. I like some contrast. Be bold!!!!!
I tend to like blues and softer shades, but then add a bright for accents somewhere in the project for a pop of color
Thank you for the give away. I always gravitate to the blue family. Periwinkle, aqua, teal. Lately bright lime green has become a favorite too.
I’m a pink person. Even my grandsons know, “Nana likes pink.” Having said that, I realize that recent projects tend more toward jewel tones with more purples than pinks. Rich greens and blues mixed in. Those colors will catch my eye every time.
Hi Mary,
As I get older, I find the colors that draw me are more saturated and darker. Currently one of my favorite color combinations consists of turquoise, copper, malachite, sand, and small amounts of black for balance. I have several projects with this color palette and I just realized I probably need to change it up! Thanks for another wonderful giveaway on a great website!
Jenny
I love floral colors…pinks, purples, yellow, greens (leaves). I am working in my mind right now on a miniature quilt in cream with purple silk appliqué and embroidered flowers! Silk threads would make it absolutely perfect!
Hi Mary
My favorite color combination depends on the season. In Winter I long for soft pastels especially apple green and pink. In Spring I prefer to stitch with bright colors especially jewel tones. And in Summer I go to the autumn shades of oroange, rust, olives and brown. In the fall I usually work in red and green combo of Christmas. Do not really like the barreness of dreary winter. On days like that, I catch up on all my wonderful colors in all my UFO’s
I haven’t tried silk threads yet but am game to! I love teal, brown and oranges together. Halloween colours of bright orange, black and purple are fun too. I am just about to put a summer project together with some taupes, and pale pink, peach, pale green and pale rusts so should be pretty!
I love earth tones and natural flower colors.
I love coral, peach, peachy pink, and apricot colors mixed with greens that tend toward the yellow rather than blue tones. I made my first applique quilt in these colors instead of the original primary colors introduced in the class I was taking. They just appeal to me. My bedroom is done in these tones to contrast with the heavy oak mission furniture. These make me feel comfortable, cradled. and feminine. I would choose threads to go with these colors. OHhhh, I would love to win.
We are so fortunate to have such a rich, wide variety of color to choose from. I love perusing the various threads at my LNS. Many factors come into play when choosing colors for a project — the project itself (landscape, abstract, geometric, etc.), where it’s going to be displayed, and most of all, what is pleasing to my eyes. I love vivid gemstone colors as well as soft, antique colors. I just spent 15 minutes yesterday at my LNS looking for just the right threads for a canvas-work mat border around my bargello piece and had to restrain myself not to come home with more threads to add to my stash! I would love to add some of these silk threads to my stash! Thank you, Mary for introducing us to so many new needlework threads, fabrics, tools, kits and designs!
Blues and greens – the sky and trees – highlighted with rose and yellow tones.
Have a great weekend Mary!!
If it’s for a particular someone I try to match décor, favorite colors, or nursery colors. If it’s sampler for practicing a stitch or stitches, or something for me, I tend to use my favorite colors. Those then to be dark blues, dark purples, grays, white and black.
If I am not looking for a project for a particular holiday or season, I find that I select projects that use aqua and purple colors. A little lime green adds interest.
I love color and threads and silks! Right now my favourite colons are blues, auqas, turquoise, purples and greens. So I choose these colors in my embroidery because they are my favourite. Oh and I like gold too!
My favorite color combination is pastel brights-yellow, blue, turquoise, pink, lavender, peach. These silk threads would be fun to try. Thank you for the opportunity to win these gorgeous threads.
Well, well, what a large subject ! I love vibrant colors for my needlework, as for my life in general. I’m wearing vibrant colors, so I stitch in vibrant colors : emerald green, rich pink, cherry red, sunflower yellow, turquoise blue.
And thank you for this give-away offers, for the 3 who’ll be lucky to be picked up.
Color! I love this discussion.
I’m mostly drawn to historical projects so it depends on what I’m working on. But overall I love rich , saturated and sparkly.
What beautiful threads! Currently I am into blues, go figure – colors change for me with the seasons or the year or a whim! I think I would experiment more with color if I had a place I could go, see, touch, feel. I am very fortunate to have access to your site and others who do offer pictures, but still hard to choose color, texture, etc. from this flat screen, so I rely mostly on other folks and their color choices and what looks good on the screen!
Mary Kay from Montana
My favorite color combination is a subtle orange, like a peach color mixed with a subtle aqua…..soothing combination. I almost always put these colors in my pieces. I also like red and black for drama. I have one project to complete with pinks, reds and peach…sounds bad but is beautiful together. Never have worked with silk threads and hope to add those to my supplies. Thanks.
I am drawn to vivid pastels. Right now I am working on table cloth that is done in a strong, not dark nor insipid – just strong turquoise. It is absolutely beautiful. I found the tablecloth while going through my mother’s things after she passed away. I picked the thread color to coordinate with my mother-in-law’s china – now I can honor both mothers on special occasions when they are especially missed. I have been working on this tablecloth for three years. I hope to finish it by next Mother’s Day.
I always seem to come back to blues and greens.
I always gravitate to the purples and lavenders. That is what so many of my garments
have sprigs of lavender embroidery on them.
My favorite color combination would be teal(aqua), purple and gold.
When looking at kits (which i don’t normally purchase) I am more concerned with the design than the colors.
Thank you for the chance to win. Have never tried silk and would like to.
My favorite colors combinations are anything but the orange combo. Love blues, reds, pinks. Think the background fabric has a huge influence on your colors. A friend and I both did Home Sweet Home. Mine was in natural linen and hers in white linen. The same threads looked much brighter on her white where mine looked more subdued with the natural background.
Love your site, my favorite colors seem to be blues and teals but love a bright pop of color here and there. I seem to follow the color charts when I first do a project, it makes it a little easier to follow if it is a new stitch design. Then I will do more and go crazy with color. Love doing a design with several of the same flower or design and I can see the different colors against each other.
The stitching you have on your site is gorgeous, way beyond my skill level but we all start somewhere. I enjoy trying new threads for different effects, have been stuck on redwork for a while but want to try some of the other styles. I have not used silk thread but would love to try it, thanks for the chance to win.
I lean towards muted colors with just a pop of color to draw the eye. The colors depend on the subject of the piece – florals, I follow nature’s colors. Abstract can be vivid and bold.
Reds! Lots of reds with orange and pink and purple. No, turquoise! Turquoise with copper and black with a pop of coral. Wait! Green–the olive family, the pine family, the yellowy-greens. Holy cow! I forgot the entire yellow range from lovely rich brown through to orange and yellow and cream. No, Blue! Yummy blue! Deep navy blue and its tinted family all the way to ice blue and then back again in shades. Ooops. Guess I’m a color junkie.
Again and again, I find myself drawn to greens/blues/dark browns – the colors of our New England forests and sky. I am trying to break out by using other colors, including (gasp) oranges and yellows, that I associate with Florida and the Caribbean.
Oooh, thanks for the chance to win! I have been wanting to try silk since I read an earlier post of yours about it.
I constantly come back to the combination of browns and corals. I try very hard to break free of that but I just always come back to it. I seem to have less confidence when I try other color combinations unless a pattern specifically directs me to other choices.
If using a pattern, I am drawn to “dusty” or “earthy” shades of blues, reds, and purples rather than bold and bright, or pastel, or dark.
I like pinks, greens and blues. But the theme of the project is what drives my color picking. For example, I may pick beige tones for monograms. Thank you!
The color combinations that catch my eye are pink and green. Usually that means a floral motif of some kind. After that I go for blues.
Mary, as another fiberholic, I’m always interested in trying a new thread, and silk — how luscious. Thanks for another opportunity at expanding my range.
As far as colors — I love rich jewel tones rather than pastels, and prefer cool colors to warm ones. Blues, purples and rose-pinks, but also peacock-y tones. Recently I’ve kitted up some projects looking at turquoise and copper. Looked at a color wheel, and now I understand why they are often paired. Color is so personal. When I learned to “think beyond the chart” and make changes, it opened up many new possibilities, and I encourage others to do the same. I’ve been pleased how often others like the color schemes I put together.
(I’m also looking forward to your ‘kaleidoscope’ series.) –Joanne
My favorite color pallettes in embroidery tend to be palletes of a certain shade – a range of blues for example. I tend to like jewel tones and striking colors and anything with goldwork!
Hi Mary
I am very new to embroidery. I signed up for a stitch sampler class to do with my eleven year old granddaughter Pearl. We are loving it. As far as color choices I seem to gravitate towards brighter spring colors. I love spring with all the spectacular new blossoms on the trees, the tulips, the fresh ground covers, the daffodils, and all the trees waking up in all their splendid greenery. So greens and yellows, pinks, reds, oranges, purples and periwinkle blues seem to be my color choices so far. As I progress in embroidery skills I hope to do more advanced projects that would do justice to the gorgeous threads you offer in this giveaway. Thank you Mary for this opportunity and for all of your shared knowledge and skills.
Oh my color…the hardest element that a needle worker can have to deal with. I always head toward Chinese reds, the full palette. They seem to go well with celadon greens, Chinese yellow and the clear Chines blues that appear in pottery. Our home has Asian influences and there colors just seem to fall into place.
I believe it was Botticelli that said when asked about appropriate colors to use , ” Give me mud and I will make it look like the skin of Venus providing that I can put whatever color I want next to it.”
This is a favorite subject of mine, it is also one of the most difficult to teach.
I love the colors combination of yellow, green, pink, and purple. Number 5033 in your Cosmos line. I just finished sewing the rug on the “Girl’s Getaway” and loved that combination of colors. I am going to have to try it on other projects.
As I grow older I am finding a lot of color is much more of a pleasure than monochromatic in my earlier stitching color enjoyment. I am heavily involved with whitework with color and finding especially with this Technic of surface embroidery color is a delight!!!! Something very new to me. Silk is my thread of preference, but I also use a good amount of cotton thread, mainly because of a wider range of colors readily available. Also, after finding and using an Aficot, am amazed at the look of “burnished” cotton……..could it be silk? Sometimes it is difficult to tell when cotton is burnished.
I would like to win the new colors. I am retiring this summer and intend to use a lot of time doing needlework.
What colour combinations I like best in embroidery? Wow, difficult question. I guess it depends a lot on my mood. I love blues and purples, but reds and oranges too. Or a classic combination for fall: orange, brown and green. Or think spring: violets and light greens. How about I tell you which colour I like the least? That’s bright yellow. I am fine with a golden yellow, though :)!
This silk thread looks so luscious! I can hardly wait to try it. It will be fun to try for cast-on flowers, and it will make plump little bullion roses.
When I select colors, I like to look for bright flower-like colors. One of my favorites is the bright pinks one sees on holly-hocks, or I love the bright blue-purple of delphiniums. I think my favorite combination is looking for those purple and blue shades that will blend well together to give my flower stitching some dimension.
Thread shades of Teal just send me happily to an embroidery project! When I look at teal…I squeal…yippie!
How can one possibly have a favourite when there are so many fabulous colour combinations? I do use Trish Burr’s “Colour Confidence” book for suggestions for needlework and Joen Wolfram’s Colour Tool for choosing quilting fabrics. I love the whole gamut of colours.
I would love to try these beautiful threads. My favorite color combo is anything in jewel tones, with metallic accents. Thank you for all you do to keep needlework thriving. Sincerely, Bobbie
I love smocking with silk floss and have never tried smocking with silk pearls #30. I recently bought some purple cotton sateen so my color choices would go perfectly with it
After many years I have recently gotten back into hand embroidery of all types. I am currently working on my thread painting skills and thoroughly enjoying the process. I am most attracted to reds, pinks, an also many shades of blue.
Ah, colors! I recently got “Color Confident Stitching,” which you reviewed here, and I love it. Part of the reason is that I always seem to gravitate to a similar palette (soft greens, grays, and peaches) and I want to branch out a bit. But I lack the Confidence! So I’m working on some combinations that stay true to my personality but also add a little oomph. Having a lot of fun. Thanks, Mary!
Mary. That is NOT an “easy peasy” question to answer!! 😉
That or I must be fickle or an amateur or really sanguine because I simply have no favorites…My loves change with the seasons and the projects! Right now, it’s gold. Give me gold, or give me death. Wow, the stuff is stunning. But not too long ago it was “White work or bust”…
Great give away, and many thanks!
I love colors in the blue/green/turquoise range. Those colors always seem to grab my eyes! But I can easily be persuaded to try bolder, brighter, darker or softer colors – ohhhh that’s the beauty of having wonderful threads available!
Forgot to add my color choices:
213 violet
518 pink
724 spring
First, thank you for the chance to win this scrumptious thread. As I wipe the drool from my chin, I think about color. My favorite color is green, and my wonderful husband’s favorite color is red. I hear you thinking – “Their house must look like a Christmas explosion” . No thank heaven. it does not. As we grow older we may start to resemble the iconic duo (yes his belly does shake when he laughs and he loves cookies), but my favorite shade of green is more of a forest green. We also love the yellows and golden colors.
My favorite color combination is pink, green, and purple. I really like red work style embroidery. So I tend to use only one color at a time. When I am looking at kits, I tend towards combinations of cool colors. But I like the bright vivid cool colors more than the pastels. When I select colors for my own projects their will always be a shade of pink and green. The needlework pattern should match the theme. Even though I do lean towards warm colors, it would look silly to do a civil war theme pattern in cool colors. To do a tropical theme in colors used for civil war theme would be a sad piece of art and visa versa. The color orange on the color wheel seldom gets used by me, I only have the color orange because sometimes I need to blend it with the sun. Funny how some colors are happy for one person and oppressive to someone else. I believe color has meaning in one’s life based on personal experience. Sometimes we don’t even know why a color will evoke a negative emotion. Other times we are well aware of why a color makes us happy or sad. As a result my needlework colors reflects what makes me happy. Bright pink is my happy color.
I love purples and greens combinations the most. The designs that I keep getting drawn to right now or Jacobean embroidery or needlepoint, I love seeing these designs with more of a modern look, with purples, browns, greens, orange, yellow, and pinks in them. Thank you for the giveaway, hope you have a great weekend.
I recently turned eighty….I had had only done a small bit of embroidery as a child.
Then in my late seventies when hand quilting became too heavy for me I took up embroidery. I became fascinated with Needlepainting and bought a beginner book by Trish Burr.
Since that time I have experimented with many of her designs and also a few I have drawn on my own.
As I have aged and had to give up more physical activities it is a blessing to be able to sit and make something colorful and in my eyes beautiful.
I read all your articles and have learned so many interesting skills.
Evelyn Cheso
My color preferences change depending on what I am working on. I do a lot of smocking and for babies I tend to pick soft pastels. I use a lot of blues and aquas in all my embroidery but. I really like working with bright pinks, yellows, blues on more modern designs. I guess you could say I just like embroidery and lots of colors.
Colors! Oh my! In needlework, I’m all about greens and reds, with splashes of gold. Fortunately, there are plenty of designs in those colors. Ironically, my favorite colors to wear are turquoise and mint, and my jewelry is mostly silver tone. I’ve never stitches anything with turquoise (at least as a dominant color).
When I design, it is most often in jewel tones and autumn colors. That said I work kits in s greater variety of color palates because with kits, I am more concerned with theme or learning a new technique.
Oh, how I love color! Lately I’ve been drawn to bold combinations of bright colors. Tropical, contrasting, pastel even – I love them all. Sometimes I gravitate to the simple, primitive look of gray-based colors, but please include a little rust, melon and turquoise for pop. Maybe the older I get the more I need some excitement!
I love the color blue. I use it as much as possible in my embroidery project. I’ve never tried silk threads but would love to. Thank you.
I love color! My eye always is drawn to the rich colors of a peacock – but lately I have been doing much more earth tones…shades of brown with yellow, orange, peach, and a little turquoise or copper colored metallic thrown in for an accent!
I’m usually drawn to either fall colors (oranges, golds, deep reds) or peacock colors. They’re so rich and vibrant! Maybe it’s my Mardi Gras heritage making itself known, but my needlework tends towards the “Look at me!” side of things. With kits, though, color is secondary to theme. For instance, I’m not usually drawn to subdued color palettes; but combine them with French General’s Jacobean style and it grabs me.
I am always drawn to bright colors in a project, especially reds & blues. I once did a project with a lady in a beige/white dress and although it turned out lovely, it was so boring to work on with 20+ different shades of beige that it almost drove me crazy! Thank you for the opportunity to try some new threads.
I love a rich blue/green/purple look. I guess you could call it a jewel combination.
Sometimes when I get new threads I just take them out of the package and look at their beautiful colors and let them soak into me. The colors are part of the reason I stitch!
I love to see coral colors in needlework- light to darker shades. And I especially like them in *silk* because they just seem to glow! And I love to see these balanced with a nice sage green… oh, I love green…
I use silk thread in neutral shades to do hand turned applique. It digs in and is almost invisible. I love rainbow colors in my quilts (vs pastel colors.) I’d like to learn new tips and ideas for other uses of silk thread.
Mmm choice of colour is always hard to make. I like blue/greens especially to include a deep vibrant blue, peacock, and deep purple. Might also add some light soft grey and even a pastel pink.
Color combinations: Maybe because I’m a painter & printmaker, I hesitate to address a favorite combination, but if I look at my artwork and what I am drawn to for color combinations for stitching, I find myself often attracted to white work for its dimension and subtlety. Otherwise for the kits I find myself seduced by: delft blue and white and other colors in that range.
Oooh. Color palettes. I love the nuances color brings to a piece. My favorite colors to use are a light to medium to dark turquoise blue with a light to medium to dark shade of purple. I am currently working on a piece that is mainly in those blues with accents in the purple family. I also love the subtleties when you add a real pop of color that highlights a maybe not so remarkable project and turns it into something you would hang in your home. People who can pick those unremarkable shades and pair it with something that you never in a million years would have thought go together and the true artists.
I love the combination of blues, pinks and mauves but I always like to add one skein of an unexpected colour such as a lime green which used evenly but sparingly can give such a ‘lift’.
I love the shine that the silk threads have and it would be exciting to compare the finish to that of cotton.
I love color! I am currently working on my final step for my master craftsman in color through EGA, which has completely expanded my comfort zone when it comes to color.
I think that overall I prefer the supersaturated jewel tones, purples and blues and greens with some golds thrown in. But any well used color palette can be pleasing if done right.
It must be my love of nature that makes greens of all shades and hues my “go-to” color. And when I combine it with my next favorite, purples of all shades, things turn out to be splendifferous! My house is full of those colors and let’s face it, that’s who I am…..greens and purples.
Thanks, Mary and thanks to Needle in a Haystack also!
Everyone who knows me know that my favorite colors are pastels – pink, blue, lavender, yellow, green. Those are the colors in my garden, also. Over the past year, I have begun to do crazy quilt embroidery. So far I have only done wall hangings and pillow covers, but these are the colors I always seem to choose. I did a small sports hanging for a present for a friend and I really had a hard time with it because there were no pastels. I would love to try these threads.
My very favorite color is all shades of orange, so my palette is fall colors——but I really like yellow too. I use cream or yellow as a background a lot for applique because the colors seem to really pop. Recently I finished a Hazel Bromkampf piece that has lavender, mauve, blues and greens in it and I love it. Go figure!
OHHHHH! Fabulous color. I am a Master Certified Picture Framer by trade and I absolutely love it when my needle art clients bring me their colorful work. That being said, I can also be amazed at how striking a monochromatic scheme can be. Earthy tones or neon primary colors, I love them all. I’ve dabbled in several techniques but have not experienced the silks. Your recent reviews have peeked my curiosity.
I love all colors and am not drawn to one particular palette. It often depends on the project. If it is more of spring piece, I chose those lovely spring pastels. A summer project would draw me to bright often beachy colors as I love the beach. Fall would of course lead me to those beautiful golds, greens and browns. Ah, and winter including Christmas the beautiful whites of snow and glittery golds and silver. I’ve never used silk threads and would love to try so I truly hope I win this time. Mary, I’ve learned so much from you keep writing.
I love to look at bright vibrant color combinations with bright springy greens and vibrant blues. When it come to my personal embroidery though I prefer more subdued colors, I prefer golden browns and deeper greens with pastel colors as accents.
In other words I love looking at the Hummingbirds you did last year but I prefer stitching more along the lines of traditional subdued crewel embroidery
I truly like turquoise, lime green and a purple shade combo usually for embroidery on apparel and bags/totes. Of course I would use various other colors as needed but in no competition to the big three! Thanks for the chance Mary.
So many favorites when it comes to color. I don’t really use a whole lot of kits. I love red and gold: so rich and majestic to me. I also love any shade of blue.
Answering your questions in order: Purple with Copper accents, Purple, Purple, Purple, and Purple.
When our EGA chapter has “Show ‘n’ Tell” I hear “Oh, if it is purple, it must be Alice’s”.
What a wonderful give-away. My thanks to you and Cathe.
Colors… Blue. I like blue. Most shades of blue, especially dark blues. Antique blue, navy blue, indigo, electric blue, cornflower, royal blue, wedgewood blue… just, blue. And a little of the reds. (I like flowers, so the greens are always on the agenda, too.)
I favor the soft pinks, blues, greens, and ecru colors used in heirloom sewing. But I love looking at any collection of thread, any kind, just to get started with new design. Color is music to me! The heavy silk thread intrigues me because I want to see if it works in an embroidery machine. Possibly couched, but would also try with a large top-stitch needle. I enjoy exploring new techniques.
Lately I seem to be drawn to bright colors. I especially love different shades of green. Currently I am using hand dyed silk thread from a local fiber artist to stitch a sampler using shades of green and purple. I will always like the classic sampler colors in muted tones but seem to be drawn to brighter colors in the last few years.
I would love to try these silks being offered.
I gravitate toward autumnal colors of rust, brown, dark gold, and dark green. One of the best things I stitched, IMHO, was Jean Hiklton’s Turnberry Ridge in black, copper, and rust, with a touch of turquoise, on black canvas. Sadly, I gave it away. Wish I still had it! The colors I see first in needlepoint are the darker more saturated colors. Sometimes I make myself work with colors that aren’t my favorites just to remind myself that other combinations are beautiful!
I love brights! The more pink, orange and turquoise the better. I like a nice balance of warm and cool colors. I don’t go for neon or shocking brights but I like saturated colors that pop!
Favorite color palette. Well that depends on the project, but my first preference is shades of blue, followed by purples, pinks and greens. Throw in some yellows, golds and browns and life is good.
Silk is generally my thread of choice.
I am always drawn to various blues, but not exclusively. I love it when I see a palette with a myriad of colors though until I say ” 48 different colors and 1/3 of them green (or brown, or red)” LOL . Enjoy the holiday. I hope to finish my King Henry and his 6 wives this weekend.
Just love any and all threads, especially the beautiful shiny silk ones, the cadillac threads of the trade!
This is easy, I am a color freak. I tend to stitch with jewel tones but I also love Autumn colors. Unless a pattern calls for a less vivid tone, I use bright and intense colors.
My favorite colors are the earthy tones. I love the way they blend and show off some of the brighter tones placed here and there.
Thank you for all the opportunities you give us to win beautiful embroidery “things” and for your amazing newsletter that gives us wonderful ideas!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend.
Wow, what gorgeous silk thread! I’m really drawn to deep purples and chartreuse green (lime green). A lovely blue to go with. Lately its been the brighter the better!
Thanks for the opportunity,
Teresa M
Hello. I am most drawn to jewel tones inherently, blues, jade and purples, as those are the threads I look at first. But I have stitched with pretty much everything over the years, from muted colors and monochromatic pieces to a very bright and warm Glorafilia fruits pattern. I would love to try these threads for some needlepoint pieces. Thank you for the chance.
Ah, color! It depends on the project and the “feel” I’m going for, of course, but I love bright primaries for 1930s-1940s-inspired pieces, and what you might call country or primitive color combinations like barn red, nearly-navy, mustard, forest green, black. I like the colors you see in Jacobean-inspired kits, too, like the muted reds/greens/blues. Prettyful!!
Oh, I love colors. Love to mix and match, love to do something using shades of the same color. I usually do designs in the same color wheel, but I have also done designs in, say, all Autumn colors. Or Spring. I just love colors!
Hi Mary – Reading your posts (fantastic site you have, by the way!) about silk embroidery threads left me drooling. Blues and greens are always my first preferences but citrus hues, grays and pinks are becoming favorites lately. Thanks for this great give-away. Have a great week-end!
I’m always drawn to shades of green; I love to see stem and leaf work. I’m also drawn to varying shades of gold metallic thread. I sometimes wonder if I was a crow in an earlier life.
I love the colour blue, but lately I find myself being drawn also to the purples and dusty rose. When embroidering nature scenes, green is also a very predominant colour. These silks would be wonderful for threadpainting!
I’m usually drawn to monochromatic color schemes. Although any color is wonderful, I find my eye drawn to works done in multiple shades of blue, or light blue and white. These threads look delicious!
COLOR..what a blessing color is in life! I’m drawn quickly to all colors of fall and earth/nature colors. That means rusts, oranges, greens. I’ll take a barn red any ol’ day of the week. Then, too, the colors of the shops and homes of Williamsburg, Va. call to me……blue, red, gold, and green in matte and muted look. Happy thread day one and all!
I seem to be very partial to the pastel colours. I am taking a class in beginner quilting and was surprised at myself by picking the dominant colour of purple! Also surprising are the other colours that go with the purple. It’s been a real eye opener for me as I am one of those people that are mentally challenged when it comes to choosing colour. I have bought 2 books already (I believe you mentioned them in your weekly posts). There is always that fear of I’m I choosing the right colour. As I delve more into embroidery and quilting I hope that fear will give way to some voyarism and I will acquire that feeling of anything goes! Having dealt with only DMC cotton threads I am warily threading my way through different threads. These silk threads sound like a treat to work with!
It is so hard to pick one combination! For spring colors I love pinks and greens with a dash of yellow and purple tossed in. You can never go wrong with blue and white or red and white. Lately, I’ve been working with a range of neutrals from pale peach, pink, taupe, greys and browns. I love the soft shading with neutrals. Thank you for a chance to win beautiful silk thread! Linda S Pewaukee, WI
Ooh what a fabulous giveaway! I’m drawn to cooler colour palettes generally. I love pinks or purples or blues mixed with shades of green. Sometimes I have to tell myself to live life on the edge and try something different just for a change! 🙂
I think my favorite color palette is soft dusky blues, pinks, mauves and greens. I seem to use those in most of my work and would love to get so e silk perle in those shades.
Colors I gravitate to are deep reds/burgundy and greens, with added pinks and what ever yellows may look good with the content of the project.
Choosing color is not my best talent but as I continue to work on things it has improved. Feeling a bit eclectic with color choices. Color wheel in hand I do my best.
My colors are these:
Looking west: Colors of the sunset over the marsh on Pawleys Island, SC: the sky streaked in pinks, oranges, yellows touching the tall, thin live-green spartina grasses over the sparkling dark blue water. Pure white herons looking for little brown crabs in the black pluff mud. Purple martins swooping around catching mosquitoes. Gray dolphins meandering up the creek. Blue crabs scuttling about in the crab traps.
Looking east: The Atlantic Ocean: Foamy white waves lathering to shore in a battleship-gray ocean.
I love when threads are kitted up, because there are sometimes colors I would never think to put together!! Also, my untrained eye can get overwhelmed after looking at too many colors all at once when trying to pick out combinations. Thanks for offering this giveaway!
my color combination favorite is primary rainbow colors or blue/green
thanks so much for your column. I have learns so much from it.
Color is what excites me about a piece of embroidery (or any piece of artwork for that matter) and I enjoy a very varied palette. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a very limited, light through dark of one color, sometimes it could be vibrant rich jewel colors, and other times it could be a pastel and soft looking piece. Color is so uplifting.
I love very soft, pink and ivory is my passion right now.
Sarah
I just started following Mary as I didn’t know there was a website that I could enjoy like this. I am learning a lot and really enjoy the information given. I can’t wait to explore more in threads. A day doesn’t go by well unless I take time to stitch!
For me it has to be greens and blues – anything that would look good on a peacock 🙂
I use a lot different color combinations, but the palette that I gravitate to most is peacock colors (green, teal, blue, purple). Lately I’ve been working on some darker fabric, which has made me experiment more with pale color combinations.
I love jewel tones and find myself gravitating toward the deep rich teals, purples and blues. I am working on a quilt for my sister’s wedding currently that focuses on those colors even though the original pattern called for it to be worked in pastels. I just couldn’t help myself!
I do love all color, but the color combinations that I return to over and over again are shades of blue, purple, turquoise/aqua and green, with accents of red, orange and rose. These are the colors that remind me of my grandmother’s gardens and my mother’s sewing room. They speak of Spring and early Summer. Even when I decide to experiment and try new color palettes — taupes and browns or autumn themed pieces, for example — I find that I come back to these colors. They make me happy and serene.
It is hard to pick my favorite colors for my surface embroidery projects. I love all shades of green especially when doing stems and leaves. I also pick colors that go with my favorite projects of insects. Those green threads looked great on my praying mantis. I also am working on a hummingbird and using vibrant colors of red, green and blue with added strands of white and black. Thanks for another giveaway.
My go-to color combination for embroidery is blue and white. If I don’t know just what to do, it’s going to be blue! I also really love the look of white thread on natural colored linen, though I haven’t done any myself yet.
Thank you so much Mary for the opportunity to win this beautiful thread. Color….well, my personal favorite colors are blues and purples but I find I stitch a lot with green as the main color and then bits of blues, reds and yellows for a pop. Interestingly I rarely use purple except for a tiny bit. Perhaps I should focus on purples for a change! Thanks for asking this question – it made me really look at my work!
I just love color – almost any combo catches my eye, from pastels to brights, monochromatic to high contrast. If I had to choose one family though, I guess it would be tropical brights. They look great worked up in silk!
I think my favorite color palette consists of blues, greens, yellows and gold…sort of peacock colors!
I am just getting back into doing embroidery and have had fun incorporating it into some of my quilts, especially those with appliqué. My favorite colors are anything dark (especially civil war reproductions), but blues and greens are my favorites. I have a lot to learn about what is out there and I have been getting so much from this website. Thank you for all the info-I am totally amazed at how thorough it is!
Wow some of my favorite color combos has changed over time. I used to love rainbow colors, bright red with navy blue and sunshine yellows.
But now softer muted colors float my boat. Soft lavender with a soft pink with either a pale spring green or softer gold. Any softer shade of blue would find its way to me 🙂
Thanks for having the GIVEAWAY
Audrey
Northern Calif
Hello-such a difficult question. My tastes have changed over the years, I used to prefer a combination of “natural” colors (greens, browns, some reds, etc.). I am finding that I go for purples and royal blues combined with chartreuse ( a color I would not use 10 years ago)!
It varies with the project and the thread/yarn, but threads that glow, like this silk, really make me eager to stitch.
I love color, any color. I’m always drawn to blue and white or blue and yellow, especially this time of year. I do find what I’m drawn to varies seasonally.
I have always been drawn to the grayed “Williamsburg” colors. Recently I have been drawn to the primitives with the same color tones but with variegated shadings thrown in. Periodically I try to get out of my rut – our chapter recently had a 1 day retreat and we took inspiration from your exploration of initials. I grabbed a mixed color bag of unknown floss and have started a voided A with your exuberant range of colors and stitches. I’m enjoying both the stitch and color mix challenge! Thank you for sharing those!
I love bright, bold colors especially on stark contrasting backgrounds. I am currently working on a sugar skull embroidery pattern. I transferred the pattern on to a black background and am using bold, fluorescent threads to fill in the skull. It looks great so far!
I would love to try these threads as I have never used silk thread. I am partial to the blue color palette but anything contrasting catches my eye (especially the pink and purple threads in your picture.)
Love your posts! Have a great, long weekend!
I love most saturated colors, purple with green is a favorite too.
What a great giveaway! Thanks to both you and Needle in a Haystack…
I would describe my favorite color palette as BRIGHT! Color really doesn’t matter, as long as the colors are bright and bold. Satsuma Street is a designer I look to for bright colors! I think this is the reason why I don’t like to stitch reproduction samplers and more primitive style patterns. The colors are so muted and dull. Pastels and faded colors are not my thing.
For specific combinations, I’ve always been drawn to purple/orange combos, and lately I’m really liking turquoise and lime green.
I usually go to the blues but for applique I like heathered browns and greys. I can’t get the perspective on black so I stay away from that. I like colors that complement each other.
I love working with white and oatmeal silk (one to three threads) in hand embroidered monograming with varying shades of metallic gold threads. As strange as it might sound, I was inspired by the these combinations by the crypt of Marilyn Monroe as well as those of other well known people. The varying shades of whites, off-whites, oatmeals and related tones combined with the look of aged and weathered gold, bronzes and brass evokes a Hollywood revival of Italianate neo-classical look that seems timeless. On some goldwork, I work in muted Verdigris tones to capture the dimension of time. I’m a split and satin stitch junkie romantic.
Because I enjoy white on white embroidery usually, I would go with a palette of burgundy’s, or stay with neutrals to see how they work out.
Since I give away most of the pieces that I stitch, as gifts, I tend to chose color palettes that remind me of that person. I am a color snob and if I have a color in my head that I want to use then nothing else will do.
Wendi
I am drawn to shades of teal blues often with a pop of coral or purple.Also if it’s floral I add some greens for the leaves. I also love pastels. It is really hard to pick a favorite!
Hi!
I am very new to the art of embroidery and I have just found your website and I just love it. Your videos have taught me so much and I am truly addicted. I have been using the standard DMC floss and I’m even confused as to how many strands to use when but slowly my projects are coming together.
I love the colors of pinks and peaches mixed with light greens. So beautiful
Thank you for the time you put into such an informative website..
Happy Memorial Day!
Mari-Ann
I like gold, orange and green. These colors are great for summer flowers or fall leaves.
I usually do white on white embroidery; so it would be fun to try their range of silks in neutral is they are available. Otherwise, I enjoy the richness of burgundy palettes.
I love purple, pink and white. It is my favorite color combination for stitching, flowers in my garden – and I would love to try silk thread in those colors.
As a newbie, I’m open to all color ranges… depending on the project and design, and considering the season. In silk, one project I look forward to learning is Japanese embroidery in a very small traditional design that you might find on kimono. I’ve been considering Sho Chiku Bai, ‘three friends of winter’ as a good starter pattern—pine needle, bamboo, and plum blossom. Colors in shades of green, gold and plum/white. This project involves making a shifuku (silk drawstring bag) for a chairé (ceramic tea container for matcha) used in koicha tea ceremony.
…After practicing on samplers using other threads first (and then practicing with silk..), when I feel ready, I’d look forward to trying the Japanese silk embroidery on my new (personalized!) 300 mm slate frame from Mark Harris of Mythic Crafts.
I just began using silk thread for embroidery. Would love more colors!
What a fun give-away. I love all color. My taste in color, tends to go towards the jewel tones, the rich blue, greens, purple and reds.
Aren’t colors wonderful? I love brights – hot pink, orange, yellow, bright aqua, a beautiful purple, etc. and since they are remind me of a colorful garden, I would throw in several bright greens.
I love pastels; particularly the blues and aquas of the sea. I live in Pensacola, Florida and the colors of the Gulfcoast waters are some of the most beautiful in world. These shades are so soothing. Other pastels — greens, lilac, pinks, yellow — combine with the seaside shades to make a satisfying complete picture. The texture of the threads, such as those being given away, can contribute to the artistic experience one receives doing embroidery.
I am always drawn to the jewel tones. I love the way the purple, teal, emerald green and pinks just can blend and shine together. Of course what woman does not love jewels!
I am usually”drawn” to blues, greens, yellows and reds and whites. Looking around my home and quilt projects those seem to be colors I like to be surrounded by. Bright, clear colors…I generally stay away from muted colors or earthtones or grays.
The color combinations I am drawn to are mostly pastel, sometimes muted as in Early American crewel, but also bright Spring colors. I am especially drawn to blues, lavenders and yellows.
I am partial to “depression” colors especially aqua, pink, lavender and green.
I tend to lean toward the warm spectrum (reds, golds, oranges, etc.) whenever I’m thinking about starting a new project. However, lately I’ve become obsessed with very neutral monochromatic schemes–think shades of warm grey, or variations on white or taupes. There is something so soothing and elegant about a neutral palette.
Thanks for sponsoring this exciting giveaway Mary!
WOW! Silk threads!
I have never tried silk embroidery, but I have always wanted to. But I heard that it was hard to work with and that it was expensive.
I have several pieces of silk clothing with silk embroidery. These have always been my favorite, special, pieces.
I would really love to try my hand at silk embroidery. Especially using jewel tone colors. I do a lot of work where I incorporate gold and silver metallic threads. And silk would really work wonderfully well with these.
I thought that I would like to give the silk threads a try; now that I have seen Mary’s how to’s on using it. You have really upped my game with these, lessons. I wish that I had you as an instructor decades ago. Not only have you shown me new techniques, but you have helped me to improve what I thought that I already knew.
I recommend your tutorials all the time to friends and family . And they love you as much as I do!
Thank you Mary for what you do!!!
Chris
Oh, Oh, Oh! Pick me! Pick me! I’m planning an all silk crazy quilt type project to begin in the near future and would LOVE to add these to my stash of fun stuff to play with. My favourite colour palette almost always has blue in it. Blue with analogous colours, monochromatic blue or blue with either yellow or white (or both). Anything with blue really.
My color choices are often dependent on the season, or where I am traveling. I have some old loves, white, cream, blues, but currently am enamored with the colors of the Isle of Skye. – earthy tones, rusts, yellows, all manner of greens, grays. Lovely.
I like using fuschias, yellows, greens and ALL shades of blue from stormy darks to Caribbean turquoise.
I LOVE silk threads and the pearl is wonderful for my needlepoint!
I tend to go straight for bold colors. I have always favored Jacobean artwork and that is always shown in bold colors. Send those threads to Florida!!
Silk threads are such a treat! My eyes can’t help but notice the dark colors – green and burgundy – as my current project is in those colors. A bright yellow or red would complement it perfectly! I generally go for the bright, rich shades that pop and variegated threads are my favorite as using them has taught me so much about shading. But really now, I simply love color and can’t resist any of them. Why try!
No fair! I was going to say “red and white” – then, I went to the Needle in a Haystack site and saw all those luscious colors! So beautiful! I want to change my answer to “All of Them”.
Favorite colors….any peaches, oranges, greens, yellows and of course all the rest. Usually any kit can have a colorway that will appeal to me and I want it!
Color. Amazing color! I am instinctively drawn towards the blues. Turquoise, royal, periwinkle. I love working with silks, currently creating a Christmas Stocking, primarily done in silks
Considering my favourite colours I would have to start with blues, ranging from turquoise to peacock then adding peaches, pinks and purples. I like muted colours and rarely use black or white preferring to outline in dark grey or navy and highlight in ecru. It’s so difficult to pick your favourite colour ways because an idea could take me anywhere but I often turn to my old favourites for inspiration.
This is another wonderful Give-away. I am very drawn to either neutral or very soft colors.
I tend to like “clear” bright colors. While my choice changes depending on the project, I guess pinks and greens are my favorite, closely followed by red and turquoise. Of course anything stitched in silk thread is beautiful!
Narrowing down color preferences is difficult. My favorite color is blue, but it depends on the project at hand. Colors in nature are beautiful and bright colors often have to make a statement and draw attention. I really like to use overdyed varigated colors. Thank you, Mary (and vendors) for the giveaways.
I LOVE silk threads and the pearl is wonderful for my needlepoint! I especially love bright colors, yellows, oranges, reds, blues …really any color, but I don’t often use pastels. I also love autumn colors – warm browns, oranges, bronzy colors. Color is one of the true wonders of nature!
I am always drawn towards purples and blues, but I have found great satisfaction in more subtle colors as well.
I took some time this morning to think about color and my responses to it. I have often been drawn to red shades including various shades of rose with gold and green accents. I think that was my mother putting her brunette daughter in bright red and the light brown haired sister in blue. I also like southwestern colors, turquoises, sage greens, desert sands and copper. But I am planning a new piece, Jean Hilton’s Puzzle, which I think will be lavenders accented with silver, purple, with perhaps a bit of green? But, whatever the final choice, the silk perle would be perfect for the intricate stitches of the piece. I have my fingers crossed!
I just love how rich the colors are!!!
Color, color,color the more the better. I love to add sparkle to my work with gold or silver. So when I see a kit that sparkles it catches my eye. Thank you for an awesome give away. I say ” What I stitch with my hands I give from my Heart”.
I’m a sucker for oceany colors — green/blue/purple, but I don’t think I’ve actually done a whole large project in them. My daughter is actually currently working on one, though, called ‘Little Snapdragon’ and it is nothing but green/blue/purple!
My last big project was much more autumny, which was lovely. It had a lot of rusty red, sage green, and gold.
I tend to gravitate towards shabby chic color palettes in either brights or muted tones. Pink & cream & green or aqua & red & pink, etc.
My fav color palette is blues and purples. I am trying to learn to work with all the colors.
I gravitate toward bright, clear colors of blue, red, yellow and green and purples. I hope to win a chance to try out these threads on a new project. Thank you, Mary!
I love fall colors! Nearly everything I do is fall. I love the deep rich reds, golds, and greens. I work hard to pick colors for gifts receipents that I think they would like but sometimes it is a challenge. I tried stitching something for myself in different colors but it just didn’t grab me like fall does.
I love working with all kinds of silk. Silk threads have a way of picking up the light and give movement to a piece. Blue is my favorite color. I am drawn to designs that have rich blues, turquoise and purples. If using metal threads with them, I tend to go with the silver threads rather than gold. Lately, I have challenged myself to try a more neutral grey/taupe palette combined with seafoam greens.
Thank you to you and Needle In A Haystack for this wonderful opportunity to try these new silks.
Have a safe weekend.
Favorite colors? Blues and greens of course. Between the Seahawks and the Mariners and general living in the great Pacific NW, I am surrounded with blues and green!
I love attaching beads with silk thread! My go-to color combinations are quite easy to build. I begin with two complements and then add tints and shades of both of those hues. Then a couple of neutrals round it out. I use the color wheel to search for my initial complements, and try to make my tints and shades comparable in the amount of white and black that they contain. If an accent color is used, it is determined by the content of the design.
Thanks Mary for this opportunity! My favourite go to colours are blues and greens. Loving all colours it is hard to choose! Have a wonderful holiday! Cheers
I wear a lot of jewel tones and that’s reflected in my color choices in needlework. I especially like the cooler tones of the teals, blues and purples. The color in a design and the way it works is what grabs my attention, so I have been known to go outside of my comfort zone to stitch something on a bright yellow canvas with reds and oranges. We are so very fortunate to have so many options in both color and types of threads!!
Favorite color combo blue/teal or cinnamon/brown
I seem to go to greens, yellows and coral and tourquoise. I also like the deep winter colors.
Oh how wonderful, to a threadaholic like me, I would love to win these beautiful threads.
Blues, lavenders and turquoise are my main attraction. At the moment stitching the little blue birds from ‘Insirations 93’
Yes it’s a three day weekend in the U.K., so lots of lovely stitching time, and the sun is shining.
Kind regards, God Bless. Carol.
green, green, green and more green!!! is my first favorite; then shades of grey. both my embroidery thread collection and my yarn stash are filled with greens and greys…i love combinations of the two in nature, too, like mixes of moss and lichen on a stone wall.
I love all colours and think there are no ugly colours, they are just in the wrong place! Having said that, I usually gravitate to the cooler colours – blues, turquoise, purples.
I’m a long time quilter now dabbling in crazy quilting. Thus my yearning to try silk thread embroidery. My favorite color palette is any combination of the primary colors, red, blue and yellow, in all their variations. But then I love all colors but turquoise, with the combination of the secondaries, purple, green and orange being another favorite. Since my current project is a Christmas crazy quilt, red, green and gold have now crept to the top of the favorites list.
Lately I have been drawn to turquoise and lots of bright colors. But I really think it just depends on the project. I like lavender alot too. I guess I just like them all. I started looking around at projects that I have on my walls and realized that there is a wide range of colors so I must not be too particular.
I’m always drawn to blues pinks lilacs and white. If I think I must use other colours (especially) greens I always make mistakes and the project gradually finds its way to the back of a draw and I go back to something in blues . Love your news letters and hints and tips . Many thanks .A
My favorite color since high school is a beautiful periwinkle. Not red violet, a blue purple.
I often use periwinkle with forest green and a touch or red orange for pop.
I love to use multicolored threads. Sometimes there will be a nice periwinkle with pink. I’ve been known to excise the pink.
So, of course,, my silk ribbon embroidery group wants to do pink roses! I guess I’ll be buying some pink for that!
My favorite color combination for needlework is blues and greens or blues and purples. Pastels in kits tend to draw my eye, but also any nice blue and green pattern will make me want to buy a kit. I don’t think I have a preference for colors in my own embroidery. I just try to be open to all colors or using what is needed for the needlework I’m doing. I try to stay open to color in general with needlework. I don’t want to limit myself because I don’t like how something looks, but I do find the blues, greens, and purples to always catch my eye.
I like the woodsy greens. By saying woodsy, that would also include yellow greens, brownish greens, greenish browns, and all the other colors in the woods that have a hint of green. I think what I like about these colors is that they are separate and distinct, but blend together to make a background that makes any solid color pop.
I love blues and purples mixed with greens.
While I enjoy a variety of colors when doing surface embroidery, I also am drawn to a monochromatic palette. I may work in all one color or, at times, in different hues of a certain color family. I love the range of the color green. I would love to win the silk threads as I have been wanting to work with silk for a while now. Thanx for the opportunity and for your fine presentation and information in your newsletter. I look forward to reading them.
I love jewel tones of blues, pinks, rosees, and purple together, but sometimes pastels or monochrome projects speak to my mood. Silk with it’s luster conveys color in wonderful ways!
I love blues of just about any shade or hue, especially in patterns with symmetry and geometrics. When it involves flowers, I like bright colors, but especially brights with a slight natural tone. Some of the cutesie, girlie things are great in pink, red, white and leaf green–like the ‘Strawberry Shortcake’ palette. For religious items I prefer deep rich colors most of the time. There’s very little that I don’t like as far as color is concerned. A lot depends upon my mood, so it might change daily or even more frequently!
I do. Lot if crazy quilting and would love to try these new fibers! Fall colors are my absolute loves (as us the season!). They seem warm and inviting and make me feel like it is fall even on the gulf coast!
I love blues and silvers…
Blues and coppers…
Blues and golds…
Mmmmm color!
Since I live in the southwest I love the colors that represent the area. I love bright red, turquoise, blue and light brown. These colors remind me of things I see when I adventure in the desert.
I love blues and greens the most but I made a quilt with flowers in shades of purple and a range of colors from yellow through deep gold and into orange. I must admit that the purple and orange was quite striking. The quilt was highly embellished with embroidery and other fibers so I think embroidery in those colors would be fantastic. I think an iris embroidered with silk in the deep gold/orange with purple accents towards its center would really be nice.
Thank you for the wonderful giveaway! I always lean towards the blue and green colors when I start a project. Especially in the Spring!
Love your newsletters so many helpful hints. I am crazy about Autumn colours and when l look back on my projects the colours tell me that. Browns oranges yellows. I love working with silk threads.
I love the color palette of green because of all the different color variations in leaf colors.
I love to see bright turquoises combined with earthy browns! Add cream to the mix-just beautiful! Thank you, Susan
Easy peasy! OMG! SILKS! I’m in love with silk threads. I bought some from China and was disappointed, they are all tangles and I can’t separate them. I then bought some hand dyed threads from a store here in a Utah and am again in love. I own about 6 skeins of silk, I love your giveaway and hope I am one of the lucky three. My favorite colors tends toward pinks, greens, periwinkle and deep purples but I am also very partial to muted natural colors. Thank you Mary, and I hope you are feeling well.
I’ve only used silk a little bit, so I guess I’m a silk newbie. My favorite colors are in the blue/green family and another called Bellagio from Gloriana. I did a whole sampler 4 in by 5 ft in Bellagio and 4 primary colors picked out from the Bellagio spectrum.
My favorite color palettes consist of Teal and Orange – complementary opposites!
This silk will encourage new vibrant color choices to jettison me out of my comfort zone! Love the reviews- Thank you for this opportunity
Dayan
My favorite color combo lately are bright pastels..
I love bright primary colors in my work. I’m also very fond of blues and greens together.
I made a comment this morning and yet do not see it. Anything wrong?
What’s your favorite color combination for needlework?
I think of it as “apple blossom” colors: shades of rosy pinks (light to dark), creams, and greens that mimic the shades of leaves on an apple tree
Is there a particular color palette that grabs your eye when you look at kits?
Not really, so long as the colors complement the design and work with the fabric. With kits, the design is the driving force; I’m not going to stitch a design that for me holds no appeal
Is there a particular color palette you go back to frequently when you select your own colors for a project?
My tastes have changed over time, and it definitely depends on the project. I recently completed a pulled thread band sampler in gradient greens. Light at the top and darker as I worked down the linen.
What colors do you like to see best in needlework? Tell me about your color preferences!
Colors that complement the design. A friend recently completed a project (counted canvas) and the designer called for purples. Based on the photo on the chart, I would never have stitched it. My friend switched to blues and a metallic silver, and it was gorgeous!
Nancy in WV
I am finding out that I enjoy a brighter color palette than I would choose for any other area of my life! I have stitched many projects for my first little grandchild and discovered a love for beautiful bright greens, pinks, purples, etc. I have never stitched with silk thread, so I hope I am lucky enough to be a winner!
I am a beginner and have only completed 2 pieces, outside of countless practice bits, so my thread collection isn’t huge yet, but I always tend toward the deeps, darks and the shiny. Blacks, metallics, emeralds, crimsons, and the brilliant blues & turquoises. DMC 3844 is among my favorites at the moment. After reading your post on the Sajou’s Fil au Chinois silk perle, I went and picked out all of the colors that I wanted to use on a David Bowie wearing Kansai Yamamoto project that I’ve been dreaming of since before I even began learning to actually stitch. Silk seems the only choice for that piece. Nothing else will do. Sajou Silk 419 Copper is the *only* color for his hair. After selecting everything I needed, I realized that my shopping cart total exceeded my budget & put the project on hold as a result. Crossing fingers, toes & eyeballs that I get lucky.
I seem to always go back to fall/autumn colors. I love the variety and richness of those colors.
Thank you Mary for all your posts! Although I love the entire color spectrum, I am drawn mostly to soft pinks, purples and blues. I always look forward to learning more from you. Maria
The colors I’m drawn to vary drastically. I think that with embroidery, I am often compensating and picking the colors that I wouldn’t wear or that wouldn’t fit in my house. Sometimes, I am reacting to weather – bright colors in January, whitework in July – other times I am just choosing something very different to the last piece I did.
That being said, I am always drawn to reds – bright red with orange – red shading to purple – red shading to coral – red with a dash of turquoise or lime or gold..
Purples are my favorite so I seem to go to purples and greens as my most used color choices. I have been trying to move to new colors. The last set was green and gold. A beautiful combination.
Deb Pereira
I’m a blue/grey/purple person so those colors always catch my eye. However I did a project that was various shades of turquoise, purple and pink that was so beautiful (and I usually do not like pink)
Hi Mary,
What a fantastic give-away! I love color and really enjoy mixing unusual combinations together. Right now I am working a canvas piece in pale yellow, bright yellow combined with gold, grey and black silk threads. I would love to add some more silks to my stash! Thank you for your wonderful website and newsletters!
I love cool greens/purples/turquoise – think succulents. Anything in that color palette always grabs my eye!
When it comes to embroidery, especially with silk, I love really bright, jewel like colours. The sort of thins you would see in e.g. a dragon embroidery from China on the back of a red or black kimono. Or the sort of colours you see on the face mask of the dancing chinese dragons. I think the lustre and sheen that silk has lends itself to the really bright palette.
Those are some g-or-geous threads! I’m usually drawn to palettes of color – sunset reds, oranges and golds, or deep sea blues, greens and purples. There’s usually a good spread of rich colors involved – i don’t do pastels (on their own, anyway). Probably one of the reasons I adore silk threads – they show off their color so very nicely! 🙂
Much as I LOVE bright colors I am in an antique phase with muted rose shades, beige, browns and the many cream shades. Inheritance of old family photos and the ability to transfer them to photo fabric has opened up a wonderful nostalgic world for me. Adapting quilt techniques and embellishing with the world of needlework stitches has my head filled with ideas. Now I just have to figure how I can live and embroider until I am 150!
I love ocean colors, teal, blues, and purples
Blue in all its shades and varieties has always been my color. I am planning to use a unicorn rampant on a blue background for a future project – an homage to the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters museum. The blue of the sky, the blue of the sea, the blue flowers in my garden all are motifs to be used in needlework.
My favorite color pallet was influenced by my first encounter with a male peacock! The shimmering blues, greens, golds and red/orange are reflected in all my needle work especially Japanese silk and goldwork.
Bright colors always draw me in, wether it be a canvas piece or cross stitch piece or just beautiful threads to look at. But I tend to fall back on my very personal favorite color blue. I can’t help myself, I just find all shades and tones of blue to be so calming and restful. So I have and keep those lovely shades of blue around me whenever I can.
Peace and serenity!
I am drawn to the colors of the Southwest. Turquoise and coral is my favorite combination. They really stand out on a black background. That suits me perfectly since I often use black wool for my embroidery projects.
Wow! Such luster in those silk perles! My first favorite color range, for embroidery – clothing – home – almost anything!, is turquoise -> blues -> purples. However, any and all colors are amazing and inspiring! This year in my garden I’ve been adding orange roses, so any color truly goes for me! How delightful to participate in a giveaway, and I hope I win! Whoever does is very lucky!
I tend to go for bright colors. My all time favorite would be turquoise with some hot pink, bright purple, and sunny yellow and a little bit of black. That lime green in the basket just might make the cut also. Thanks for the give away!!!
Ohmigosh that’s gorgeous stuff!! Hope I win!
Hard to narrow it down; however, I am back to working on a project that uses fabrics and trims from ecru through the browns to black, with touches of color. I really like the unified effect it gives.
These would be a lovely addition to my silk stash! I am interested in experimenting with new silks. I have a hard time decided among several favorite pallets. The blue and white of Deerfield Embroidery is one of my favorites, another is the traditional crewel pallet. I do also like the traditional Japanese silk flowers. When I have the opportunity to choose my own colors I tend to choose those in the DMC 500-505 in the green, the 221-225 in the rose shades and similar blues with a gold or yellow thrown in for accent. If I am doing something for Christmas it has to be are the color of Holly berries and the shades of Holly or Boxwood green.
The older I get the brighter my color selection. I am currently making myself nuts with the idea of a four seasons piece. I have always loved pictures and designs depicting the four seasons and finally decided to just create one on my own. My colors will, of course, stay with the seasons but I will choose brighter oranges and yellows for fall and golden yellows for summer with the brightest pinks for spring. Even pretty bright dark blues will be included for winter toned down with some gray. Hope to hear from you soon!
I’m a novice when it comes to using Silk Threads, so it would be great to win some. I love Blue and that’s the colour I always seem to go for, and I enjoy all the variations of blue, although I do love warm Reds, Oranges and Yellows as they always brighten any day. I do challenge myself and try to vary the colour scheme I go for.
I am a thread slut, according to my dh. I love it. Love to hoard, fondle, and stitch with all different threads. My favorite colors are the jewel tones. Royal purple, peacock blue, wine, deep reds are among the colors I tend to gravitate towards. I am a crazy quilter so I do a lot of surface embroidery.
I love colors that jump out at you, vibrant, alive.. I love turquoise, deep green emerald, the blue of the ocean. I guess you can say the darker warm island ocean colors with deep vibrant hues. However, my eyes prefer to work with lighter colors that I can see. Darker colors are harder to work with. I love robins egg blue, a light pink and basically pastel colors as long as they are rich in color.
Those are my favorites.
At the moment I feel drawn to bright colors, pinks, greens, yellows. It must be because summer is coming! I think my tastes change depending on the season and my mood!
I always find myself running back to jewel tones of blue, green, yellow. I like those color combinations often called “Jacobean”. When I combine colors on my own, I tend to be pretty safe. I put blues and greens together and yellows and greens, and so on. I want to try being a little riskier. I see some pieces, quilts and embroidery kits and things, when an artist has put a spice of a color in a “safe” combination. It would never occur to me to put such a strange color in, but when I see it I love it!! I want to learn how to find those colors on my own instead of just copying.
I just love bold, bright, highly saturated (but not neon!) colors. I pretty much never work with pastels or really dark shades.
Hi Mary,
My favourite colour to wear is blue. I’m a “winter” so I’m usually attracted to the jewel colours especially if shades of blue are in the mix. And if they are in the dusty shades all the better such as dusty roses, blues and mauve. To be truthful, there aren’t many colours that I steer away from as most colours have a place somewhere in many embroidery pieces.
I’m drawn to beachie/spring colors. They make me smile as past vacation memories come to mind. Color also depends on who I’m making the project for. If they have a favorite color, I will start with that color then blend others with it.
Mary,
My favorite colour palate is neutrals with a pop of colour like teal or deep purples. I love the whitework flower mandala from Create In Stitch with its grays and cream with the soft aqua to highlight. Or the Needle Delights Originals (Color Delights) where the whole design is a single colour in different shades. Or Trish Burr’s Zentangle birds.
So if I were to be so fortunate to win this give away, I would probably select a few really rich colours to use for those pops of colour in a neutral palate.
Heather
Oh the joys of silk. I have started using more silk in my handwork. I have not had the joy of working with a silk perle yet. Color is another addiction. I am drawn to deep sky blues. I do use a bit of turquoise and some greens. Deep sky blues are my favorites. Thank you Mary for arranging another give away.
Thread junkie reporting as requested: My favorite colors that please my eye are peach and teal. Now my color palette runs the full gamut of emerald greens to mint and royal blue to sky blue and any combination of the two! I prefer woodland greens in my needlework as I enjoy being in the woods with plants and small critters. My color preferences are any color except true ORANGE, however, I do enjoy raspberry, peachy pinks, coral and shades of green and blue.
Carolyn,Freehold
Purple & fuchsia AND turquoise & lime. These are my 2 fav combos. I love the variegated silk or cotton threads. I am currently making cloth art dolls with the feather stitch running up and down their legs and arms, then placing beads at the tips. I LOVE threads. Thank you for this lovely opportunity!
Oh my, that thread looks yummy! Three years ago I became interested in thread or needle painting embroidery, one project and I was hooked. I have not had the chance to try silk thread but I have a feeling that one stitch and I would fall in love. My favorite colors are primarily earth tones although I don’t think I have ever met a color I didn’t like.
Thank you Mary for this opportunity, there will be three very happy people.
I love all colors, and color combos, but one of my favorites is delft blue and sunshine yellows, this combination always catches my eye. I also like monochromatic projects with flowers, etc.. all done in shades of one color like blue or purple.
Choosing colors depends upon what I am working on and who it will be gifted. For myself, I am draw to rainbow colors.
When looking at fabrics, especially silk I always go to jewel tones, but for needlework my favorite color is red!
At 82 I still enjoy embroidering. (with help for the eyes, of course). Just now I am planning a piece of raised embroidery and these gorgeous silk threads would make it awesome. Thank you for the opportunity to wil. joan chance
The color of a kit is not as important to me as the design but when I pick a kid it is usually rich colors Browns, blues, reds. I very much like white on white.
As you are drawn to red, I’m drawn to blue. All of them. I also love an impressionist palette with the lovely contrast between the blues, yellows and oranges. Currently I’m working on an embroidered casket with a fairy theme worked in a rainbow of pastels.
How hard to choose, it depends on what I want to stitch. I love muted greens and vintage colours but also traditional Christmas reds, greens and golds. I’m trying to work the jade dragon at the moment so it is golds, jades and blues. Fuchsias and purples are also some of my favourites so really it depends on the design as well. I’m not so keen on brassy orange colours but tans and yellows can look good. I’m just finishing a 2 metre table runner embroidered with little blue birds taken from Trish Burr’s miniature needlepainting book so have been using various shades of blues and greens. If I’m stuck, nature has a way of giving me lots of inspiration.
I enjoy you hints and tricks! I’m reacquainting myself with embroidery and love it!
I love working with Fall colors – our crazy quilt group just started a block that we’re going to pass around to the other members to embellish a section. I made my block with oranges and browns. I also love soft pastel colors. Thanks for the giveaway.
I liked the dry, muted blues and greens from Anchor thread, and also golden beige and creamy ecru. When I’m in a store, I’m always looking for the perfect lipstick red, so I can put Betty Boop on all my crazy quilts!
Actually, that’s why I finally started to stitch — I would go into a yarn store, and see all these beautiful colors at pennies a skein. I would end up with a pile of floss I had no idea what to do with, and finally give it away. Last year, I decided to actually do something with my stash of floss; serendipitously, I found out that one of my spinning friends also teaches embroidery, and my local senior center has an embroidery class.
I still buy floss just because it’s pretty, but now I have justification. And I’ve been itching to try silk. I want to print something out on those letter-sized silk sheets you can buy (yeah, I bought some. Senior center trip to JoAnn.) and stitch it up in silk. Maybe that prayerbook cover?
I’m a pink and blue person. Flowers are my favorite, as you can never go wrong with them. They don’t have to be perfect to look real. I love three dimensional needlework. Colors affect my mood, and pink is so cherry, any shade or hue. Blue is calming, and we all need that. Of course, you also need a few browns, and greens to liven up the flowers.
There is the best feeling stitching with silk. I would love to use only silk for my projects.
It is hard to pick just one color to be my favorite. I do like teams and browns together. That is just the start of a very long list I could give. I just really like color. I recently purchased some of the DOC cotton floche. Oh my, it is lovely thread. I would love to try the silk. Yummy.
Who can possibly have a favorite color? Sine I usually do reality based subjects, it’s whatever the colors need to be. Having said that, my favorite motifs are trees so I guess the greens and browns would be my faves. In life my favorite color combo is red/green. I know it sounds Christmasy, but think about burgundy and sage etc-
Whatever colors are available would be grand. I’m currently making a stumpwork dogwood petal so white would at the top of the list….LOL
Definitely blues and purples with small amounts of complementary colours.
I don’t have a favorite color. I do what ever calls to me. I do like lots of color and detail in my stitching though.
I’d love to have some silk threads to try….
Delft blue is my favorite. But really anytime I’m hand stitching, the thread color is wonderful.
I thread paint and would love to try these threads. I like the more vintage colors in rose, browns, grey. greens and plum shades. What a thrill it would be to incorporate in any project. Thank you for this opportunity….
I would very much like to try these threads. I have found over the years that I am attracted to bright intense colors, tourquoise, coral, tangerine, emerald green, bright yellow, etc. While I have stitched many kit projects with less vibrant colors, when I review projects that I have determined the color scheme they inevitably turned out to be very bright. Perhaps that is the influence from growing up in the subtropics.
Stitching with silk pearl is a delight to the feel as well as to the eye. It has a lovely permanent sheen to draw the eye to specific design features of a needlepoint piece. I especially like it for satin stitch. It would also work well as a base thread under other stitches in multi step stitches because of it property to reflect light.
Oh, my! What a lovely chance to play with silk. I like pastel brights. In looking at the colors on the website, there are some luscious ones. I especially like berry. Just love your stitch tutorials. Always have to go look again as I can’t remember them. Thanks so much.
I couldn’t possibly have a favorite color palette because it seems each piece of work has different colors needs. I do like the soft, “dusty” colors more than the loud, brights but all have a place.
My favorite color combinations are autumn colors: rust, orange, yellow. I have n0t worked with silk embroidery thread so would love to try it out.
My favorite colors to work with are yellows and greens. Yellow is such a warm, happy color and the contrast with green makes the yellow ‘pop’
I am also a thread junkie. My favorite color combo is green…sage is best….and purple…any shade. I’ve done a few projects in this combo. Right now I am stitching the Teaching Sampler by Emie Bishop from Pieses from my Heart. I then plan to tackle the larger sampler in this booklet. These threads would be beautiful in that.
I love bright jewel-tone colors and never choose to work with pastels. Oddly, though I like darker blues and violets, I use them only in very small amounts needlework. Reds and oranges, honey gold and cream, with a little olive green thrown in–these are my favorites for right now. Dark berry colors with a silvery gray-green and a tiny bit of hot pink is another inspiring combination. And silk! That gorgeous glow just cries out to become a fall landscape of grasses and shrubs along fence rows. For subtlety I like the neutrals best: grayed blacks and off-white, tans and sand colors
OHHHH. Mary…
I don’t usually sew many kits. Right now I’m working on crazy quilting in a toned down version, since I’m making quilts for my grandkids for Christmas. When I do embroider for fun, I find myself gravitating toward reds and blues. Bright colors! I choose bright hues even for my pastels! I don’t use a lot of orange or yellow…they are just not my favorite colors. I do use a lot of different shades of red, blues, greens, even whites. Thanks for the give a way and have a wonderful Memorial Day week end!!!!
Hi Mary,
Thanks so much for another giveaway!! I love using silk thread and I gravitate toward pinks, magentas, purples and blues! I use silk thread and beads in my crazy piecing. I’ve been fortunate to have a collection of tie material and have made numerous purses accented with silk embroidery and beads. Love your newsletter and look forward to it!! Have a great holiday weekend!
Karen
I am consistently drawn to needlework color schemes that are bold, deep and full of flavor. Fire color palettes (red/orange/purple/pink) and water palettes (blue/aqua/black) are my preference in selecting kits and colors. I like seeing all kinds and all colors of needlework, but jewel tones and anything with beads will consistently grab my eye first. Deep plum purple and deep tomato red have emerged as my perennial favorites.
Thank you for this fun drawing. I am looking forward to reading others’ comments.
I love pinks and greens of all shades. I also love deep burgandy and browns. Sometimes I think the piece just lets you know what colors to use. Frankly I just love all colors depending on what I am doing and what works best.
I need more threads like a hole in the head (well, maybe I DO need one of those!!) – but I have never stitched with this particular silk thread! It would be fun!
Colors? Hmm – I have to say that I am a sucker for “natural” colors — greens (particularly goose-turd greens), rusts, and always fall for yellows — those yellows that look like burnished gold, bronze, or metallic. And then there are those “pansy” colors — deep aubergines and carmel. I DO LOVE COLOR!! And every color has its place!! Not a bad one in the bunch!
I love love love color. I tend to gravitate towards deep vibrant ones but every now and then I get in a mood and need to have lots of pastels and neutrals. Contrast is important to me so having a full range is important. Lately my faves have been golds, yellows and oranges. I really think it’s a response to the long Winter we had and I needed to feel like there really was a Spring coming.
My favorite color combination — all of them! Actually, that’s not quite true — I don’t really like brown/tan combinations, or usually not monochromatic ones. Except when I do!. I really like color combinations with a lot of colors!
OMG, when I read your page about silk threads, I was so happy you made a comment about the easy use of silk. My favorite colors is anything purple. Since I was a little girl, purple, lavender, lilac, anything in that color spectrum. When I was 14 a guy asked me what I wanted, I said, a purple rabbit…he brought me a purple baby rabbit. I kept until some one stole it…and I would be so happy to try this brand of silk thread❤️
Hi, Mary. What a lovely give-away. Someone will be so lucky!! My fave color combo is shades of pink/rose & shade of green. I am absolutely STUCK on that. Have a wonderful weekend.
I love the look of silk perle and it is difficult to find. I have been working with pastels recently. My favorite color combination is primarily purple and green. These vary in shades and intensity.I frequently add pink or rose
in with a touch of yellow. These remind me of Spring gardens.
I
Hi, Mary,
Colors- where to start. I love primary colors, purple in almost any shade, oranges and rusts for my pumpkin collection. And one of my recent favorite groupings are the threads in your Kaleidoscope piece with corals, blues, and greens!
Thank you for a great give-away, Mary. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.
Regards,
Sandra Frye
.
With out a doubt all shades of green, yellows, oranges and a few reds. Love to embroidered .
My eye is always drawn to a greyed color palette, I love taupes in all values. That said, I do a fair amount of work in bright, clear colors. Sometimes the design speaks to me, sometimes the threads do, so I can’t say I limit myself to one palette or another. There’s not enough time to use all the coop that appeal to me!
I love the blues, greens, turquoises, teals, purples, pinks and oranges. I do prefer rich jewel tones, fresh spring tones and my favorite holiday Christmas colors. My least favorites are any drab colors, although I know they are needed in some designs.
Thank you for this chance!
I like most colors but teals, blues, and violets are what catches my eye most often. I also like to add gold in a color comb. I would really love to try these silk threads in my bobbin lace work. Silk has got to be my favorite fiber.
I am drawn to the blues and greens of the ocean the most I think. These threads look like they will be beautiful in many different types of projects. Thank you for the give-away and have a wonderful holiday weekend.
I’m always drawn to the jewel tones. Vibrant fuchsia, royal Blue and Purples, leaf greens, sunshine yellows. I am also a lover of everything Halloween and Canadian fall colours. Reds, oranges, browns, yellows, burgundy, greens, etc. that make up the colours of our fall leaves. Always colours that are bright and vibrant. I avoid pastels and muted colours. It’s amazing how many projects I have in my stash that require these colours. Hopefully the beauties will be a bright addition to my collection.
Favorite???? I really do love them all depending on what they are used for. I generally gravitate toward blues and purples and the colors that compliment them, but I’ll also go for fall colors for the richness the colors give.
I enjoyed your article on the S vs. Z twists. It’s good for hand sewers, too, not just embroiderers.
Happy long weekend!
What an honor it would be to receive these lovely threads.
My favorite color combination is shades of brown, green, and aqua in muted shades. These colors are so often
found in school girl samplers which are always a delight to view and to stitch.
I generally love color, and there are few that I avoid. But I am a total sucker for pink & green combinations… have been since I was a little girl. Anything from “ice cream” colors to burgundy and forest. I try to make myself push my color envelope on occasion, but am always drawn to the pinks and greens. (I need to select threads for a dog portrait canvas that I recently had painted, and think I could manage to stay away from my chronic favorites in this case. These threads would give me a great start for developing my palette for the project.)
The silk thread sounds so amazing. Would love to be able to try the silk thread. Am sure that the results would be wonderful. Thank you.
Marty North
Colours , wow, I am always torn between the whites and offwhite combinations and the jewel tones. For basic household linenes I tend to gravitate towards the white work colours , for pillows and decorative items the jewel tones.
I think….. colour is so hard to pin down! It just depends……
Have a great long weekend down there!
I always seem drawn to the palette of teal and salmon or coral. Wheather I am doing floral needlepoint or geometric surface work these colors just seem to speak to me. I have used them repeatedly over the years and never tire of them!
Pink and green are my most favorite colors.
I always seem to lean toward the cool, watery colors. Maybe that’s my Aquarius nature coming out.
My favorite palette for thread work always comes back to jewel tones. For embroidery piece work I will go with not so intense colors as I do motifs that don’t call for the jewel tones. I will bring the intensity down a notch, but when working on crazy quilting pieces I gravitate to the more intense jewel tones as I feel it is a richer look. Saying that though I do work with many shades of color depending on what the project calls for and I love to look and use them all.
So yes, let’s talk about color! I love greens and blues, I always choose those colors. However, lately, I’m forcing myself to go rogue and bought a gorgeous skein of hand dyed perle cotyon
Hi Mary,
I love purple, lavender, and green. I also like magenta and greens. I would love to win these threads. I have just discovered stitching with silk is wonderful.
I have no silk at the moment but I have been looking to get some. I have a lot of designs from art nouveau to some Asian designs that I would love to use these threads for! I love all colors but would probably get a few greens and maybe some warm colors to get started.
So yes, let’s talk about color! I love greens and blues, I always choose those colors. However, lately, I’m forcing myself to go rogue and bought a gorgeous skein of hand dyed perle cotton with shades of grey and yellow. So now I buy three ways, one color in my comfort zone, one set second favorite, which is rose colors and then one colorway totally out of my comfort zone, so far so good. I am looking forward to working with silk, a new frontier! Thank you Mary!
I love rich jewel tone color palettes. A palette of ocean color of aquas, blues, greens with hints of golden yellows or royal purple. Also eclectic color palettes with bright pinks, electric blues, pure orange and yellows.
My favorite color combination varies with the season. If I am looking for something new to work on, I usually go to the watercolors thread selection and choose one that looks good to me and then choose colors from that. I usually go back to blues with rosey reds and blue greens.
For silk, I seem to always gravitate to a jewel tone palette which usually includes blues and purples. I love the richness of silk and the way it works.
What a great give away! I guess I will always lean toward blues and teal colors.
I am drawn to blues and greens. They remind me of nature and, in particularly, the sea. I am reminded of my scuba diving days in my youth, which I so miss. But, blues and greens are all around us everyday, in the woods, in parks, and in my clothes, in flowers and in the animal kingdom.
I don’t get the opportunity to purchase kits, as we are on retirement funds….very limited!! I usually am drawn to pastels in almost everything I do….but your last kaleidoscope project sent me into bright colors to try. I haven’t finished it yet, but will post once done. I chose ones other than yours for it. I have finished a mountain of cross stitch items, still have two mountains to even start!! I have done crewel, small items, and even needle point. I’m mostly into quilting and sewing now, but I do some needle work while watching TV. Colors for Needlework seem to depend on the project for me, but I do love the ones you combine in your projects. Guess this pout is way too long, sorry.
I love silk embroidery thread. The colours are so intense.
My favourite colour combination for my luneville embroidery is gold and bronce combined with red or green. I absolutely prefer warm colours and thinking about doing something klimt inspired with lots of gold and a little bit of red and black.
I’m pretty promiscuous about colors. Lots of combinations make me smile. A favorite crazy quilt block I made was in red-orange and apple green. Bright!
I can’t get enough of deep teal, fuscia, and purple. They go with everything and make a real statement. Those are always, always my “go to” colors. Yummy.
I love experimenting with colour. Watching the effect when a ordinary purple sits next to a jade green and they suddenly jump off the fabric. I’m currently working with soft blues, greens and apricots. Delicious.
Purple and green! For some reason I gravitate to those two colors. I have a couple of those combinations from Color Complements and seem to use them the most. Any bright vivid colors also seem to call to me. Thank you for this giveaway.
Black, gray and blues are my basic colors, but I do go wild sometimes with bold gold, reds and greens.
I seem to gravitate towards the “fall” pallette but have learned that when a design needs a “spark”, add a bit of turquoise. It seems to work with most color combinations.
Ooo; silk thread!! Thanks, Mary and Haystack!
I guess I generally gravitate toward cooler colors: from blue-greens through purple. When I was a child, I had a Snow White coloring book, and I “made” my mom color for me, as her work was neater, but I wouldn’t let her use orange or purple (!) as Ididn’t like them. This made it hard to do the evil queen with her royal [purple] robe and [gold/orange (small box of crayons)] crown. I don’t remember what colors were substituted. 🙂
Deciding on colours is rather hard I find. I love bright colours having lived most of my life under Australia’s very harsh sunlight. Those are brilliant oranges, sunburnt umbers,khaki greens, jacaranda purples etc. Having moved to New Zealand which is a land of rolling green velvets, blues to greys of the sky and glacial blue of mountain streams, this country is of a more subtle palette. These silks would do very nicely in a needlepaint interpretation of this green and gentle land.
Always the hardest part – having to make a choice! My favorites seem to be the yellow/gold, green/turquoise, red/pink colors. A little black to make things pop, a little white here and there…see what I mean?
I pretty much like any of the bright primary colors, but tend to gravitate towards blues and greens. It’s got to be sharp and vivid to catch my attention 🙂
I often choose bright colors for kits since I am not great at putting those together myself, but I always admire it in the work of others. I do find myself drawn to teals and browns though–and earthy colors when I am choosing colors myself.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
Silk embroidery threads! Just when you think you have lots of choices in your stash, Mary posts these luscious threads!
I love colour but I always end up in the red range of the colour spectrum. For me, everything goes with red! Its such a warm and happy colour.
Orange, yellow-orange, Orange-yellow, vermillion, tangerine, pumpkin, no matter what tint, tone, shade or designer name! With a bit of purple and a lovely spring green for pop! To get technical, I like the triad of the three secondary colours in its myriad of combinations…except pastels. Nope, no pastels please.
When I plan a needlework project I want a solid design and color that enhances the design. I gravitate to pinks and reds, simply because I’m a pink-freak. However, in my self-interest of not overwhelming all my work with that color and not to get bored with it, I try to work projects outside of the realm of pink (lol). You can bet if I’m fortunate and “win” one of the three prizes that “pink” and “bon-bon” will be two of my thread choices.
I love the colors of Turquoise blue and Golds together. Blues, yellow spectrum., greens and rose colors are what grabs my eye in a kit. I always seem to go back to turquoise, lime green, browns. Depending on the design, I like a variety of colors but not the pastel ones. A little bolder. A kit I am working on now is all muted blues and some greens. I find this makes a project monotonous so I have added my own spin with a bit more yellow.
Hello Mary. I am
Writing this from santorini Greece the lovely blue and white of the island remind me how these colours add sparkle and brightness! So these are my new favourite colours and I will add a splash of rust colour to the palette to add some earthiness. Thanks for the giveaway. Cheers!
I have an unhealthy adoration for everything that is purple, so that will always catch my eye. Cool palettes in general also do, probably because they so often have purple – but I’m a fan of green and blue as well!
And then for a complete turnaround, I also love autumn palettes.
My favorite colors that I use are in the rose, red, plum, green and blue hues. I generally do landscape scenes and stay away from creme, browns and orange.
I would like to try the silk thread, because of the sheen of the thread as opposed to cotton threads.
Love your chatty and so informational blog. I enjoy adding embroidery to quilt blocks
For added textural interest. Shades of yellow brighten my days, and I use them whenever I can. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.
My color preferences run toward the lavender-purple-blue range. I also like the teals and greens that are seen this time of year. What catches my eye in catalogues are things worked with lavender or peacock colors.
Wow let’s talk about colour! Colour for me is everything around me, I am often inspired by seeing flowers or the ocean or fields of vegetables growing. I am lucky to live near to the sea and the rugged old sea walls and the walls that divide the farmers fields all have age old lichen growing on them so the acid yellows, bright greens, blue of the ocean and white of the surf create so many ideas that I love to get down onto cloth so I can keep that colour alive forever. I work in wools for a crewel work project or silks for a long and short stitch project. I once did a Magnolia flower in silks and a Robin (bird) in silks and I feel they have been some of my best pieces of work. I would choose greens, purples and pinks if I were chosen. Thank you
I tend to go for jewel tones, but really I like almost all colors. Right now I’m into aqua’s, teals, salmon, peach – restful cool colors for summer. I can’t discount the greens either – love nature’s colors.
I love giveaways, and silk thread. The colors that I love the most are dark purple, medium pink and light green. Some of the colors in your basket on the photo on needle ‘n’ thread I also love fushia and a light yellow and cream. Thanks for the good work.
What a great giveaway! My favorite color combination is pastel…particularly pinks and greens. Thanks for the opportunity!
When I retired a few years ago I gave away or sold all of my dark and gloomy colored canvases. Since then I am attracted to happy colors – robin egg blue, rosey pink, golden yellow. I’ve invested in some Santa canvases in non-traditional colors such as shades of pink with white and a gorgeous lavender with olive green. I stitch with happy colors!
I have never used perle silk thread. My Grandmother taught me how to do needlework when I was young. I am 60 years old and still learning with every project I do. Your knowledge and blog have helped me stich outside the box. The pinks, purples and violets are my favorite. They are the colors I tend to continually find my self using. I also like to use the different colors of the ocean. Very light and airy, yet deep and beautiful.
Oh, what delectable colors from which to choose. I guess I tend to go with my favorites……teal, burgundy, clay, ivory, muted green and generally earth tones. I hope I have the chance to choose from these colors. The sheen and elegance of silk threads have not been in my experience yet so I would love to be able to work with some of these lovely threads. Thank you for the opportunity to at least dream a bit.
I love all colors!!
Who can go past silk threads to work with?The idea of silken spools is genius and makes it so much easier to use and store the thread.I love the saturated colours and the smooth sensuousness of the silk.For me I prefer the Venetian colours with their rich palette.Thank you Mary for your wonderful site and all the information you post.
Jenny Flexeder
I love bright happy colors 🙂 and gold metalwork.
I am always being drawn back to what some people call “underwater” colours, soft purples, grey purples, bluish purples, the rich blue of a peacock, a mix of blues from grey toned to red toned. A collection of greens – usually leaning to the blue side of the colour wheel, and for a little bit of pop I will add some of the soft pinks.
Thank you so much Mary and Needle in a Haystack for giving us a chance to win this luscious prize.
Finally I would like to wish a happy weekend to all.
I base my color choices on a several criteria: the purpose of the piece, where it will be used, and color scheme of the room it will be in. My personal favorites colors are purples, pinks, and aqua/turquoise. I rarely buy a kit because I prefer choosing my own colors. For needlework I like to use colors together that can be used for shading or highlighting and colors with a lot of contrast such as burgundy and honey. When I look at someone else’s work my eye is first drawn to pure color palettes, bright reds and yellows, but my favorites go back to the softer, feminine colors. If I were to choose colors to experiment with to try silk floss for the first time I would probably select purple, peacock, poppy, leopard, bonbon, and celadon. For several years I have been collecting velvets, silks, brocades, and other “fancy” fabric scraps for a crazy quilt and think silk thread may be the most appropriate for the decorative stitchery.
Ah, color, I love it all! I love redwork, so of course red would be in my favorite color palette. I like primary colors and return to them often. I also love turquoise, purples, and bright greens together with a little yellow or pink to contrast the cool colors.
Jewel tones always grab my eye!
NIAH has a delightful selection of colors, any of which I’d be happy with. As I mused over this challenge, I remember your mentioning once, I think, purple and green. I thought at the time, yes, I’ve long loved that combination. I saw a performance of clog dancers once who had brilliant purple and green costumes. The sight has always stuck with me. Appropriately, they have both Violet and Lawn, which seem destined to be used together.
It’s truly hard for me to pick just one favorite color. I love jewel tones, and peacock colors, and icy pastels, and tropical brights, and, well, it’s easier to list the few colors I don’t like. My favorite color changes from one day to the next, but it will definitely be somewhere in the green/blue/violet chunk of the color wheel.
Right now I am drawn to reds. I also like brown and blues together. If the design colors work well together I like just about everything.
I’m always drawn toward blues, particularly teals or shades like London blue topaz. Deep rosy pinks usually get me too. I’d love to try these threads, I haven’t worked with silk yet.
I’m drawn to any shade of green, but that yellowish spring green is my favorite. I love intense, rich jewel tones and only go to pale shades to provide gradations or a bit of contrast. I also like to jazz up the color in more traditional designs putting on a contemporary spin.
I’m drawn most to soft natural colors – neons and too vibrant colours are pretty but I prefer colours I can live with whether that’s in a kit or a project I’m choosing myself 🙂
Hi Mary
Most colours appeal to me, but if I have to really choose something, they are usually ‘dull’ muted colours, eg shades of dull pinks, greens, blues, apricots. They seem softer and easier to match with other colours. This way I can glitz them up by adding gold and silver threads and sometimes beads. When choosing a kit, the colours are usually my first choice, rather than the design itself. Being in a craft shop with threads is like a child being in a candy shop with lollies – oh, the choices offered! Chris
I love de-saturated tertiary colors – soft greens, dusty reds, dark blue, grey. And then sometimes I go a bit wild – goldenrod and spring green and aqua! But mostly I come back to the soft deep colors.
Thank you, Mary! I hope you have a lovely weekend.
I love warm earth tones, terracotta, sage green and dusty blues, and warm sand.
I am working on a beach themed quilt for my granddaughter now, using the colours,
And find the color palette very relaxing.
I LOVE COLOR! Always have, from my first needlework project, a tea towel, at my grandmother’s knee, when I raided her box of floss for a rainbow of seven colors. Many decades later, I find I still love to play with color – I love how shades of a single color blend together, I love how complementary colors (never thought I’d love blue and orange the way that I do now!) play off of each other, and I love love love my color wheel.
I am especially drawn to the color palette of Fall season. When visiting my local needlework shops
I am fortunate to see many beautiful completed projects.
I always find myself “ooh-ing”
and “ahhh-ing” whenever I see a Fall, Thanksgiving or even some
Halloween pieces. I’m not a bright
or pastel colorist. I choose the
muted or even neutral colors. creating something texturally interesting with related colors (next to each other on the color wheel, or
analygous ) is a good challenge for me.
Colors!! Oh my goodness, what glorious colors. How does one choose? Picture the yellows and oranges that are in an early morning sunrise, the mauves and purples that accompany the sunset – the blues of the skies in between times. The greens of the grasses and trees – the myriad of color of flowers and birds, wow, what wonderful colors abound. My favorite? Earth tones that soothe the frazzled spirit, the vibrant hues of the purples that spark the imagination of projects to come, the ever calming blues. When I have the opportunity, I love to use blacks and whites together to bring elegance to my project. Have used silks in my cross stitching, but would love to incorporate silks into my surface embroidery work, hope I’m the one drawn.
Color is happiness. In the dark of winter you pull out sunny yellows and blues but in the spring and summer your imagination can fly. I think we all have some colors or combinations that make us uncomfortable, for me it’s reds. I’m colorblind and red is one of the colors I definitely have trouble seeing. I am so careful to try and make them flow but I question my choices. I ask my daughter and she tells me where I’ve messed up.
I love using somewhat eclectic mix of colors in personal projects. I like contrasts and playing tonal variations. I remember taking a bargello class and opted to choose an alternative color palette. I started the project with metallic silver braid for the base line. Then I used a deep burgundy, a blue-toned green, a pale silvery toned thread with a hint of amethyst and a deeper toned purple. The gradients from dark to light and back with silver accents was very different from the rest of the class.
I still use the pattern to play with color and texture by combing different types of threads. I don’t get to stitch as much as I would like but this is something I can do when I have a few minutes to stitch.
I can’t wait until I finally have enough space and time to work on the bigger projects.
Wow – love the look of this thread! Plus the opportunity to win!
Thank you for the instructions for stitching “Z” twist thread. I can see that it would be very disappointing to not follow the guide lines.
Looking forward to winning, stitching and displaying!
Reds!
I’m like a hummingbird, attracted to anything red.
I like bright and happy colours.
I really like blues combined with silver. I an about to start an elephant design and plan to use grey, blue and silver instead of the reds and golds the pattern calls for.
My colour preferences tend to either all types of purple, not that I’m obsessed, or the gentle pastel shades. Of course it depends on the subject but recently on a community project where we all chose our own colours I found myself drawn to one persons choice. Their needlework was done in all the colours of the spectrum but muted shades and it looked breathtaking. I’ve given it a lot of thought and plan to try working more with gentle shades although I wonder if I have as good an eye as my fellow needle worker.
Love Green! I seem to fit in Paternayan 612 Green in all my needlepoint and love it with blues or bright yellow gold. It looks fresh and happy!
Oh man! Colors can be so hard to pick. I usually pick bright colors. I really like blues, and greens. I have to focus on not picking those sometimes. My favorite towels I did were all blue snowmen.
The pattern determines the color sometimes for me. I don’t know a better way to describe it other than the pattern or parts of the pattern will “speak” what color it wants.
These silks look perfect for needlelace! I love many different color palettes, but my two favorites are sets of neutrals and bold, brilliant sunset colors.
Red and black. I want to do one of those counted canvas kimonos in the combination 🙂
Since you reviewed it, I’ve been looking at this silk for a project that I have brewing.
My favorite color palette is shades of grey and black and white with a pop of lime green, turquoise or orange. When I embroider on my clothes, I try to stick with these neutrals and a pop ‘o color. I just finished a bicycle on a shirt. The bike is all in greys the tires are black and white, and the basket is full of flowers I used lime green and orange. I auditioned the shirt with every pair of slacks I have and it went well with all.
I’ve done your heart of flowers in these colors and its amazing how great it looked.
I have not had the pleasure of using this silk thread, but would love to try in in some of my embroidery. I love the warm colors in red and yellows and keep coming back to these shades. Thanks and have a great stitching weekend.
I love the fall of the year and fall colors. The combinations of rusts, golds in all shades, dark reds, muted greens with some orange thrown in always catches my eye.
I particularly like rich, intense color these days. I’ve moved away from traditional pastel embroidery. I’m being influenced by the new wave of interest in all types of embroidery. Kimika Hara uses many colors to create her amazing embroidered images and has excited me to try dark background fabric to set off the jewel tones.
I think my favorite color really is majenta, somehow it always excites me. I used to be a green girl, and I still love them but not the mustardy ones I see a lot these days. I’m working to overcome the Villager clothing influence of my teenage years and plunge into color soup. If only I had the time to create what my mind can think up!
Kathryn
All the colors found in a big bunch of lilacs, which includes all the range of purples, violets, red violets, pinks, creams and white, with browns and greens. So lovely. Too bad they don’t have that lilac fragrance as well.
My favorite colors are greens and blues. I just started embroidering again, after several years. That’s how I ended up finding Mary’s website, and enjoy it very much. After reading in her website about silk thread I bought one color to find out If I liked it. I do !
My favorite color combination has to be almost anything with copper in it! Throw in some purple or turquoise or maybe even some hot pink, and I’m a happy camper. I also tone on tone combinations – most frequently in gray. Such a contrast in color choices.
I love color, deep rich “royal” colors that seem to pop off the linen. Working with silk threads is a newer experience for me. It is an experience I am loving.
I am always drawn to soft colours like white, cream, beige and colours in soft soft tones. My love is whitework but I have picked up a sampler kit and it has a lot of colours in it but they are very soft and I know I will love it.
As I look through some kits being offered I can see I’m starting to branch out since these are now catching my eye and they are very colourful.
The more I explore the needle world I can see I’m going to have to start expanding my colour palette. I see this as an exciting adventure.
I would love to win some exciting new threads to give me that push into the thread world with colour.
I find that I always have lots more beads in shades of lavender, purple, aqua, teal and all the varieties in between. Now that I am embroidering more I am seeing the same trend. So I realize that those are the colors and that is the palette I keep coming back to. It just pleases my eyes to work in these shades.
Thanks for the great website. I have learned so much from you.
I love working with purples but when I look at the list of colours available that lime is just screaming to be used in an obnoxious manner. It would look great with purple. 🙂
My favorite color combo for needlework projects is darkish blue, darkish red, and gold.
Color: blue and gold is my favorite color combination!
I like realistic colors for realistic embroidery products. I always hope the colors are bright because they make me happy. Some of my favorite colors are: red, yellow, orange, and turquoise.
Cathy
I’m drawn to anything in the blue range, but am more than happy with lots of other combinations too. I often alternate between a muted project and a bright one – covers all bases!
I most often gravitate to greyed out shades of pink, if my thread stash is anything to go by! I seem to acquire duplicates of those when there is a sale… All the soft, antique looking shades in purples, too. I also have a yen for antique gold and turquoise blue. I think growing up in the southwest did that to me!
Of course, I’m the person who will get a wild hair and decide to do something in saturated orange and saturated purple, like a bird of paradise flower, too! And if I’m working on a black background, I will gravitate to bright pink.
HI Mary! I am a beginner at embroidery and find I am drawn to the berry to pink colors. They remind me of my favorite flowers which are peonies. I do love the blue “E” monogram that you completed as well. Thanks for your news letter which helps answer many of my questions.
Blue, blue, blue! Yup, I love blue; however, I love using blue with purple, or red, and even yellow. I don’t think a color exists that I wouldn’t use at some point. I am a new quilter; however, my experience as a watercolorist has been a tremendous aid.
I definitely like deep, vibrant colors, and prefer them to muted pastels. I love deep reds and blues particularly. Also like violet and deep plum. I enjoy working with different shades of the same color – a variegated red, for example, is so versatile with Christmas ornaments.
Thank you for this generous giveaway, and your fascinating newsletter!
Bright! I love using vibrant colors. Purples, oranges and teals seem to draw me in first. Right now I’m working on a piece that has hot pink and lime green mixed with gold metallic threads.
I am drawn to #1 blues & greens. #2. Reds & black
I love monochrome scales. Every colour is beautiful as long as it is black. So, yes, greyscale rules for me. Love neutral scale as well. Third place is equally shared by teals and burgundies. What is yours, Mary?
I’m drawn to blues and greens with hints of red to purple thrown in for accent.
My favorites are peach, blue, teal and all the pastels. Designs or kits with a Victorian theme always grab my attention.
I would love to try working with silk…. I’ve only had very limited experience … and it was black! My favorite colours are the blue spectrum… green/blue/purple….. peacock or ocean colours
I love heather hues, purple,blue,pinks and green, these are the colours that surround me at home,they make me feel relaxed and happy. Thanks for this opportunity to work with silk,something I have never done before.
I think I am most drawn to pink and green combinations. However, I’m doing my house in teal, cream and dark brown, so I guess I like those, too.
My color choices usually end up being fall colors (red, gold, brown, black) with a primitive feeling. They feel like home to me.
I have to say that I like color – all colors. It depends on the subject of the piece. I tend to go for brights, but have been wandering into earth tones with some new pieces. I’m working on translating some Native American pottery and baskets into a needlepoint hence my new affinity for “clay” and “straw”. I also love jewel tones – such as ruby, emerald, and lapis. This us a classic combination that always works for me – especially with geometrics.
I am drawn to kits that use greyed blues and greens as a background. I like to see any bright colour in the foreground because I love the way things pop. A muted background and a couple of red flowers or a bit of royal blue trim on a white house and I am happy.
I love purples and golds, browns and other autumn colors, I love reds. I love warm colors. Basically, I love them all. Nature gives them all to us and they are beautiful.
I like pinks and greens together, especially fuchsia and lime green. My favourite combo would be 5 colours: pale, medium and fuchsia pink, lime and a cool darker green.
I love the forest colours of crewel embroidery. I also love the blue and white of the crewel embroidery known as deerfield.
Hello Mary,
I don’t think I have a favourite colour palette I think it depends on the project….however saying that pink does seem to pop up a lot!!
I love colour. Bright clear colours. I can’t resist buying anything with orange in it. I seem to be hooked on and attracted to variegated colours right now.
Thanks Mary for the give away. I enjoy reading you newsletter.
My favourite colour is blue. Then red and white. Having discovered silk threads in the last couple of years, they are a pleasure to work with. Would love to add some more colours to the ones I have.
First, to be honest I would use any color of silk thread over any other thread hands down. Silks are just delightful to work with and definitely spoil you. The colors are just so vibrant with their deep brilliance, incredible shine & luxurious texture. They are truly beyond compare. That’s obviously why they’ve been used for centuries. Any heirloom project I do I always use silks. For me it was truly love at first stitch. Even though I cringed at the cost of all the silk threads I required for my very first silk project.
My favorite color combination for needlework are rich gemstone colours that pop like Emerald , Tanzanite, Amethyst, Pearl, Opal, Ruby, Sapphire, Aquamarine, Diamond, Topaz, Diamond, Garnet & Turquoise. Kits that catch my eye are always cooler color palettes with purples, blues, turquoises and greens. Sometimes with gold accents that are bold and vivid. Red, Mauve, Teal, Forest/Fern Greens and Wedgewood blue are colors I like to see best in needlework. I am also always drawn to golds accents. I certainly have very distinct & selective color preferences in my life. As in the color clothes I wear, the color schemes in each of the rooms of my house but yet I’m very eclectic. Sometimes despite my style, usual preferences, & the color palette preferences sometimes it just comes down to the needlework design. I’ll happen across a project design that just catches my eye & makes me stop in awe! Something that is unique, original & simply breathtaking. The type of project that speaks to me and the funniest thing is it will be in a palette I wouldn’t choose or colors I wouldn’t think I’d like if it was described to me but yet it works perfectly, looks brilliant & I just have to have it. I definitely have needlework impulse control issues.
I’ve been drawn to purple/ teal combinations for years. Occasionally I’ll throw in a light pink or pale blue or green just to pop in an area. I’d love to try some silk threads!
For me color depends on the projects. I tend to gravitate toward the muted shades in any color group but also like brights, especially when working on something fun and funky.
But then I’ll see a color combination that I normally don’t like and go WOW, never would have thought that would work together and now want to do something in it. Thanks for the give away and for your awsome posts
I love stitching in shades of pinks/purples, and also greens. A lavender & green combo will always attract me, plus I love to add a sparkle of gold or silver, or some sparkly beads.
I have to say any shades of purples! I like to blend in greens and yellows to make my purple stand out!
What gorgeous thread! I love the special sheen of silk 🙂 As for colours, my favourites are “floral colours” – a yellow for flower centers, pinks, blues, lilacs and white for petals and two or three shades of green for the leaves. One of the best things about needlework, in my opinion, is being able to stitch “everlasting flowers” LOL 😉 Thanks for the great giveaway!
Teals, purples and greens go great together for me. They can be all pale, all bright or somewhere in between.
Hi, where to start! I just love colour. But always seem to lean to blues & greens. I have always wanted to try stitching with silk but never been game enough.
Your embroidery is so lovely. I enjoy embroidery by hand as well as using my embroidery machine. I would love to try embroidery using these lovely threads.
I love vibrant color, my favorite is lavender and purple tones. I have not tried these silks yet, but the majority of projects that I stitch are in silk and metal and I am always looking for new silk threads to add to my stash.
I think my favorite color combo is the colors of spring. Those soft not quite pastel colors that only appear in early spring. I also love any blue green combo. I’m always trying to improve my color confidence when choosing colors.
I just love a pink/turquoise/red/lime green combo. Catches my eye every time whether in fabric, clothing or thread.
Colour! The brighter and clearer the better for me. I am instantly drawn to bold, primary colours especially worked on a black background.
Hello Mary,
I love blue and all the nuances that go with, from green-blue to red-blue, etc. Maybe it’s because I went very sick as a baby and my mother asked the Virgin Mary to help me. And then she promised I would wear blue to thank her. It could have made me «sick » of blue, but it is the contrary. And I don’t always wear blue clothes anyway (lol)…
Thanks for your so interesting blog.
Diane from Montréal in Québec
I love all colors have always liked blue and yellow and am in the middle of a project using blues ,yellows and greens with a hint of orange.The shades of colors is what enamours me.
Bright colors appeal to me when selecting threads for a project — esp.
purple, orange, yellow and red. The flowers that I plant in my garden
are mostly those colors with clusters of white blooms to accent them.
As a quilter, I have done many red-work projects. But, red is my least favorite color……Isn’t that funny? My favorite colors are blue, green, and purple. I also love the combination of turquoise and lime green. When you were working on your Modern Crewel piece, my mouth was watering! Love your work and I have learned so much from you. Thank you.
Thanks for the giveaway opp! I love greens, all shades of green. I like medium bright colors, super brights are not really for me. I love what I consider “colonial colors” especially in my rug hooking projects. Hope you enjoy a great holiday weekend mel
How to pick a favourite colour… definitely too hard!! It depends on my mood and the project I’m working on. The season has a lot to do with my colour choices too – in summer cooler colours are the go while in winter the warmer colours are it. Brights, pastels, reds, greens, browns, all colours are fab! Thanks for the opportunity to win some yummy silks.
I love the color combination of blue and yellow. I like bright colors, they make me happy.
What a wonderful offer! Thank you Mary. And thank you Needle in a Haystack. My favourite palette for embroidery is soft rose pink, pinky red, soft bluey greens with a touch of sapphire blue and golden yellow. I also love the grey-greens and reds of the Australian bush, again with a touch of yellow or white.
It is easier to say which colours I avoid – which are the oranges and autumn tones of gold, tans and olives. Give me clear colours from the cool side of the colour wheel, the fushias, purples, violets, blues and blue-greens. I stitch with intense colours mainly but also like the tints and pastels. A kit using whispers of colour will always attract my eye.
This is a lovely give-away, thank you Mary and Needle in a Haystack for the opportunity.
My favorite color palette is purples/pinks.
Always have been. I sometimes have to force myself away from those colors so everything won’t all blend together. I love the feel of silk and silk and wool.
Hi Mary, many thanks for another give away, I would love to try the silk thread, I do a lot of surface embroidery, particularly on bags, it would make quite an interesting experiment for me.
I love using a range of colours for a bright peacock feather, re turquoise, orange, yellow and ink blue, also I love a range of pinks with cream, I have a favourite of white with small areas of flowers in lilac, pink, yellows with shades of green for the follage.
Enjoy the holidays Sue.
Hmm, I love all colours but I am drawn to creams, greens and golds, and these tend to be my go to combinations for stitching. Colours that tend to be quieter or where there is a gradation of a single colour usually grab my attention . I do, however, like to stretch myself at times and can be stitching with plums, teals, and bronzes. Colour choices tend to reflect my mood at the time and can add a lot of fun and excitement to a project. Of course,sometimes, my choices can be a source of frustration or lead me to question….what was I thinking……but that is half the fun. Nothing like placing colorful threads together to get your creativity going.
Blue! I’m obsessed with shades of blue… From very light blue to dark royal blue! Put aqua and turquoise in the mix, with a twist of sunny yellow and you’re instantly on holidays by the Mediterranean see!
My favorite color combinations are usually aqua, blues and greens along with jewel tones for accent. These colors of remind me of water bodies, maybe island themes. Guess I am more pro light than dark colors. Having something as elegant as these threads would certainly be inspiring! Many thanks for the opportunity.
Color is so wonderful. Love all the colors, but my favorites are the greens, blues, and purples.
I gravitate towards reds, yellows and purples. In my needlework & even in my garden:)
What colors do I like? Jewel Tones. Oh, and pastels. Oh, and neutrals… It’s sort of like asking me what my favorite hymn is. When our daughter was young she would say, “Mom, you like all the hymns!” And that’s true of color as well. I like all the colors and most color combinations.
However, not every color combo is appropriate for every embroidery piece. I like dark purple to light purple for shadows and if it’s a landscape piece, I like to pare dark greens and oranges with it. If it’s an ecclesiastical piece, reds and gold or blues and silver often work best.
The pieces I like to work on best are personal representations of paintings from the Louvre or the British Museum or the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. The color combos in those are delightful.
How strange..I put down my wildflowers pattern to choose threads for the project..read your email..and…wow! Please be my random name that is chosen..as always I wish to embroider my flowers in soft colours..blue, green, creams and soft lilac blue. Every time! loooovvvvee it!
Life is colour, it is all around us. Sun coming up in the morning shinning on the dew on plants. A sheen of greens, reds, pinks, yellow and blues. Colour puts a smile on my face, flowers show me in my garden. It’s a mood I am in to pick one colour over the other or for who, adult or child, so any colour run will do. Silk the master of threads would love to try and feel the way they work.
The colors of the peacock have to be my favorite ones. The Incandescent blues, teal, magenta, gold, greens, white, silver, and more intrigue me. They is a plethora of combinations and different hues to try. The colors make me think of royalty, jewels and times gone by. I find it difficult to finish a project should it not have some of these brilliant colors in it.
Anything just as long as it’s bright. I am not a neutral or pastel sort of person. 🙂
I like soft earthy colors, what I think of as colors you would see on an antique sampler (and, yes, I realize they would have looked different originally). For a shinier silk thread though the earth tones don’t lend themselves as well. A range of ocean blues is irresistable!
The reds always seem to beckon me whenever I enter a shop. If I’m stitching something that should be only black and white a little red finds it way there too. However, I do like to experiment with colour combinations so I am open to all colours. That is what embroidery is all about to me – colour.
PURPLES! I love the way different shades of purple go so nicely together. Through in some green it will be striking every time. Would you be surprised to see all the purple flowers in my gardens?
This silk thread looks so lovely. It would be great to try some out!
Thank you Mary for this opportunity, I really enjoy reading your newsletter…
My favourite colour palette is different I think with each sampler since I’m more drawn to symmetry than colour…but I can always count on Reds to catch my eye and make me smile! Red, burgundy, pinks…so pretty!
I love to try new things. These threads look beautiful and would be wonderful on a shirt back. Something large and showy. I choose colors based on what I am making or who I am making it for. Hope you have a wonderful holiday full of stitches.
Oooo, who could pass up a chance to have a go with those pretty threads? 🙂
Personally, I have a great fondness for blues and greens (and blue-greens), although really I love all manner of colour combinations and will happily throw a rainbow of colours at a project if I think that’s the way it should go. But my current embroidery project, which is for ME(!), is a blue-blue/green-white gradient of French knots. It’s not got very far yet, but already it’s starting to get a great texture and look. 🙂
I am usually attracted to the blue and green range. I love them together, and I like to find unusual colors that I can adorn with a touch of blue or green. I embroidered a bunch of monogrammed hankies for Mother’s Day, and one of my favorites had as its dominant color a subtle ivory/yellow. A soft moss green was the perfect highlight.
Mary, thanks so much for your site! I spend an unconsionable amount of time on it, and have learned so much.
I am always drawn to pinks and greens!
I used to love spring colors-pinks, pale greens. As I age I find myself going back to my much younger days. I’m attracted to the oranges and dark greens of the 70’s. Maybe because I’m in the “Autumn” stage of my life, waaay past spring?!
Color is busting out all over some of my favorites are the purples teals greens it’s hard not to love all the colors in silk I am working on a mermaid for my great granddaughter for her 5th birthday the silks would add a beautyful touch of color. I enjoy reading your emails
I just started embroidering and your website has been so helpful! I’m a trial and error kind of girl and you’ve saved me from some unnecessary trials! I have been doing lots of baby bibs. They’re small and easy to complete in a reasonable amount of time! I am thoroughly enjoying lots of small flowers in Victorian style colors. Thanks for all your help!
What beautyful bright colors they remind me of Easter I am working on a mermaid for my great granddaughter who will be 5 the teals would be a beautyful addition to the design
Silks are the most beautiful embroidery threads ever!
I love working with silk thread and silk fabric. this new perle 12 silk sounds delectible.
my favorite colors would be based on the klimt painting “The Kiss” and I would be honored to work with them.
When working with thread, I tend to pick shades of pink. There’s no one single shade that I like, but I love using a combination of pinks from light to dark in a single project. There’s just something so delicate and sweet about the color.
I have’t looked at kits in a while, but when I have browsed them in the past, it wasn’t really based on color, but more on image. I always figured I could change out a color if I didn’t like it.
As for what colors I love to see in needlework, there isn’t a single set. I do love shades of blue worked together, in combination with green. Sort of peacock colors. So pretty.
And I have been thinking lately about doing a project with the colors of the rainbow. I think that could look amazing if done right.
No matter the time of year I wonder “how many shades of yellow” to stitch the aspen leaves in fall or “how many shades of violet” to capture the lilacs as they bloom in spring? Is it an obsession or simply curiosity? Regardless color is my needlepoint passion!
Hi Mary,
What a wonderful give away! I have to say I love to keep with jewel tones when I stitch. Garnet red, emerald green, amethyst purple, and sapphire blue. I think they give my embroidery a definate richness and all seem to go together so well. I do try to branch out and try new colors but seem to always come back to my favored jewel tones.
I love love love peacock colours – where ever go the glorious rich purples, teals, blues and greens grab my attention. I’ve never worked with silk before so I would love the opportunity to try it out. I’ve already been on the Needle and Haystack website, so if I win, I already know which colours I’ll be choosing :-), thanks Mary.
I am drawn to pinks/mauves, blues and gold. Thanks for offering such a neat give-away.
It is such a pleasure to work with beautiful threads. The s vs z explanation pictures are wonderful.
Oh, how I would LOVE to have these to try out on my artwork pieces. I’ve wanted to try some Brazilian stitches and these sounded like they would work because of the twist.
Colors, hmmm, that’s a tough one. It depends on the artwork piece, so I’m going to go for another approach. I absolutely LOVED your piece done from the Secret Garden book with the 2 birds. I loved everything about it, the design, the colors you chose, the stitches you chose… I keep hoping you do another one on that same order. I really looked forward to each post on that piece and rather miss them. It was stunning when completed.
Thanks for the chance. Crossing fingers, gosh, I want to win this so badly I can almost taste it! LOL. Have a wonderful weekend Mary, and everyone.
I’d love the chance to work with these threads. I’m exploring all the options but most love the intense saturated colors.
Hi, Thank you for the opportunity to contend for this amazing set of silk threads. I live in a rural area of Western Australia, Australia, and have great difficulty buying any threads so beautiful as I usually need to order online, which then demands high fees to post them to me, being away from major areas and usually sent from USA.
I would be ecstatic and really honoured if I am chosen. Thank you for the great give-a-way. You always have such wonderful things. I usually don’t win contests as my address has a hefty postage and handling fee.
Best wishes,
We’ve had the most stunning autumn here in Australia. As it is drawing to a close, its been a kaleidoscope of plums,scarlets, bright greens and yellows ranging from bright to dark orange. These colours excite and inspire me. Its been so dry and even the dead brown leaves on the ground are delightfully soft palettes of brown. The eucalypts still drop leaves though not really deciduous trees, but the colours are amazing in each leaf! I can’t walk without stopping, photographing and collecting these wonderful individual colour palettes. Its just the best – the very best inspiration for finding threads in all textures to replicate these gorgeous colours. A joy!!!
Color! Love it! But which to pick??? depends! Depends on if I want to catch your eye or if I want to “live with it.” For the “catch your eye” projects I often pick black and jewel tones. I love the intensity and the contrast against the black. For things I need to live with I almost always fall back to taupe and teal of varying shades. I find them most serene and comforting and quietly appealing.
The colors I love depend on the project and my mood. I love the delicate colors for heirloom rose, cream, yellows, lavendar, also love the deep rich colors of purple, blue, green or colors that remind me of a getaway to the tropical islands with ocean blues and greens and sand colors and of course the bright colors of autumn. Color my world! Would love the oportunity to win any of these colors! thank you!
I am a novice stitcher but find myself using greens, blues and pinks repeatedly. I admire the brighter richer colors but then I pick the soothing hues of soft pink, soft blue and soft greens. Since I embroider mostly for doll clothing I suppose those colors are the most appropriate.
I am drawn to greens and blues. I prefer more traditional colors and in muted shades or pastels. The theme of the project will dictate the color choice. I do not like to work with very bright vibrant colors – maybe because these would be found in a more “modern” themed project. While I can appreciate the beauty of such a piece, it is just not my choice.
Thanks for the chance to try this thread as a gift!
My favorite color combos are chartreuse to lime green with a deep plum or purple. It sets one another off very nicely.
I just love working with dreamy blues, greens, a touch of reddish orange, and a splash of turquoise!
I enjoy garden scenes in surface embroidery so my favorite color combination for those projects are the colors from nature like the various shades of green, a really daffodil-yellow, and a pansy-purple. I always return to this group of colors when I do a “free-hand” embroidery project because I like the way the tendrils of a vine look so delicate & fresh in the various shades of green. If I’m doing another favorite, Jacobean projects, I love the tapestry wool colors to be the dusky shades of autumn like rose, amber, hunter green & brown. The kits that draw my attention are always the kits with those shades of green that I love with a few flowers in true red, baby blue, royal blue & a bright yellow.
You can’t have too much silk thread!
Since I have been working foe a year on a wonderfull piece of Punto antico by Barbara Kershaw, a piece of white work, it is hard to talk about color right now. All I ace seen, except for small side projects have been white. And white is pretty wonderful.
But for my next project itmight be full of the colors of the blooms in the Spring: greens, white, and all shades of pink. I think it is the kinds of colors I am more inclined to use.
Lately my go to colors have been purple, gold, and green. Mardi Gras is one reason for that color combination, but the more realistic reason is the grape leaves, grapes, and grains I’ve been doing.
Hello, I love these colors. All of them. Never worked with silk before, but I am so excited to see these and can’t wait to try some of them. It is hard to choose favorites but I paint pictures and blend my colors, so I would probably choose some that I could use on most anything. Red (403), black (180), lawn (337), purple (218), celadon (863), and honey (505). My color preferences is usually the peacock colors. Bright and bold.
Yes! Let’s talk color! I love burgundy, mahogany, mute greens. These colors make me feel warm. Bring up bubbles of bliss from within. I think it is because these are some of the colors my mom used to decorate our home when I was young. Thank you!
Hello Mary. Thank you for another give away. I would love to winning these threads. Of all your questions I had more trouble with this one. I tend to gravitate toward nature themed projects sew I guess I don’t use alot of bright colors but more muted, landscaped colors, like sands, browns, some pale blues and of course greens for leaves and stems. I sure hope I win.
Great article I hope I win
I usually gravitate towards safe color schemes of tints and shades of one color…and usually in the blue family if I am doing my own choices. If I purchase a kit , I lean towards bright clear color palettes….just don’t feel comfortable pulling my own.
I often go towards autumnal colors..esp. loves the combination of colors that are put out by Gloriana threads..thx for the opportunity
I would love the chance to work with this thread
Thanks for your inspiring articles, materials and information. I love the silk threads. Right now I’m particularly drawn to the blues and greens, and various tones of yellows and golds.
Most times I am drawn to ocean and sunrise colors. But since moving to WA, I am beginning to understand their use of golds, reds and oranges in decorating because of so much cloud cover. I don’t mind a touch of gold and orange/honey colors but I still love my ocean colors most of all!
Thank you for the chance to enter!
I love to embroider, especially when making a quilt. My favorite color combinations are shades of pink, turquoise, cream and gold. I’ve been embroidering since my teens. I find that it is one of the most relaxing things I do. In a palette or kit I usually look for rich hues of gold, oranges, and browns. I really like when I see projects that have lots of color that has been blended for shadowing effects. Your projects tend to intimidate me with the beauty you have created yet they also inspire me to try harder projects.
I notice that when I look at embroidery my eye tends to love the turquoise and blues. But when I saw your prayer book cover in your May of 2015 I loved the greens that you chose to do the leaf. Thanks for the chance to win some beautiful threads!
Oh it is so hard to choose a colour pallette that is my favorite…I adore greens, esp combined with pinks and lavenders. I love brights, but as I stitch mostly samplers I find myself reaching for dusty muted shades. The colour combo of red white and blue is always a favorite, for both the British and American flags. I think I just plain love colour!
I love soft colors and natural colors of nature.But why do I always add a few bold ,bright colors ? Because I want it all and then I might change my mind.
I love reds and gold, with deep forest green and dark blue. And maybe a hint of bright yellow… hmmm and I also like lolly colours together… pink and purple and sky blue and acid green… it depends on my mood!
I love color! I especially am attracted to jewel colors. That are so vibrant and rich and make me smile. Purples, blues and greens are my go to palette. It is the color that grabs my attention first and then I look at the design to see if I need to adapt any parts to my aesthetic. Love the peacock and mermaid-y color schemes. I tend to generally gravitate towards cool color pallets. Although I have been making myself choose colors out of my comfort zone. This would be great to try a range of colors and silk is so nice to work with!
I tend to gravitate to the pink- rose spectrum as well as shades of purples, orchids , lavender and beautiful blues. And of course some yellows and greens for accent. It sounds like the colors of a spring bouquet, which are always welcome to me. Thanks!
Thank you for your wonderful blog! It’s so inspiring and filled with delightful tips. I’d love to be the winner of the gorgeous silk thread – I’m just returning to embroidery after years away and loving it!!!
Wow! What a great giveaway. Thank-you Mary and Needle in a Haystack! Now on to your questions:
What’s your favorite color combination for needlework? Blue, blue, and blue. Blue, tan and white.
Is there a particular color palette that grabs your eye when you look at kits? Bright primary colors: Think FIESTA! (Spanish for party)
Is there a particular color palette you go back to frequently when you select your own colors for a project? There isn’t one particular palette that I go back to because I usually choose the colors with the final project’s use in mind. Am I going to turn a project into a gift? Will it end up as a purse? Then what dress will I wear it with? So choosing a color palette isn’t about me but about the project and how it will be used.
What colors do you like to see best in needlework? Anything bold, bright, and sassy. No gray and pastels for this gal.
Tell me about your color preferences! Blue, bright, and bold!
I love the colors! i love hand stitching
I love all colors. I tend towards more jewel tones, but pastels can be beautiful too. My favorite combinations are Victoriana – dusty pinks, soft greys, creams, and the like.
I love working with silk! I often use recycled sari silk for a ground fabric, and the feeling of embroidering with silk on silk is completely divine.
My color palettes in all things tend towards the cool, saturated jewel tones. I use a lot of overdyed threads, too, that include some brighter colors. I love designing the color palettes for my work, too. I have color cards from DMC and Kreinik and they’re a joy, too.
I find myself drawn to a more antique color palette – dusty rose, golden yellows and colors found in nature. I’ve never used silk threads so this would be a major treat for me as we don’t have any local needlework shops where you can purchase them – just the large chain craft stores that sell the basics.
I use fall colors a lot when doing things for my home. I also use the spring colors when doing projects for others, like my mom. I’m afraid that I am a thread junkie because of the awesome colors.
I love using blues and greens also mixed with some browns I would love the silk thread I have never stitched with it before and it would be a amazing treat
I am all over the place with color. I am equally drawn to the very saturated jewel colors (ruby, tourmaline, sapphire, amethyst), but then again I like the tropical colors of orange, yellow, green, red. Then there are the wonderful earthy colors of the desert sprinkled with the colors of cactus flowers and the sunset.
Anything and TEAL! I think it pairs with (almost) anything: with yellow, it’s bright & refreshing; with greens & other blues, you can get an aquatic effect; with white or creams, it looks very vintage; and my favorite, pairing with brown for a cool/warm counterpoint.
I love rich colors of Brown’s, greens, oranges, dark reds and deep blues. I love the vintage look. It’s probably easier to tell you the colors that I am not drawn to which are pinks and blues together or pastels.
Regarding favorite colors.
I am very interested in Jacobean designs, every time I see a pattern I picture colors like rust, pink, shades of greens and some blues as well. I always seem to be drawn to earthy colors, or colors that would make a design look realistic!
I am still very new at this, but I believe with practice and watching your tutorials will get me off to a good start. I read every email I get from Needle and Thread and save them as well, to refer back to. I am just learning about the different threads, thank you for all your information on the difference. I knew there was DMC, yarn and silk thread but that was the extent of my knowledge! Thank you for the opportunity to win some really fantastic threads!
Hmm, it’s strange but I have two very distinct likes when it comes to colour pallettes. The first is a rich jewel-toned set like in old Victorian crazy quilts, and the other is gentle pastel floral tones, like Edwardian country house style. Different but I’m equally fond of both!
Indigo lavender periwinkle cobalt ..my favorites!
I love working on 1800’s reproduction quilts and am really drawn to the same colors in my embroidery. Turkey Red, Poison Green, Chrome Yellow, Cheddar, Indigo Blue. They initially seem like odd combinations but really look sharp together.
I rather like some of the old colors with funny names like goose turd green and dirty gold. But inevitably when I just grab a color or two especially for monotones, it’s peacock or celadon; those blues they get me every time! I would love to try separating the silk perle and incorporate some of the wavy silk in a sampler, so of course, I would love to win your Sajou fil Chinois give away.
I love jewel tone colors, I love working with bright colors, when I am doing floral or nature inspired embroidery I prefer using natural colors, I would love to give these threads a try, thank you for hosting this give away.
I design monograms and I love to see them embroidered in classic elegant golds, almost any shade of blue and vibrant greens. I also love yummy shades of plain old vanilla creamy white on solid colored linen fabrics. And silk on fine linen = love!
Purple and cream,. Henna and mustard,. Parrot green and peach are my favorites.
I love doing embroidery but have never tried the silk thread. I would love to try it. Thanks for the opportunity to win.
I really don’t have a “go to” set of colors, I don’t think, although I probably favor bright colors over pastels or neutrals. Pick me! I’d love to try these silks!
These threads look wonderful and I would love to try them. I am usually a “blue person” however I have just completed Susan Porter’s Modern Crewel project so I’m favouring turquoises right now.
Green. It signifies life and without it none of us would be here. It’s calming, cool and fresh. As a secondary colour it complements beautifully the other colours in nature. A little blue doesn’t go astray either, another colour which represents water, an essential to life.
I love anything with blue and green, the combination screams fresh to me. As for the kits, I tend to be drawn to the pattern more than the colour. I tend to think of who the project is for when picking out my colours for a project. I also find if I stick to one colour palette I get bored so try and change thisng up. Thanks.
Hello Mary !
My colours are bright! Summer yellows, reds and pinks. For the blues, love the bright turquoises and emerald greens. At the moment using hand dyed (By a friend) variegated silks that are a dream to stitch with. The colours are so gorgeous and vibrant. We are doing counted work and intricate stitch patterns to create inserts for handbags or bookcovers.
Mary, how do you store your needles, or what is the best way??
Have a great stitching long weekend Cheers Marieke
Hello. My favorite color are gold, white,blue,pink,and green. But to tell you the truth, I love them all, is like when your working in something you like you just love all the colors. When I go to a store to buy thread or yarn I look at them and want to bye all the colors. I guess is the passion you have for what you do. Have a Beautiful weekend.
I love working with variegated threads… the contrast and variation they create is lovely. For color pallets, teals, yellows, oranges are my current obsession.
What lovely threads and a great gift to win. Now that it is spring I turn more to colors like peacock, pink, teal blue, pale yellows. Bright and cheerful, like spring, if it ever gets here! Christmas is as traditional as it is. Red and green for everything.
I love blue greens, rich reds and gold the most…oh, and purple too. Have a lovely weekend!
Oh the thread looks luscious!
My favorite color to work with has to pinks with touches of yellow, blues, aqua and green.
Gina S
My palette is brights, so red, pink, green, yellow, purple, orange, turquoise. I love variegateds.
Cheers
Some years ago I visited Williamsburg and in the governor’s mansion the bed draperies were off-white with purple and green stems and flowers. That purple and green combination has become my favorite set of colors. I like it in all the shades of those two colors. I have a 2-color quilt on my bed & it is, you guessed it, purple and green!
I enjoy most colors but especially green/blue combinations. I also find white and ivory crop up fairly often.
Thank you for this give away.I hope you have a great weekend and that your health is in a good place.
Favourite colours, that’s a tough one. I love colour. It’s probably easier to say what I don’t like – pinks, but I’m even warming to them.
Love the giveaway, thanks for the chance.
I like green along with either red or pink shades and a bit of yellow and brown.
I like to try some shiny vibrant colours in future and experiment with unlikely combinations that I have in my mind.
REgards,
Reds, always red.
I favorite color palate is blues, greens and brown. Reminds me of the earth–blue sky or ocean, green grass and brown earth.
Hi Mary. I particularly love the jewel colours, and even more so the greens and blues. They are my all time favourites. Give me a lovely emerald green and a royal blue, and I am a happy camper!
I love greens – blue greens, yellow greens, grey greens, all greens. Greens remind me of nature which is all around us. It is a happy colour. A cool colour, a warm colour – all in one. I especially love sorting out the colours that best complement the particular greens I have chosen for a project, and then seeing it all come together. Greens unite us all in one way or another, whether by nature, food, or paintings. It’s a colour we can’t live without if you think about it.
I love working with warm colours and shades of green. I tend to lean towards the botannical in terms of the designs that appeal which is likely why. Those silks look beautiful and I’ve never tried silk thread…
Hi Mary
I tend to veer towards blues, greens, reds and greys in any colour palette and within that, to the darker shades. But in reality you need all colours for an embroidered picture and a world without yellow is gloomy indeed. But yellow will never dominate my blues, reds and greens! Would love to win the silks. I have just done the Roseworks Jade Dragon (in red!) using my stash, and it would be good to see how silks would have worked up as recommended in the kit!
Love the blog. Always interesting and instructive. Thanks Mary.
I always go back to purple – it has been my favourite colour longer than I can remember. Though I do love white on black fabric.
I love peacock colours… beautiful greens and blues, with gold accents. Delicious!!
Thanks Mary, and Needle in a Haystack, for another lovely giveaway. I like strong, traditional colours for embroidery. Red, blue, black, white… folky colours. I very much enjoyed your redwork runner project 🙂
I love all colors, but I tend to stick with the “girly” colors like pastels, pinks, blues, lavenders, lilacs, greens. My favorite color is any kind of purplish color like lilac. When it comes to needlework, the color scheme has to fit the subject, so my choice for that will vary.
I love silk for my heirloom sewing. The embroidery used to embellish these sweet projects makes them extra beautiful.
When I select my own colors for a needlepoint project, especially a charted geometric design, I frequently find myself choosing shades of purple. I find that turquoise or teal accents often tend to work well with such colors. And of course as my stash grows with the addition of more and more violets and blue-greens, they are tempting and handy to use for the next project down the line!
I am always drawn to blues, often with purples and maybe yellow. I tend to like much softer colours for embroidery than i do for quilting or jewellery making
My favorite color combination is orange with green and purple. Orange is my favorite color, and it is just beautiful with green and purple to accent it. Which is why I love a particular mandala embroidery that I saw you were working on, and have been waiting for you to put the pattern for it up in your shop!!! It is just stunning!!! Hugs, H
I love greens, blues, purples and pinks.
Take care Mary!
Catrina Byrge
I love jewel tones. I’ve converted projects with pastels to jewels several times
Hi Mary
I looked through my current projects and back at my portfolio and definitely green, gold and red.
Green is always there – nature at it’s best, red in all it’s variations and gold, or yellow without which no work shines.
I did once make a decision to try not to include green or yellow in a project but the work didn’t sing to me. My colour mantra must be the Fairport Convention song Red and Gold!
Regards
PatsyAnn
I am currently working on a Bookcase wall hanging. I have completed the sewing and my “books” are now ready for embroidered titles and embellishments. There is so much variety – what I truly love when I embroider. Wide variations, chosen at a given moment, as they strike my fancy. I’m not a color planner – but there will be my favorites- glittery golds like those on antique books.
Oh my goodness! Colour? Love it all, loves it, loves it. I enjoy every colour, but currently working on just 2. White work or red work. It looks crisp, clean, & the simplest of designs look elegant. When I do a colour project, I seem to gravitate towards sea foam or pale/pastels. They make me feel rejuvenated & like Spring is always near with her new life. Thank you!
My favorite colors blend is a mix of greens with yellow and pink mixed in. Have a good Memorial Day.
I love any combination of blue and green. That said it seems I’m getting my adventurous with my color choices the older I get. Who knew ~ heh.
Hi Mary, I’m always drawn to the clear bright colours of spring. Shades of pink, primrose, clear blue, against all the shades of green that act as a foil to their brightness. It’s winter here in Australia and I suppose I’m dreaming of spring.
Love Sue❤️
I love anything done in rich jewel tones! Saturated, deep colors that sing always get my attention. Lots of purple is always a plus! I also enjoy Victorian color palettes.
Hello and thank you for another giveaway.
As a child would say: My favorite color is: brown (not a lot of us out there). As regards needlework: the pattern and use usually dictate the color choice. I will often gravitate to earth tones, but again, the project sets the parameters. I love bargello which often has abrupt color changes – yet flows. I find these color sets difficult to select for a project – without a designer.
Love your newsletter – my go to place for information.
I love all kinds of colors, add a little sparkle and I’m happy. I tend to go for bright, fun, make you happy kinds of shades. Floral colors in rich shades are usually my first choice.
Hi, Mary – As always, thank you so much for introducing us to new threads and telling us all about them and, of course, giving us the opportunity to win something! My eye is always drawn to the blue-purple part of the color wheel and I love needlework designs that bring in those colors. Do a whole analogous color scheme of red-violet into violet into blue-violet into blue and I think I’m in heaven. Love your posts so very much!
Arlene in NJ
I enjoy colors that make me happy, give me a sense of peaceful joy and satisfaction. Colors such as royal blue, a Suttle yellow and a shade of green are stimulating to my soul. However a brick red seems to give an under lying feeling of belonging. It grounds me. If the colors I’ve chosen to work with inspire and calm my soul, I am more likely to complete the embroidered piece. I if for unknown reason I become restless, on edge while stitching, I realize the chosen colors are wrong. I enjoy being drawn into my stitches. Others viewing my handiwork, I hope, will experience the same feelings of joyful peace and inspiration as they too are drawn into the over understanding of completeness.
I have several favorite color combinations, that truly “speak” to me.
I enjoy multiple shades of blue in conjunction with white,
also blue, white & yellow used together,
I am drawn to lilac/purple used with yellows,
and particularly I love shades of pink/rose combined with shades of green.
As Monet said, color is my joy, obsession, and torment. I stitch because of the joy I get from color. Yes, I am obsessed. And the torment comes when I can’t find just the right color in thread that I can see in my head.
Oh, now I’m very much going to be a nationalist. I’m Dutch, and the colours of our flag are red, white, and blue. Guess my favourite colour palette! Scarlet red, off-white and navy blue I like best in embroidery.
The cool color pallete all they way! Green, blue purple frequently show up in my work. These threads look so wonderful! It sure would be fun to win!
I seem to be immediately drawn to any project with aqua/turquoise in it. Add pinks greens, yellows, and a bit of orange and I’m done for. I use all the colors in stitching that I don’t wear.
I usually go to autumn colors. I just love them! But I like purples and greens too.
These threads look amazing! The brighter ,the better when it comes to color.
Thank you Mary! Another great giveaway & a wonderful start to the long holiday weekend. Oh my, you would ask about color. I’m up for most anything with a definite contrast–as an example #128 Berries with #274 Lime–cheerful & fun. It’s hard to be in a bad mood when working with zippy colors. AND Lilly Pulitzer always said “being happy never goes out of style.”
I like to stitch flowers and gardens. When plants are in bloom, I go out with my color chart and match the colors from the blooms. I record the numbers and also wrap a thread card with a few wraps of the bloom and leaf colors.
I love the pink family!! Those are the colors that I stand and drool over at the thread counter!
My favorite color truly is multicolor, but i tend to shy away from pastels and use the colors that are the opposite of pastel: just a bit darker than a fully saturated color.
I’m drawn to shades of green, gold, mauve, maybe mixed with deep deep turquoise.
Now, after saying that, my favorite color is purple. But I have to use self restraint in using purple or it gets “silly”!!! If a design is all one blue color, I would definitely change it to a shade in the purple family or the green family, depending on what the actual design is.
This new thread looks heavenly to stitch with, I must say.
Keep up the good work!
Lovely threads – thank you for making information on so many different parts of embroidery available to us!
I am very drawn to the colors of fall. The softness of the fall colors create a background and then I like to add the shock of oranges to bring vitality to the project. There is no better fiber than silk to show glorious colors.
Excited to try this thread in a new project. I love using strong contrasting colors as much as colors that blend. I gravitate towards the robins egg to turquoise colors or the pink to coral shades. Really like using them all in the same project.
Currently I am working on a crazy quilt project with a color combination of turquoise and orange. This is a huge shift from what I typically use. Usually I am drawn to greens and browns especially the variegated threads.
I tend to choose natural beach colors, like blue skies, sandy beaches and green grasses. I find those colors calming and tranquil to look at. I don’t normally go by the colors when selecting projects but more by the picture or subject matter in the needlework. The only way I go by colors is if I am matching it to room decor. When I do Flower Fairy pictures for my grand daughters, I usually change the hair colors to match those of each of my grand daughters. I have never had the luxury of working with silk thread, but it looks heavenly. Thanks for the chance to win!
~Gin K.~
I do a lot of silk and goldwork embroidery. My absolute favorite thread color is “seafoam” green. It is from the Japanese Embroidery Center palette and is available in a range of tones. I’ve used a comparable color in DMC floss and crewel wools. It does remind me of the sea as it is a cross of pale blue and green but it is also a color of young steamed artichoke leaves, the sedums growing at the base of the lamp post in our yard and the paint that I chose for my built-in bookshelves.
Well, picking one color would be very difficult – I love all colors – especially the vibrant ones!!! I love working with various hand-dyed colors, too. If I had to pick one color, it would probably be all the variations of green. I would love to try the silk threads. That is one thread I have never tried.
Teal and burgundy and dusty blue are my favorite color combination for stitching. I have a painting in my living room with those colors, and have always been drawn to them. Just would like to mention that Needle in a Haystack is a great source for embroidery supplies – I have been very happy with their service!
I love color have a hard time deciding what color to use. At times I just love the bright and bold.with lots of flash.. then I get in a soft mood and want just soft and mute colors. So as you can see, color is just wonderful in any form.. Guess that is why every time I pass the thread counter I just have to touch and look and then just have to take some home..
And doing embroidery allows me to really play with the colors.. Plus I am crazy about embroidery and your site has really helped me.. Plus it just makes me lick my lips with excitement. Want to do it all. Keep up the great work..
Bettie
I like to work with a variety of color palettes, my current favorite is an analogous color scheme in the turquoise/blue/ purple range. I am currently working on a Crazy Quilt wall quilt for my son in these colors. I’ve added lime green to make it pop. These colors do not go with my house. Fortunately, he really likes them.
I love trying new things. I think this one I need to try.
I would love to try these silk threads on a project! I have 2 favorite color palettes, the first is an off white to beige monotone palate; the other is a rainbow of bright jewel tones.
Without a doubt, my favorite “go to” and “stay with” with colors are blue and lavender – blue in most all shades light to dark, lavender in softer, pastel shades or very royal purple ! Seems no matter how hard I try I keep going back to those 2 hues. In trying to break out of the box, I am also currently working on a wonderful orange, pink and lavender (woops, lavender slipped in) piece which I am having great fun doing – however, I also have 3 blue/lavender WIP.
I love silk threads…..and I am drawn to bright colors. I love magenta, bright pinks, blue-reds, combined with yellows ,teals and grays. I like sky blues, and blue- greens. as you can tell I love most colors. to win these threads would be wonderful.
Dear Mary,
Thanks for the opportunity to win these special silks.
Over the years I have found myself attracted to certain color combinations, more so than the actual design. Unless really pushed I usually don’t change the colors for a project. If I have a project using bright (crayon) colors, I like to have them backed by black or some very dark, rich color to make the bright colors pop. In later years, I have been attracted by neutrals. And then there is that special quality of whitework (or the lack of color).
I did not grow up with art instruction and feel weak in the area of color. However, once in awhile when I venture out on my own, I hit a combination that stays with me as a favorite for that project and I spend time looking at the completed project and enjoy whatever it was that caused me to make the choice.
Greens and blues are the colours that I gravitate to the most in just about everything. Would love to win this as it would be a great way to try silk threads out. Thank you for the opportunity of winning!
i love all colors but i seem to always go to pinks, red, blues, and greens. the brighter the better.
Simple yet so very complex for “what is my favorite color combination for needlework”! That decision is completely based on the project! Whenever I’m thinking of an “older” work of “art” as in “re-make” of 1900 or something like that I try to choose color combinations for that project. When I pick a kit, I hardly look at the colors they provide because I generally use my own floss. Unless I am investing in a particular kit that is custom made from a very small business that is well worth the price. I love to put my own “flare” on patterns, so I usually purchase just the pattern without a color choice. I love to see dramatic color changes within the needlework that pull all together and forms fabulous pieces of art. My color choices are very beautiful colors. I don’t know if I have a bad choice, therefore, it’s hard for me to choose just a few as a preference.
Michelle B Arkansas
It all depends on the subject! I generally prefer autumn colors to pastels; however, I love pastels when the subject is floral. Water landscapes wake up with beautiful blues, and sunsets glow with warm threads.
I cannot stick to just a few favorites. Context influences my immediate choice of “favorite.”
I’ve been interested in trying silk!
I am always drawn to Caribbean colors, turquoises and blues, corals, magenta, juicy yellow-greens, violets. Cools juxtaposed with warms, but all of them bright. I like to combine them with metallics, especially copper.
I use silk thread as a connecting thread for English Paper piecing. I have never used silk embroidery thread, but would like to give it a try. I have a couple of projects waiting to start. I always go for greens, blues and purples.
I try to branch out, but always catch myself going back to these three colors.
I’m always drawn to blues, any shade of blue from deepest midnight, through cobalt to sky and veering towards the green with all shades of aqua and teal. This is probably because I live by the sea, on the West coast of Wales UK, about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean, I am surrounded by blue and blue/green colours and vast expanses of sky. I like my embroidery to reflect the world around me.
I like all shades of green. Live in the “Green” Mountain State and at present everything is as green as can be. Thank you. Cheers!
Hi,
I love color! I don’t think there is a particular set of colors that I always gravitate to. Right now I am working on an alphabet sampler and have picked gray in all its shades to run through the whole project as a common thread (no pun intended, maybe).
My favorite colors are bluey-greens and purple, but I love projects with lots of color and texture! I would love to do a mandala with some gorgeous silk thread!!!
Wow, what stunning threads. I love the white and cream and lime and…just all of them. Whomever wins this giveaway will be a very lucky stitcher, so thank you for giving me at least a chance to win/ Blessings and peace
I’m drawn to Blue in almost any shade but prefer more subtle colors in kits. Samplers and Americana kits have been a passion for many years. Truly enjoy your continued inspiration and encouragement for needleworkers.
My very favorite color is red, I also love pinks and yellow.
Color Preferences? I love them all. My husband likes yellow, so when I quilt, I try to include some of that. I personally like blue/green/purple and gravitate to that, or blue/yellow/white is a happy combo. I wear teals and coral when I can find it. It all depends on what I’m trying to ‘say’. Happy energy is lime, canary,orange, purple. “Flower garden” tends towards a variety of greens, red/pink/white, and some purples. So my answer is ‘rainbow’.
Thanks again for all you do.
This silk thread looks just luscious.
I notice that I keep buying clear pastel colors. Anything in the warm family. Especially yellows, oranges, teals, green. Just love color.
Happy holiday. Thanks to all who keep us safe and free.
My favorite color combos are varied. I like blues with tan. I like silver and grays.
Vibrant greens with hot pink. Turquoise with orange. I’m all over the place!
I love the pastel colors and am drawn to designs that show them on the bright side – the bright pink and green and yellow “Easter egg” colors just won’t let go of me.
I love bright blooming happy colors! The more color the better, in my mind. It isn’t a specific color I’m drawn to, but rather to how the colors work together as a whole.
Personally, I don’t have a favorite color or range. When looking at designs colors inspire me to choose something based on what the recipient might like, an orange theme would be good for one friend while another likes blues and greens or red. Thoughts of the recipient of a piece are what draws me to particular colors and I am willing to change colors to better fit a special person.
I would enjoy trying the new silk threads. I have used flat silk and that is a challenge for me.
Hello Mary. I love blue, all blues, every shade, every tone, every one!! Now, I am starting to like golds, they seem to help make the blues pop. I use blues in embroidery, applique, and quilts frequently. And, when my sister makes me, I use yellow. !!
I would like to try this perle silk – – anticipate it would help pop whatever you used it on. Thanks for offering this and have a wonderful weekend.
I love to work in blue and green colors that are in the tail of a peacock with touches of gold. I love the shimmer of silk and have just begun to work in silk and love it.
I love purples and greens, I love blues, reds…bright colors! Jewel tones! (actually I really like vibrant colors, can you tell?) I’m wanting to embroider some lovely violet flowers next…silk would be luscious
These threads look fab………. would really like to try these in a needlepoint, hardanger or Sardinian embroidery.
Oh, the colors, I love all the colors – rich vibrant colors. But I am particularly taken with teal, turquoise, pool, and all those lovely blue/greens. In all of my kinds of artwork including painting, crochet, scrap booking, and needlework, I am always drawn to a kit with those teal colors. They just speak to me.
Dreamy green, cool blues, a touch of red/orange combined with turquoise are my favorites at this time?
Reds. Think of a bowl of fresh cranberries; deep red, pink, Orange red, true red…
Add a little periwinkle blue, maybe some navy, and some neutrals. Perfect.
When I do embroidery, it’s generally flowers, so I prefer various brights in floral colors in graduated shades and lots of yummy greens and golds for the greenery. If I were to win this drawing, I’d love the purple, copper, lawn, honey, pink and bonbon.
I just love a colour combination that’s really zingy, so favourites are green, purple, white and orange or purple, orange, red and gold. Rich and glowing, but not at all subtle.
Another fabulous giveaway– thanks! I’ve discovered that my favorite color palette includes hues that have hints of silver in them. For example, I tend to choose silver-grey-greens, taupes that are more grey than brown, mauves for purples, and so on. When I need a contrast, I lean toward bright blues. I’m not sure how these preferences came about, but I go with them.
This is a seriously great question! Reading others answers has given me great inspiration and food for thought.
I used to be all about the neutrals and dark, muted tones like terracotta and mocha brown. As of late, though, my colour preference has had a renaissance of its own and I am wildly obsessed with the luscious, tropical, Miami-esque palette! Sea green, geranium, violet, jade, orchid, vivid coral, light celadon and carnation.
Which brings me to my absolute favourite colour to work with: PINK! Any and all. There is truly nothing that can brighten my day like seeing a saturated skein of pink floss transform by needle through canvas.
Thanks for the question!
Oh what a lovely giveaway! I love a natural color palette although I always keep a bright colorful stitch going as well. Thanks for the opportunity.
Thank you, Mary, for such a wonderful Giveaway! My favorite color palette is the warm summery one: apricot, shrimp, cinnamon, orange, yellow. I also like a blue-green turquoise palette, especially if it has a bit of warmth tucked into it. In fact, there’s not much I don’t like about color! 🙂 These threads sound gorgeous. I’d love to work with them!
Hello,
I love the pastel colors. They are so pretty and remind me of spring.
Kim
My absolute favorite color is cobalt blue…calm, deep, rich soothing color! I am often also find myself to designs that include the range of blues,grerns, purples,with highlights of the wonderful colors found in the sunsets.
Stitching with silk threads with the saturated color would be heavenly.
Thank you for the wonderful articles relating to needle, thread, and fabrics.
Bonjour, J’aime bien les couleurs terre, couleurs de la nature, vert rouille, beige ,rouge, orange ou les couleur de Noël vert, rouge, blanc.
Les couleurs de la nature sont mes préférées. Je suis allé chez S’ajoute l’an passé. Quelle merveille. Le bonheur d’une brodeuse. Comme je demeure à Montréal, il n’y a que les commandes par internet et merci de me faire connaître tant de belles choses…
Color combination? Oh my! Working on Baltimore album type quilt for granddaughter’s wedding gift. Have been collecting fabric for her quilt for almost ten years now…. how long she’s been seeing her fella! She likes purple so am using different shades of it with greens, some orange and golds.
I would love to experiment with this thread! As to colors, I love color! In needlework, I often gravitate toward colors that I cannot wear well. For example, I love to stitch or decorate with periwinkle because I just love the color, but look horrible if I wear it. The stitching gives me opportunity to delight in colors that I might otherwise avoid.
I like neutrals and primary colors. Perhaps because of my fondness for blackwork and redwork. When I get tired (read eyes) then I’ll work with bright colors, especially to match Threadworx Bradley’s Balloons.
I love all things green, I especially like combining different shades to make leaves.
Blues always draw my eye. I am a fan of most colors, but when I see blues in needlework, especially blues of various hues in the same project–just gorgeous.
Mary, my favorite color palette has always been mauves, lavender and taupes, with some dusty peach and smokey blue hues. Those draw my eye every time! I’m a lover of all things vintage and soft, and love to use those colors on old linen. Thanks!
I love anything floral so all colors are wonderful. Flowers can be bright and bold or soft and romantic. A wide variety of greens is essential.
Happy Memorial Day Mary and thank you for another wonderful give-a-way.
The colours that make me look twice at any project are greens ,reds and teals but really any colours that remind me of rainbows. I love working with silks when I can afford them , they feel so good and look stunning .
Totally depends on the project and mood, but I love blues and greens. Thank you for the chance, Mary.
Not to be indelicate, but one of my friends referred to me once as a color whore. Vulgar, but accurate! I’m generally sucked in by clear hues in most any color family although the hot colors are my particular favorites: reds and pinks, orange, yellows from orange to butter. That’s for my stash; when it comes to a finished piece I love highly textured monochromatic work – in anything from neutrals to a strip from the rainbow!
I love hand and machine embroidery. I have never worked with silk thread. It looks very beautiful. My favorite colors to work with are pastels….. pinks, greens, blues. My grandmother taught me to sew, embroider, and crochet. I love the look of threadpainting and stumpwork. I hope to add these two to my list of hobbies once I retire. Thanks for sharing so much knowledge with us, Mary Corbet.
As I am foremost a quilter who loves the antique applique quilts of the mid 1800’s, I am particularly drawn to the combination of of red & green as a colour combination. One can never have too many reds or greens whether you applique or embroider.
Whatever season is around me. Now,green,blue,violet and pink. Looking forward to fall.
Really enjoy your site.
I love all shades of blue. I also love to work with variegated floss. I think it adds an additional dimension to whatever I am working on. Overdyed floss is also high on my preference list.
Colors are difficult for me. I like bright, vivid colors but when I select a needlework project I default to less vivid & bright.
Blues & greens are my go to colors, except in early April, when I select reds (but not blue reds). I have been told that, since my birth date is on the cusp of Pices and Aires, my calendar-related color choices are logical.
I love lime green and turquoise together. Adding gray or navy just makes it better. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
I love all colors, but probably favorites would be blues and greens.
I love embroidering with silk threads, they have such a gorgeous lustre. As for colours, I like everything except orange and yellow and bright greens. If I have to use any of those colours I tend to dull them down and use tertiary or greyed versions. Otherwise my preference is for blues, purples and pinks.
I think I have a split personality when it comes to colors! I love pieces that have rich vibrant tones but I also love pastels. A rainbow is a perfect example of bright and delicate pastels. For deep rich color I find that I tend to prefer shades of blues, purples, pinks and greens, with dashes yellow for some strange reason… Lol I would really like to find a kit that actually balances deep vibrant colors with pastels… or maybe suddenly develop the talent to be able to do it properly myself. 🙂
I love the look of silk threads. They have so much sheen and look so wonderful in my stitching. As to color, I always thought I liked greens and reds. Of course that was because I stitched so many Christmas projects. When left to my own devices for color choices, I find I mostly choose violet and green. Wish I knew why. Those are not something I deliberately go to the thread or bead drawer and pick out, but always end up with them in my hands.
Teal, turquoise, and royal blues ad soft birdie browns.
Hi Mary,
I usually go with warm colors, but I love the cool colors in the picture, and if I win, those are the ones for me! I also love using the single threads. It makes it so much easier. I’ve been using your videos this week for a little sampler that calls for stitches that I have never done. Your videos are my “go to” instructions that I can watch over and over until I get them right. Thank you for those.
Connie
I love color. Never a favorite combination, I love them all. Bright and bold, soft pastels, silver and gold, they all speak to me.
I love the color palette of turquoise, green and purple. It is the combination I am often drawn to because it can be used in so many ways. Everything from florals, landscapes, birds, mandalas, and even some seascapes can be made with this trio.
If not these specific three, I am also drawn to the cool color spectrum again and again. I love all colors, but these are my favorites.
My favorite combinations are florals: moss & pine green combined with blues, purples & indigos
Color. I seem to want blue in everything. It pairs well with so many others, provides the calm backdrop for a bright ‘pop’ of a surprise color. Most blues are cool, some blues are almost warm; they all find their way into my projects!
I love jewel tones – the rich colors are very attractive to me! thank you!
My fave color palette has to be purple, lavender, periwinkle, white and a warmish, bright olivey green, with a little dab of yellow or maybe pink. Add a rich coffee bean brown, and a cinnamony, warm brown and I find it lovely! Thanks for the giveaway.
I love pink. Any shade. Any style. Every day.
The silks are beautiful! I tend to lean toward “Earthy” colors for projects, with accents of other brighter colors.
I have rarely used silk, and it would be wonderful to have a range of these beautiful threads to use. The purples and greens, together with that stunning leopard colour would be among my choices if I were so lucky as to win a pack
Hi,
Thanks for the opportunity to win some lovely silk threads. My favourite colour was a varigated teal green by DMC which unfortunately has been discontinued. I have embroidered several Christmas themed pieces using a variety of greens. I like to blend from dark to light in the same colour.
I like any bright color combinations. Anything that looks like spring garden colors.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review of Sajou’s Fil au Chinois silk perle #30 a coueple of weeks ago. I would love to try them out but unfortunately can not purchase them in NZ. Your give away offerr is so generous. My go to colour range is in the terracottas. I love to contrast them with green and grey shades. Thank you for all you do for us embroiderers. I have learnt so much through you.
I love deep earthy tones bordering on jewel tones. Eggplant, avocado, pumpkin, spinach, raspberry, turmeric, deep teal, espresso.
I love shades of blue (aquamarine, teal , torquoise etc.) and pink (fuchsia, magenta etc.) Of course, I love écru for tradtional embroidery on off white linen.
I have always loved Samplers and Almost any stitching in Red! I’m not a pink person but any shade of Red makes me happy. The strange thing is I own no red clothing? Just thread a needle with a rich silk thread of Red and I smile inside. When I’m picking out colors to stitch beside Red I love deep blues or greens,but I can’t deny my true love is for Red.
At the present time I am into soft pastels. I am working on a crazy quilt block with a cream background and most of the embroidery is in pinks and greens. It’s almost monochromatic but I’ll soon be adding beads to change it up a bit.
My colour combinations, whether for clothing or embroidery almost always are based around corals, reds oranges and shades of green to calm and smooth it all down. Sounds a bit odd but it works for me. I challenge myself sometimes and do a small project (almost always flowers) in blues and purples. I love some of the more complex work on here where the whole area is stitched, I
‘m fairly new to embroidery so I haven’t tried that yet. So many things to try so little time, I love it 😀
Ooh, what fun! My top favourite colour combination is green and pink, in almost any shades. I love bright, vibrant, fun colours in contemporary designs.
I love bright yellow greens , all greens really, paired with reds and purples.
I really like a blue pallet. It can be both vibrant and soft, calming and exciting. It harmonises well with metallics and contrasts with sunny, upbeat yellows.
I mainly embroider items for the home, such as pictures for framing and scatter cushions. As my hubby is quite colour blind but loves blue and can see blue shades really well, it is good to use colours that my soul mate can appreciate.
These threads look amazing. I would love to use them. My favourite colour is yellow. From pale cream to darkest brown the combination is endless. So bright and cheerful or dark and mysterious.
Hello Mary, thanks for your wonderful website and exciting opportunity to work with beautiful silk threads! I am returning to surface needlework after many years as a cross stitch/sampler fan, specializing in palettes of antique and dusky colors. I am part way through a butterfly needle painting project. I am using Anchor thread that my grandmother had when she was young and I am 58! Some of it is a bit woolly as you can imagine but most of it is good. The pallette is black, dark and medium rust/orange, gold and white as the subject is a Gulf Fritillary butterfly, with similar colors to a Monarch. I love this pallette because of the contrasts and subtle shades evident as sunlight catches different parts of the wings. I would love to try and match these bold colors and their subtle highlights and silk seems a natural choice to try next. When it comes to colors in kits, I can’t honestly say I have favorites; I guess I just know if it looks right if it works with the design.
I am drawn to blues & greens. That said, I just love color! One of my favorite parts of looking at others’ projects is drooling over their choice of colors.
Pink rose, cloud blue, light browns, Kelly green, grays. The colours that entwine a lovely spray of cream roses. Those are my go to colours that I base a lot of my work on.
Spring green and pink is a colour combination guaranteed to make my eyes light up.
I love realistic spring colors where everything is bright and new. Then the following project will be fall colors. Not one for cutest patterns. Truely love shades of greens, purples and pinks with navy in shading. Fall colors are shaded with dark browns or blacks.
I’m drawn to purples and blue/red or designs that are dominated by those colors. After many years I’m back to the joy of embroidery and stumpwork. My greatest joy is making gifts for others so this emerging talent is perfect for decorating almost anything. All that is needed is practice and something lovely develops. I did purchase the new book by Kelley Aldridge, “Raised Embroidery”. I love it and am now inspired to create pansies as a perfect design. The color choices and combinations are truly inspirational. My purples and blue/reds – happy me!
Hi, Mary!
I love most colors, though I tend to gravitate to the blue family. I suppose because it’s so versatile and so much a part of everything around us.
Thanks so much for giving a chance to try out some silk threads.
Shelley
Ooh silk! My favourite colour palette would be of burgundy through to light pink with accents of sage green and cornflower blue. As I like stitching Hazel Blomkamp’s designs , I get to use my favourite colours quite a lot!
Right now, I’m really into bright blues, purples, and greens. I love bright colors on needlework. It really makes it pop and stand out! Im new to hand embroidery and have been using your site and videos to help grow my skills. I would love to try out some silk threads!
I am always drawn to the colors of the sea. Turquoise, sea foam greens,and varying shades of blue that mimic the changing colors of the sea.
I also love the pink palettes from fuchsia to lavender to pastel pinks.
I love colors! What I am most drawn to in ideas and projects I see are very bright colors and a variety all together….esp. in a sea theme picture-under the ocean the colors are so brilliant and if I’m doing something with sea life I must use all the colors of the rainbow that are found in the sea. I was just thinking about that-under the sea is like a rainbow everyday….hmmmm…..how wonderful a thought. I always have a lot of colors in my embroidery basket all together because it’s so enjoyable to devour them.
Thank you for all the wonderful information and products you share. I love to see your posts.
Depending on the project, I’m either drawn to primary colors with silver, for nature I prefer neutrals with splashes of bright colors. However, I’ve recently discovered that I have two patterns, one my own, the other purchased, that are shades of gray. Mine is a Moon pillow I’m making for my grandson, who has always been fascinated by it. The other is a pattern for 3 baby dragons in a library at night. Very sweet…
But, I have several projects in the wings that I could use those beautiful threads on.
Thanks again for the opportunity!
My favorite silks or any thread colours are the antique earth tones. Like antique rose, creams, peaches , old country blues etc. They make any sampler look antique. I shy away from pastels unless necessary. My current sampler is all dark red which has been enjoyable with no colour changes.
I am always drawn to true, bright colors for needlework or quilting. My eye just passes over the grayed, muted shades.
My favorite color combination is Southwest colors: turquoise, red, orange , yellow, cream, and black. These colors define the beauty of the southwest, from Texas to California, and the lives of the Native Americans.
Karen L Walker
I mostly like soft, gentle pastel colors and natural pallete. Light-blue, pink, ivory, light green – the colors of spring garden, and foggy spring morning. Anyway, sometimes I choose pop bright colors as an accent and it works nice.
Looking at these colors make me immediately think of tambour work.My favourite colors are blues&greens.Iwould love to use these colors in small tambour projects. Looking at blues& greens , act as mood elevators& give me alot of joy.
jayanthi
l love the shades of spring, the pinks, lavenders, blues, shades of white,the many shades of greens. All these inspire me in my needlework and would love to try stitching with these silks they look beautiful.
Your website inspires me to push myself further. Thank you.
I love the earthy colors of nature. Someone once told me that they thought green was God’s favorite color. So I love all shades of green. Fall is my favorite season so I gravitate toward greens, browns, red, yellow, orange. Thank you for another wonderful give away.
I like vibrant colors in needlework. And I like patterns with lots of color. Yet my home is decorated in muted greys and my wardrobe is pretty much black and white. Go figure.
Love peacock colors and jewel tones! So rich!
I recently cleaned the short wool fibers out of the drum cards of my drum card device, which I use to prepare wool for spinning into yarn. My Clover needle felting pan was close by and before I knew it, a small woolen felted ball was rolling around in my hands. My embroidery group will be studying tamari balls this summer, and silk would make a lovely luscious way to cover my felted ball.
My favorite colors are pink and green. On a tamari ball, gold and something dark would help to define the design and add to pinks and greens. Lots of possibilities.
Right now I am drawn to cream thread (woolen or wool-silk blend) on a muted teal woolen background. My choices are influenced by the purpose of the piece, which in this case, is a jacket design.
What a lovely opportunity! I find many of my needlework projects have jewel tones, burgundy, hunter green, deep pinks, rich blues. However, I never eliminate any colors when planning a project…you never know what works until you try it!
I do like brights! All my friends know that BLUE is my all time favorite color.
Orange is rarely used except for pumpkins when creating a fall items.
I would love six lusuious colors of thread!
Thanks
Sharon J
I tend to gravitate to the cooler end of the spectrum. My favorite color is blue, but also enjoy the lavenders and greens. Not to long ago I finished a purple lilac project.
My favorite color combination is rainbow! I’ve always been drawn to pieces that include the entire spectrum, be it primary, secondary, tertiary or pastel. I’m working on a very bright Bargello project printed in Needlepoint Now in 2002 that includes 7 color families, I’m auditioning fibers for an early 90’s Loretta Spears Bargello project that I’m converting from a monochromatic color scheme to one that coordinates with a Silk ‘n Colors multi-colored fiber named Fairy Quilt Cottage, and I chose a rainbow theme for my quilt square for a beaded crazy quilt EGA online class taught by Nancy Eha last summer.
Beautiful threads, the article was good, ythank you for sharing it. Winning would be nice.
Thank you
Would love to try this silk thread, it looks so beautiful . I love to go with coral, turquoise yellows and greens . Lovely bright spring colours.
When it comes to colours, I mostly worked projects where the colours were predetermined by the subject or included in the instructions. But if I’m completely free to choose, I prefer deep jewel tones, like dark reds and purples and blues.
I am drawn to jewel tones no matter the reason/purpose. I probably go for the reds/pinks and blues initially. I wouldn’t say the pastels are my favorites for needlework, but definitely the brighter tones are pulled when I’m creating. Thanks to you and Needle in a Haystack for the giveaway!
Would like to work with this thread!
I love all the colors, but I prefer them to have a muted/antique tone to them rather than a bright tone.
I love working with most all colors. I love jewel tones. Just finished an initial A for granddaughter. It is done in pinks and whites. She is a pink gal. Working on Sue spargo’s butterflies. These are in bright colors. It would be fun to try the silk thread.
Color! Yum! My favorite color way is pinks and blues. From the deepest to the palest. My second favorite is when there is a range from the lightest yellow greens to the deepest blues. Especially when the design tends to favor more blue than green. For some reason these color combos make me so happy.
Greens & purples enchant me. I’m working on a Venus fly trap right now & adding some purple.
I love color, especially discrete amounts of an assortment in a small space. That being said, right now I am captivated by the modern interpretation of colors used in antique samplers. I do know that many of the modern color interpretations are somewhat muted and greyed but that on the backs of the antique samplers the colors are more vibrant and exciting. I guess that right now I am seeking a note of calm and serenity in my life with my color choices.
Hello Mary: It’s so difficult for me to talk about any given combination of colors. With me, I think it depends on my mood for the time I’m embroidering something. I mean not only when embroidering only, I think it affects me even when I sew or even painting the house etc… But I do love all bright colors they make me vibrate to their tones. It’s like music to my ears. My cousin tells me that they look like LeLoLai. That’s a term we use with bright colors in PR. She likes pastel colors for babies, and I may use the combination that catches my eye.
My favorite color combo? Electric blue and lime green. I just can’t pass it up. Even if I don’t like the kit I usually buy this color combo. I’ll always use the materials later! I can never have too much lime green.
I love greens, any shade of green, though particularly the iridescence of a cats eye in the light, but add some purple and it really pops.
I came to embroidery from quilting, and love working with clear colors that allow strong contrasts. Right now, I like colors in the red family, from pinks through red to purples in varying intensities, contrasting with blacks and grays. I’ve never worked with silk thread, but your picture of these very lustrous colors are very exciting. I am eager to try this new (to me) material!
I am attracted to purples and greens. However, I find that my favorite color schemes seem to change! Sometimes I am drawn to blues and grays, sometimes shades of pink. When it comes right down to it, I just love color!
I love soft pastel colors. The spring greens, pinks, lavender and yellow. I am a thread junky but oddly enough
this type of silk thread has not yet made it into my arsenal of threads. Thank you for introducing me to all the
many threads, fabrics and tools to keep me happily in stitches.
Green! I love to stitch nature, and I love greens! Wishing everyone luck
I am somehow always drawn to red, white, and blue designs. Whether it is quilting, embroidery, or wool applique, that color combo is a constant. It’s crisp, clean, and uplifting.
Color always draws me in, it’s the basis of all good art of any kind. I tend to be drawn to jewel tones of vibrant blue, pink and green. Probably my favorite though is aqua blue and a deep red, that classic combination of the 1930’s.
I am particularly drawn to a green and pink palette. I love soft colours mostly. I often think the colours used in a design are what draws you to it in the first place.
My favourite colour is blue, but I quite often find myself drawn to green/purple combinations. I find I am mostly drawn to kits with bright colours that have quite a bit of depth to them rather than paler pastel shades.
Pink is my favorite color and I prefer floral colors. Pink, lavender and light green on white is my favorite color combination.
Thanks for the nice give away Mary..
Lakshmi Sadala
I love to play with indigoes and oranges lately.
My favorite colors are on the cool side of the spectrum – blues and greens, watery colors. Jewel tones appeal to me more than pastels. I’ve been wanting to embroider a peacock design for a while now, and silk would give the feathers the perfect bit of shine!
I’m rediscovering embroidery, after having taken a long break since learning as a teenager. I love to garden and for me, embroidery is like gardening…working with ones hands to create beauty. I love jewel tones and vibrant greens. Pastels are beautiful, but I find much prefer them in tandem with strong colors. It’s like planting flowers. I love flowers, but if I plant the same shade of pastel pink all over the garden looks oddly old. Adding a few plants with deep purples, blues or pinks makes everything looks alive and sophisticated. I love a variety of greens to add texture. I also love yellows and oranges to add zest.
My go-to colors are usually combos of maroon/red/orange/yellow. With green sometimes. I often make things with the rainbow colors, too. I am drawn to all photos of needlework in those colors and my eyes pass right by anything else.
I love variegated colors especially the pinks, corals, yellows, teal blues, dark purples peaches and reds all singular as well. These are the ones I go back to frequently. I just did a jacket using embroidered silk ribbon on burgundy velvet. It came out beautiful. It was variegated in the colors mentioned above. I got an A.
Beautiful giveaway – thanks.
I am most often drawn to white on white which then makes it hard when you want to branch out to colour. I love muted, natural tones but having said that, when I see an embroidery piece in bright jewel tones, I just melt.
I like using all colours. Embroidery for me is all about colour, the brighter the better. My embroidery is never subtle! I do however have an idea for a blue and gold piece (me trying to be more grown up) it will probably have as many shades of those colours in a possible knowing me. I was given some blue silk threads as a gift and would love to pair them with some gold for this project. Fingers crossed.
My favorite colors to use in needle work are different shades of pinks and purples,teal and greens..yellow…I love all the colors actually.
I find I keep returning to the rich fall colors. The oranges from pale peach to deep burnt orange, purples, greens, and yellows.
I’ve been working with a lot of greyscale lately because I was afraid of choosing my own colours, but now everything in bright, jewel colours has been catching my eye lately, and I think I need to face that fear!
I love a combination of light pink with mint green. Throw in some white and a hint of gold in there and I’m in heaven 🙂 But I also tend to get attracted to purples and blues but I don’t use it as much as I would love in my stitching. Thank you for hosting a giveaway!
I love jewel tones in all colors, with a soft spot for royal blue. While bold colors catch my eye it all of course, depends on the subject matter. While working thread with your hands brings a visceral pleasure it is first the drama of color that draws you in. It’s instantaneous, emotional, and mood changing. There’s hardly a color out there that I don’t like. Granted a few really need to be seen in context to fully appreciate them, but overall it’s color that pulls me the most artistically and creatively speaking. It would be lovely to win this giveaway, I’ve not yet worked with silk and would like to try it.
Purple is my absolute favorite, so any palette with purple catches my eye. I also love autumn colors with rich reds and dark greens. Thanks so much!
Hi Mary, I am loving your blog and have picked up numerous tips and ideas, so thank you! My colour palette tends to be around purples and greens or magenta, plums and blues. However, I have been ‘forcing’ myself to play with neutrals, and browns with orange/yellows. Very much out of my comfort zone!
I love purple and green as the main colours. However, I can appreciate many colour combinations, but generally don’t go for bright orange and yellow.
Gorgeous thread giveaway . We can only buy DMC floss where I live and the pretty Coloris range is starting to be available, so it is a joy to experiment with variegated strands. The pinks and greens always draw my attention.
Thank you for this opportunity. I love your blog I am self taught and I would love to try these silk threads. Any color would make me happy.
Thanks
Most of my projects do not combine mote that three colours, but I also like working on a coloured background, especially black. The contrast between that and pure white or deep red thread is very much to my taste.
Although very much a sucker for any shades of plums, I’m also frequently finding myself captivated by unusual colour combinations, where the seeming incompatibility of colours somehow makes them work together perfectly.
My favorite color combinations are purples and lavender, greens, yellows, with a pop of reds. Of course white is almost always necessary.
I have never used silk threads as I am a beginner. I would love to win!
Hello, I love wildflowers. When I see them I just want to sit and stitch each and everyone of them…the different shades of purples, blues, violets and pinks…the bright whites and the shades of green!, oh boy…I wish I had all the colors I see…My main color has been a bright yellow and have been doing red and black work using the yellow instead. I have so enjoyed reading about the different threads in your blog and have even thought of getting some vari-colors with yellow in them…..
I think blue is my favorite color to work with. Blue and white projects tend to appeal to me. I also like projects with colors from the garden, soft pinks, varying shades of green, blue and blue into purple. Lately I’ve been thinking of the color schemes that prevail at different stages of the spring and color schemes derived from the sky and ocean at sunrise or sunset.
When anyone asks me my favorite color – I usually say green… but – honestly, there’s rarely a color that I’ve ‘met’ that I didn’t ‘like’, somehow…not all colors ‘work’ with everyone else…so, you have to have a LOT of colors at your fingertips ”just in case you need them”! (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!) 😉
What a fun idea!
I’m always drawn to bright aquas with darker blues and teals and a little bright green, a lot like your recent colorful pomegranate! Aqua and grey is a combination I love around the house, but I having l haven’t tried it in embroidery yet. I also love caramel and chocolate browns with cream. And I just can’t resist rainbows- pastel, bright, Jewel, whatever, when all the colors line up it just makes me smile 🙂
Thank you for the finished monograms.I am planning an alphabet quilt using your monograms, one for each quilt block. The colors I tend to use in my stitching projects are clear, No gray undertones.This translates to reds, greens, yellow & golds.Right now,however, I am working on a green quilt with lots of script. Color is the passion of my life. I react to it with mood changes. My friends say I dress”very colorful”not loud just with color.
I will always love the pale blue and green pastels when I am preparing a project or shopping for one. There is something so soothing when you see them sewn in a combination, as well as soothing the stitcher as I work. I consider them the colors of life. Sometimes using a darker teal for contrast is necessary but I will always love the pastel virtues of shades of green and blue used together. It is always a softer look and beckons you to look more closely at the colors, the picture, the stitches. I absolutely love them together!
I lean towards the more subdued colours but love all the silk threads and could use any of the colours in many of my projects I love collecting threads. All of the colours could be incorporated in many of my works…
I love earth tones and fall colors. When choosing colors for a project, I find myself always drawn to that color pallet. And that works out just fine as those are the colors I have used in my home décor.
Would love to try these I love purples and teal/aqua with a little black and white thrown in. Thanks for the chance to win these lovely threads!
I love Silk Threads and working with them. But these are not familiar to me. Would love to try them tho.
Thanks for the opportunity to win theses wonderful threads. I love the blues and greens also the Autumn colours I seem to gravitate towards a lot. Thanks again or this opportunity Mary.
Have a great Memorial Day all of you in the USA. I’m in Canada we just Celebrated Victoria Day.
I love best of all a mixture of colors and textures in Silk Ribbon Embroidery. These donated threads would be a lovely addition to my stash. I’m in love with Black and Silver with a touch of another color. Love Blues and Golds ; Pinks and Greens; and various shades of Blue in a project.
LOVE your newsletter with your ideas, tutorials, photos, and especially your sense of humor that crops up.
I do a lot of whitework, but when I’m using colors, I love to use bright pastels (a seeming contradition that I adamently declare is a thing)! 😉
I love pastels – anything that looks like spring time!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Mary,
I like bright colors. After doing a Lavender and Lace cross stitch for a friend where 90% of the piece was stitched in various shades of white, off white, beige and gray I decided never again! I am especially fond of purples, blues and greens in needlework; however, I recently bought a goldwork kit where the threads are silver and that has become a new favorite addition to my color preferences.
Such delectable colors and oh so silky!
I’m all over the map. I love bright, cheerful color schemes. I also love those calm schemes with grayed blues, creams, soft greens… devising color schemes is not a natural talent for me but I’m working on it. I recently bought both books on color that you recommend and want to thank you for the reviews. They’re both very helpful.
The colors are luscious! Always love working with silk.
This is a hard question to answer. I love to do underwater scenes. I have done one in reds and corals. I am working on one with shades of purple and turquoise. If I start a garden scene, I can pull in many colors.
Green Green Green Green – any shade that goes with a beautiful raspberry red. Looking over my stash I am always surprised how many greens I have. I am unable to resist.
Thanks for the give-away. My favorites are purples and turquoise. OR anything blue.
I am drawn to shades of pink and greys when selecting projects. Think of pink rose buds with a pop of lime for leaves. I like bright true colors rather than more muted shades. For Christmas projects I like a true red and a bright green. I avoid the dark primitive projects and most of my projects include florals.
What a lovely giveaway! I have only used silk for one, small project for my Victorian doll house but I would like to try to do more. Needle in the Haystack has such beautiful colors.
The colors I choose are usually natural colors, blues, greens with some brown for contrast. I enjoy working on nature scenes especially with rabbits and or hedgehogs thus I liked working up your Lavender Honey and Other Little Things!
My favorite color in all the world is periwinkle!
I don’t think I can pick just one colour, so long as they are bright I like them all. Oranges and yellows need to be mixed with greens, just about anything is good mixed with greens. Blues, reds, not shades, though. I like the jewel tones or even pastels. Other people can have the blacks and greys.
I love blues, purples, and greens. I also gravitate towards bright colors in general.
Love the new threads. Favorite color palette? Hmmm, probably anything with red although I do things in blue/green colorways quite often. But if left on my own, it is almost always reds!
These look beautiful! I’d love a chance to work with them. I tend to gravitate towards jewel tones. Deep, cool blues purples and greens make me so happy to work with!
I really like bright colors mixed with browns and greys. Or all monochromatic color schemes.
I love purples and greens! My parents should have named me Violet (I was born in February after all!) because that definitely sums up my go-to colour choice for clothing, accessories, and no matter what type of needlework I’m doing! No matter what the shade or season, it’s definitely got to be green and purple for me.
I find I am attracted to earth tones. I love the outdoors, so I do love to stitch landscapes.
Mary in Oregon
What a tempting give-away ! I’m a blue girl, wherever I go my eyes stray to the blues first. My favourite stitching projects have blues and greens and everything inbetween. I’d love to give this thread a go on some bobbin lace, I’m always looking for something different to try.
Many thanks
Catherine in New Zealand
You, needleandthread, and your giveaways are the best part of a morning cup of coffee and time to myself. Color. Color along with the fabric, things that time well spendt on, create a huge pay out in the long run. Time spendt planning and skeeming, thinking and creating, using the colored pencils to draw and shade, using the doodle cloth and then taking the plunge. And sometimes starting over. Oh color! I start with Color Reflections — a sunset on Chautauqua Lake, anything blue for my Nanie, watermelon colors for Grandma, green, especially Kelly Green for Mom, a fall harvest of color for Debbie and Allen, birds and their beautiful shading, fruit and veggies to create an ombre of color, trees, butterflies …. these are just the tip of the iceburg for me in choosing color. I plan, I scheme, I doodle, I choose. And it’s different every time.
I am a re-beginner at stitching. I used embroider as a young girl and now am starting again after retirement. as before I like lots of colors, not subdued. my favorite for stitching are probably shades of pink
Easy choice for me, always pinks, greens and purples!
I love color! Bright color, bold color, any color, I love them all. I do tend to avoid pastels and go for the more “outspoken” choices. If I had to narrow it down, I suppose my top picks would fall into the blue-purple-green category. I find my color preferences change to fit the seasons, though.
I embroidered a lot when my chicks were little as it centered and relaxed me when I had a bit of down time but needed to keep an ear or eye on little ones. I stopped when I went to work and life got very busy. About four years ago I began coloring with pens while listening to audio books when I had some quiet time (I am not one for “idle hands.”) I found using the colors was both calming and creative.
Then about 6 weeks ago, for no particular reason, it simply occurred to me that embroidery is coloring with thread and I hadn’t done it in years. So I went to a craft store and bought a “coloring page” on fabric (a tree full of flowers), a package of needles, a hoop, and a sampling of thread colors. I selected browns and a cream for the tree trunk and branches, a couple of greens and a few colors for the flowers. I figured I’d just start as a means of renewing my acquaintance with the few stitches I remembered. After probably 20 hours on the tree trunk, it was kind of a mess as my stitch repertoire was too limited.
So I came to the wonderful internet and am having SUCH a wonderful time learning new stitches (thank you, Ms. Corbet!) and using them on my tree to fill in the challenging spaces and sharpen my skill. Needless to say, I’ve been back to the craft store a few times!
Selecting colors for embroidering is no different from selecting colors for coloring – it always depends upon what the project demands (i.e., I would probably not make a lilac and gray tree trunk) but more than anything else, it depends upon my mood. Of course, maybe the project I pick is the result of the colors that it suggests to me!
However, when I’m using color and have a free hand I definitely lean to the bright jewel tones or strong “autumn” colors. What colors am I likely to have lots of leftovers for? The pastels. What colors do I run out of most often? Strong, bright greens and blues and any shade of red from dark to almost pink.
I guess that is probably my subliminal answer to the “what are your favorite colors?” question.
I have an upcoming crazy quilt project and would love to use silk threads. My eye is always caught by the jewel tones and rich russets, browns and burgundy of medieval silks.
I find myself drawn most often to shades of purple, or blues that are closer to the violet spectrum. I love how these colors can be combined with different shades of green to create subtle or eye popping contrasts. Thanks for the great article on using silk threads.
Jacquelyn
I have a difficult time choosing a favorite color combination – there is hardly any color that I do not like. However, I do like the combination of greens and blue, magenta and purple which probably indicates that I favor the analogous color schemes.
I love Christmas – so red and green are a great favorite as well and those yellows and oranges are luscious too!!
Lately I’m drawn to peacock greens and blues, with raspberry mixed in for contrast. 🙂
My favourite color tend to change with the season, but I almost always find myself adding a little bit of the opposite colour when I play with close colors. For example I adore contrasting a mix of turcoises, medium and dark blues with a touch of salmon, and/or a warm yellow.
I don’t know why, but I have a very hard time with almost all the violet, periwinkle, purple… And I am learning to love the browns, because my favourite fibre dyer (for my spinning adventures) is a fan and uses a lot of it. Actually I love them in stitching. A golden yellow is the color I am drawn to the most, with greish blues.
In my clothes I favour grey as a neutral, but it is a lot harder to find good grays to stitch or spin (for knitting it is easier).
I love playing with colors, and it plays a huge part in my love for textiles arts and crafts.
And I enjoy tremendously reading your outstanding blog. Thank you for taking the time to do it and sharing with us. 🙂
What a daunting question to ask! A favorite color palette? That’s a very difficult decision. I guess the only way for my to narrow down this question is to think about what my favorite color might be. I work with PK – K aged children and the question, “What’s your favorite color?”, comes up often. My usual answer, to narrow it down for small children is PURPLE. I recently embroidered a square for a crazy patch quilt using some silk threads in red violet and royal blue. The piece is accented with royal blue sequins and various seed beads. This square for the quilt is turning out to be a favorite of mine for the color combinations and design. All of the patches I’ve made are of diverse color palettes, but I often lean towards all things purple, all shades and combos. I credit Urban Threads with the main design.
I love turguoises, greens, and purples, reds – I guess I just love ALL colors – life would be quite boring without the rainbow and everything in between!
The color palette that catches my eye in projects have deep saturated shades of greens, oranges, mustards, and reds, as well as anything that’s “traditional” Christmas red, green, gold, and sparkly.
As far as colors I’m using in projects….I purposefully try to expand my use of color with each new project and not go back to the same color palettes, with the exception of Christmas. I try different combinations hoping that I grow with each new project. My tastes are developing as I’m still quite a new stitcher, but I still prefer saturated colors over pastels.
Hi Mary;
If choosing my own colors and not using a kit, I tend to pick colors in the green to purple side of the color wheel. I usually avoid red and black unless used by themselves on white fabric. However recently I completed a woven and beaded necklace for a friend in her favorite colors: fall colors golden to muted green. I really liked the final result, but had to have a salesperson in the store help me pick out the colors to blend with the fiber I was using.
I am usually drawn to the complete rainbow! But I can sometimes be found stitching with the royal combination of purple’s and gold’s!
I’m loving the muted grays and blues lately, a gold/silver/metallic thread is always delicious to look at too for added detail! It really depends on the project I am working on as my color preferences changes easily.
I am fairly new to silks and love them. My favorite colors are pinks and greens.
Oh!!! What an awesome website you have!! I have been stitching since I was 21 (35 years!). My very, very favorite threads are silks in ANY shade of PINK!! Pink, pink, and even more pink has always been my signature color! I would love to win your giveaway!!!! Thank you!!!!
When I embroider a basket of flowers it colors like a warm conversation.
One statement leads to another . My colors flow to another and another and they all seem to combine their brilliance like a conversation with a good friend.
Blues greens pinks and yellows
My favorite color pallet covers the blues. They are so soothing, yet can be full of energy. To balance the blues, I like to use browns. A rich brown can be gentled yet supported by the right shade of blue. Depending on the subject, say a small or alphabet, I like my blues. Samplers or pictures/people, I find I like to stitch in stronger shades rather than pastels or lighter shades of color. The blue you used to stitch on your bag or the shading on the ‘E’ you just did, show the range of what blue can do.
I love to work in the colors of the season. Spring is pretty soft yet somewhat iridescent colors of pink, blue, yellow, purple and green. Summer would be red, white and blue or maybe primary colors. Fall rich muted orange, red, gold and green. For winter I do like tradional red and green but here lately I have come to prefer the newer teal, purple, silver and chartreuse combination. I always use neutrals to tie it all together.
I love silks and it would be so great to win these silk threads to try! My favorite colors…well-I tend to lean towards either rich, Americana type colors in blues, reds, browns, greens; but also my eye is drawn to subtle pastel colors in blues, pinks, mauves, light browns. When I choose colors myself, I tend towards medium blues and browns, with highlights of darker browns, rich yellows and greens.
I prefer all light colours, especially pastels. I like very delicate embroidery and often light colours are the best for this type of work. I also like rainbow colours but I wouldn’t mix many of them. I would choose 3 and work with them.
Thanks for the opportunity of this giveaway.
The palette I go to first is what I call sea colors – deep blues, blue greens, greens and purples, often accented with golds. On the other hand, in the right circumstances, pretty much any color works beautifully. Thank you for the give away. If I win, this will allow me to try a product I probably wouldn’t on my own
I love cool purples and blues with a touch of green–maybe an olive green. Unfortunately I fall back on this combination all of the time so don’t explore other palettes.
I would love to try these silk perle threads. I find myself gravitating toward the bright and bold colors. I’m also drawn to the jewel tones. Thanks for all you do.
I tend to pick purples and blues with silver.
I’m drawn to earth tones, especially autumn colours. I am branching out though to blues and greens
My favorite color combination is purple, green, and gold. These are the colors of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where I live. This color palette just makes you want to celebrate with a party. Of course, I like to see black and gold together, too, because they go for the New Orleans Saints. These few colors make up so much of my needlework. Part of this is because the New Orleans spirit comes through in everything I do.
I Love Red! anything Red will do just fine. Red is almost always my choice.
I have never used silk thread. I am going to start a collection. Love, love embroidery and I want to learn needlepoint.
Colors for me are deep and passionate..
I love colour! Trying to pick out a favourite colour combination is a tough one, but I love purples/pinks, and blue/greens. I tend to gravitate to these colours when I’m stitching and often have to remember that there are other colours in the thread spectrum to utilize in my needlework.
I love bright pops of color from nature — such as fuschias, peonies, even Queen Anne’s Lace! I also love the bright green of new leaves growing in spring. I enjoy layering darker colors over or under lighter colors to enhance the places where shadows or items in the sunlight. Thank you!
Oooooh! Colour! I used to work at a fabric store and always volunteered to stock the threads when they came in. I called it my “colour therapy” 😉
As for my favourites, I really love silk ribbon embroidery and crazy quilting. I adore the rich jewel tones of traditional crazy quilts and especially anything in blues, purples & fuschia. Turquoise is a particular favourite that also often lands in my wardrobe. So much so that some friends call me the ‘blue lady’.
But I also enjoy working with many colours, depending on the project. I did up an original embroidery of fall leaves transitioning to a chickadee on a snow-covered branch with the names of the couple and the date for a November wedding. Lots of fall colours that I’d never wear, but worked for the design.
At one point, back in the 90’s, I snagged a sampler pack of every colour DMC made! Just what a colour addict needs 🙂
I love checking out the colours boards on Pinterest, taking photos of our prairie sunsets, and looking at beautiful quilts for that same reason. Can’t ever have enough colour!
Hello Mary I love to read your emails and blogs. They are very informative and easy to follow the instruction . Thank you very much for your hard work.
I love most of the colors in embroidery it depends on the project I am doing. I love Edmar variegated threads, they make beautiful flowers and foliage.
A new thread to try, how exciting! Silk thread sounds luxurious and I can hardly wait to get my collection started. Thank you for this new site that I can explore.
Hi I’m a great fan of your work..I really want to thank you for each and every stitch that you showed in detail.. It helped me a lot to improve my needle work..I like all the colours but red,blue,and golden colouers has a special consideration.. Thank you for this great effort..
Anitha
I am drawn to blues and greens. I love thread painting scenes that include lots of trees and hills in the background and foregrounds with grass and flowers. I usually like to include a home or something of interest mid field. Streams or oceans are always fun.
I love reds, dark reds and burgundies. Not orangey reds so much. I also love almost every shade of pink!
I love to embroider with deep, rich shades of blues, purples and greens! I am still new to embroidery so I have yet to really play with colors.
After a while deliberating, it will have to be a medium turquoise blue and a pale lemon yellow. The combination gives a gentle contrast which I find soothing.
Color preferences? Weeeeelllll….mine could probably best be summed up as “bright.” I love jewel tones! A piece doesn’t have to be all jewel tones, of course (that would undoubtedly be a bit much, even for me), but an attractive palette almost always has to contain at least a few pops of rich color. The main reason I’ve never been a Theresa Wentzler fan, for example, is that I find her color choices to be pale and a little insipid (no aspersions cast upon TW fans, who I know are legion! Personal taste can be nothing other than purely subjective!)
Hi Mary,
My favorite color combination would be tone on tone, for example ecru on white or reverse white on ecru.Those
color combinations look so elegant in stitched pieces. Color palette would be pinks, burgundy, reminds me of
the color of flowers. My color preferences are the cool colors.
Thanks,
Teri
i love embroidery and applique. I just discovered silk thread and I’m so excited.
my favorite colors are so hard to eliminate so many in my search for favorites.
I love flowers and nature so I’ll go with their color palate.
Green,pink,yellow,orange, these colors remind me of the beautiful flowers in my garden. So I can enjoy them all year long when I’m sewing.
Green for stems-ferns and leaves, purple for lavender flowers, yellow for roses and red orange for poppies.
First of all I love all of your articles. So fun and informative. I haven’t been doing embroidery long so most of what I have been working with are kits. I tend to gravitate towards deep, rich jewel tones, like red and purples. I also have a small obsession with every shade of blue.
Im a quilter who loves to add hand embroidery to my quilts. I wanted to order this thread!! I only use perle cottons bc I only use thick threads…I do big stitch quilting by hand. I’d love the earth tones plus the lime green, purple and a pink! Im smitten by a German designer called HandMade By Margott. Her earthy quilt patterns are amazing! All Diamond Textiles yarn dyed dimensional fabrics. I have them all! Mixing this silk 30wt thread would make me squeal!!
My absolute favorite color is blue, so I’m drawn to things in blue and when I sub a whole color in a design (for example, switching out shades of red) blue is one of my first thoughts. After that, I’m very much drawn to jewel tones. Light colors are necessary as part of the design, but something in mostly pastels will get colors changed out immediately.
my favorite colors are vibrant colors, blues, greens, reds, purple. I love the dramatic effect that these colors give any project. varied reds with oranges are one of my favorite color combinations. When I see a project I look for colors that pop out of the design and if there are not any I will sometimes substitute in colors I think would be better suited to my tastes.
First of all, THANK YOU MARY!!!! I so enjoy your site, your writing and your spirit. You lift my days!
And thank you for offering the silk! I love, love, love silk – in whatever form. Thread, fabric, clothing, it just doesn’t matter. Silk is simply heavenly.
Okay, so colors. Hmmmm… I’m always drawn to blues and purples, or to reds and golds. Generally, if it’s something you’d see in the sky, it’s something I’m drawn to. Sunrise and sunset, clouds and sun, thunderstorms, moon and stars, the aurora borealis, all of those colors thrill me to the core.
Keli
I love anything that feels open and fresh… so I just love the blues and greens that remind me of the ocean. All the sea greens and rich blues worked together can bring the salt air and wide skies into the darkest corner. They make me happy just to hold them.
My favorite color combination depends on my mood. I love bright colors in pinks, greens, blues and orange when the weather is warm and sunny. I almost always am attracted to red, white and blue because summer is my favorite time of the year. I’ve been working lately with colors outside my usual choices like purple and I’m liking it.
One of my favorite color combos at the moment is jewel-like, or darker versions of my warm weather favorites in pink, blue, purple and green.
These colors are all beautiful and I’d love to work with them all, but I have a limited income . My favorite colors are jewel tones starting with purples into pinks and into their complimentary colors.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to win some of these gloriously luscious, shimmering silk threads. I love colour and colour combinations were always a challenge for me until I was looking out my window one day and realised that the colours in nature – from psychedelic sunrises to sunsets and everything in between – all work together. I always reach for red threads as they are “warm” but I’m also now looking at pale lichen and moss colours that reflect the subtleties of unbleached linen on a winter morning.
I simply love threads so the colour combinations come second for me. However there are certain colour combinations in nature that just make me want to stitch. My most favourite of those would have to be the autumn oranges, yellows and reds. Seeing those colours in amongst areas of green or reflected in water is just makes me stop and breathe. Any designs with those colours would be immediately attractive to me.
Dear Mary,
My favourite colours are the Renaissance colours – rich and vibrant.
Thank you.
My favourite colours are russet colours – especially deep scarlet.
Thank you.
I enjoy working in rich gem colors such as royal blue, burgundy, emerald green or purple.
Love silk thread ! And …enjoy all your stitching tips! Thank You.
I have never tried this thread before but it looks wonderful. The colors I lean toward vary with the project I am currently working on. Reds shades of pink greens yellows and some purple are ones that I frequently use. Would love a chance to try this silk. Thanks for the giveaway.
I am so drawn to muted colors, especially fall colors! I don’t rule out vibrant colors but just like the subtle differences in the fall oranges, reds, yellows and greens.
Hi Mary,
Thank you and Needle in a Haystack for the giveaway. I love color. I like to combine blues and yellows or pinks and yellows or pinks and oranges or golds and wine colors. I love to play with all different shades too.
I like doing work in chakra colors/shades. ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) is another word for it. Is it the Waldorf parent coming out in me? Seeing a kit with these rainbow colors and hues would make my heart sing! These colors are my favs, albeit I do have a soft spot for Retro colors to work my collection of vintage patterns.
My favourite colour scheme is sky related. Pale greys to purple blues onto soft pale salmon. Mmm.
I love bright and bold palettes- cobalt blues, daffodil yellows, etc. neon colors only for Halloween!
Have always been drawn to blues on whites- live the clean look
I love to do anything with various shades of red, but that could be because I’m partial to the color in general. Right now though I am working on this piece that involves these lovely shades of greens, blues, and purples. The colors look pretty so hopefully they blend in the piece well!
I just love greens and blues. I find them calming and soothing to the eyes.
I tend to gravitate to reds and purples, but I also lik to add bright splashes of other colors. Right now I am playing with tropical colors!
Love mixes of pastel and very dark. Especially burgundy and pinks and whites. Florals are good places to use the mix of darks and likes
Hi Mary,
Ohhhh … these threads look wonderful! My “go to” color palette will always be earth tones, but I appreciate pasteles as well. Primary colors have such a WOW factor, but I shy away from using them for some reason. Anyway, thanks once again for this opportunity to win.
Best wishes,
Sandra F.
My eye is always caught by blue and green combinations with a little coral thrown in. The colors are soothing, so I get a double dose of relaxation by using my favorite colors while losing myself in embroidery!
Hi….its all colours I guess..there is rarely a colour I get my hands on and don’t want to embroider with…
Hi Mary!
Thank you for teaming with Needle in a Haystack for a silk thread giveaway! We can always use more threads, especially silk ones!
This is a hard one for me to answer! I LOVE color. My favorite color combination for needlework has to be “whatever I’m working with at the moment”! I really love experimenting with different palettes and color schemes. I guess if I *have* to make a choice, at least right now, I’d say lavender/blues/purples with a touch of yellow and springtime greens. Ask me again in late summer or early fall and I’ll be thinking about Christmas stitching and for that my favorite colors are deep burgundy-reds, hunter greens, bright white and metallic golds.
I don’t really have a particular color palette that I gravitate towards in kits or in my own designs. There are so many things that go into those decisions for me. Yes, a pleasing choice of colors must be there, but also the type of stitching, specific techniques involved and the details of the design itself all combine in my choices. I do enjoy working on historical and historically inspired pieces , so my color choices are definitely softer, aged palettes over bright, strong, acid-colors, usually, but not always!
Sometimes, I’ll just set a ‘color challenge’ for myself and work to stretch my horizons by picking one or two threads that are not colors I’ve worked with recently and try to come up with a pleasing design around them. Or I’ll find a design in colors that I don’t think are “me” and do my best to either work it as designed or make a just few changes to help it fit my preferences.
I love blues, greens and purples in my needlework. I am drawn to embroidery that shows the subtleties of each color. There is something very soothing, like looking at the ocean and seeing all the variations that flow on the water. A palette of blues greens and purples make me want to “dive” right in!!
I’m new to advanced stitching so there is much to overwhelm me. One of the things I struggle with is nuance. When you are trying to shade or “bend” a color. Do you increase the stitches per inch to get the color?b do you use a bigger palate of colors? Do you use a different stitch altogether? Still so much to learn.
But I’d love to extend my palate with some silk. I wonder what it would be like to feel it in your hands as you work. I wonder how it catches light?
My colour choice is often a mix of blues, ie: mid blue, turquoise and dark blue mixed with a light turquoise ribbon made a lovely canvas piece with those last month. The thread give away would be really nice used on a surface piece. Hope I’m the lucky winner.
Ever since the Secret Garden Hummingbird project, I have loved using green, purple and orange. These are the three secondary colors and they go so well together.
Sometimes I use yellow-green, red-violet and coral.
Hi! I have discovered the joy of using silk material, and want to try silk thread. This would be such a wonderful opportunity. I am already designing a project to do with it – on a Christmas theme.
I am obsessed with silk threads and have over the last few years have been stitching and honing my skills with thread painting, so I have been using all the colours in my stash, which I add to almost monthly. (It will bankrupt me one day) My dream is to thread paint a portrait of my one and only grandchild, a beautiful boy. Not sure whether to make him true to life colours (flesh colours) or go surreal with lots of colours. I don’t really have favourite colours but all the colours of nature in the flowers are what I am drawn to.
Thank you Mary would be lovely to win some more silk for my stash
I love jewel colors, especially for winter projects. For lighter, summery projects, aqua tones along with a deep melon color can be a nice contrast. I like to see bold but realistic colors and patterns of nature in needlework.
I really like vibrant colors when doing handwork – I have been away from it for some time due to work, but my job situation is changing, so I look forward to getting back to handwork & excited about receiving your newsletter!!
Hi Mary, my colour preferences are definitely the blues, especially blues that add in creams/whites and silver. thanks for the give away,
My favorite color combination for embroidery is the same that’s in my garden – soft pinks, dark purples, and lime green, with a dash of white for a color pop. I find these colors soft and soothing.
I’m typically a warm color girl, but lately the brights have caught my eye! I’ve been combining brighter threads with warm bases (crazy ones) and LOVE LOVE LOVE the combinations. We are not talking neon here, but the combinations are working well! Thanks for the opportunity for a give away – it’s mighty kind Needle in a Haystack to even think of giving any of that beautiful thread away….. and Awesome to be a part of Needle ‘n Thread!
I would so love to try these threads in an Embroidery Project. Especially since it is a Z Twist! My problem is I love ALL colors so really enjoy projects that use a multitude of color. Like a lovely bouquet of flowers in a basket! Hmmmm lovely. Living in California I have to admit I am partial to the lovely oranges and yellows in our State of poppies.
I have wanted to try out silk threads a little more and would love to win some. One of my favorite color combinations is pumpkin orange, magenta and yellow. These are colors you might find in a gorgeous sunset. I have a project I am thinking of trying these colors in. Another favorite color combo that I love is bright peacock colors to play around with. I love the Violet, Pine, Purple, Honey, Black and Celadon that are listed here.
In Christ,
Gail J.
I love playing with all colours mixing them on the needle and then sowing. but my favorite is the blues and greens with just a bit of something else to make it zing.
When I look at the patterns, the ones with bold colors always attract me first. As I’m getting older I find myself using bright colors more than the pastel tones I used to love 😉
Shades of blue or brown grab my eye first, but I also love pink/green together, nature can’t go wrong.
This thread will make my silk ribbon embroidery – “Pop” even more!
Thank You for this give away!
I am stitching a project right now with my favorite color scheme so far. It combines pale pinks, deep pinks, and cranberry red. Vibrant colors catch my eye in picking projects. I have never been one to gravitate toward pastels.
I cannot say that I have one color combination that I prefer more than the others. At the moment I am in love with white threads on dark natural linen. But later it could be some red or others. I like different colors. I always have few different projects and sometimes I choose one of them because of its style or stitches, sometimes because of the color.
When deciding on a needlework project, I find myself drawn to rich fall colors: yellows and golds, deep reds and greens, browns, and rust. Growing up in Florida I never saw fall until I went to college in north Georgia. It became my favorite time of year with the crisp cool days, bright blue skies, and the fantasy riot of leaf change. While I love living in the sand and sun of Florida with its lush tropical foliage, I like the warm embrace of fall colors in my needlework.
Blue and green with perhaps some violet added are my favorite colors. I actually love all bright colors. The silk threads are beautiful. Thanks for the chance to enter the drawing.
I love colour and tend to think of a set of colours when planning a project. Most of the time I prefer saturated colours, whether brights or jewels. I’ve been trying to make sure that I choose a colour that will perk up a project because I find that most are too much the same. A judicious dash of yellow, orange or chartreuse can add a touch of delight; and a light ouch of brown or dark grey can provide depth.
I like the pattern you’re working on and the colors you’ve chosen. There’s so many wonderful color choices, but the ones I turn to are usually primary colors. I just love the richness of the primary pallet as I think it makes a design “POP”.
Very hard to pick a favorite color palate! Right now I am really into “peacock” scheme. Purple’s, green’s, turquoises, azures, etc. Of course neutrals are always welcomed as well. I am a 30 year cross stitching obsessed needler and a 40 year embroidery student whom as got away from it but due to your site has gleefully returned. Good luck to every one and congrats to the winner. Thank you for the wonderful give-a-way, but most importantly the knowledge and beautiful pieces and inspiration you provide!
I love black and white with pops of bright colors and geometric designs. More than the color, I’d like to try thread with a Z twist. I’m left-handed, and it’s possible I could stitch with this without having to compensate for a twist that works against me.
I love green! When I work with fabric, wool, threads, needlework, etc it’s all about green. Of course I use other colors too, but I always do with an eye towards how they will accent the green:) Embroidering the leaves and stems of a flower project is more fun to me than the flowers themselves!
A favorite color combination I would like to use would be the blues and white/off white with a bit of silver to add sparkle. I am always attracted to these colours and find them very refreshing. If there is anything floral of course green would need to be added. Who ever said blue and green should not together be seen.
I have a hard time choosing colors for my own projects; so, I tend to follow instructions from kits.
these silk threads looks delicious!
Thank you Mary for your wonderful website!
Color. I love color! When people ask which color is my favorite, I can’t give an honest answer. At this time in my life, I am laid up with sciatica and off my feet so I’m embroidering baskets of flowers for a quilt wall hanging. As I look over what I’ve done so far, I see lots of maroons and deep greens with gold centers in my flowers so I would have to say that is my favorite color palette. I include pinks and also blue because we have so much blue in our house. I made one basket of flowers teal and pink with just a hint of deep red and yellow centers. It turned out nice. I bought Traditional Embroidery Schemes by Trish Burr upon your recommendation. I love her color schemes. Now back to embroidery…
I have always loved the deep rich colors of scarlet, red, rose with touches of purple and cream. There are so many different shades to use.
Mostly though, I enjoy beautiful colors!
Colour is always a little alarming to me. I tend towards neutrals in my weaving and sewing, but when I have to use colour it’s always invigorating! I like embroidering whitework techniques and pulled & drawn thread work. Sometimes I’ll see piles of fabric or thread that catch my eye, and lately it’s been frosty pinks, greyed greens, gold, and white. I’ve never embroidered with silk, although I frequently sew with it. Silk embroidery is still a bit intimidating!
I have many silk threads but not his one so of course I would love to win this prize so I can try them out. Have so many projects on the go that benefit from the beautiful sheen of silk threads.
I don’t really have a favorite color that I go to when stitching. I look at the project and choose. I like to try different color palates.
The silk perle looks interesting. I have never stitched with silk perle and would like to try it. Thank you Mary for offering it!
I love autumn colours. The warm, rich hues always draw me in. But I also love silhouettes in needlework in whatever tone fits the project. Thanks for this opportunity!
Leann
Hi Mary,
One of my favourite colour combinations is yellow green/ purple. I also like a sea green/brown, royal blue/orange combination. The Maori designs from Australia, combine many wonderful colours, which I love.
I’m new to silk thread and I love the topic as I’m eager to learn more. I like the straight forward, classic look of black work and white work but as for colours my favourite by far has to be the purple family, mauve, lilacs, lavender, magenta and everything inbetween.
These silk threads are lovely. I have never used them but would be great to give them a try.
I tend to lean toward bright colors, and anything that has purple hues in it catches my eye immediately. I’m a novice, but would love to try these threads.
My colour preferences change according to the project. Lately I’m drawn to turquoise and coral as well as turquoise and purple. I am in love with silk threads. I don’t often stitch with them. I just love to open the little drawers and fondle them! I suppose it could be said that I’m a hoarder of threads, any beautiful threads. Thanks for such an interesting website Mary.
I like bright and bold colors but if a project suggests some softer more mute colors are more acceptable I will use those.
I usually go for reds, blues, oranges, and yellows.
These silks sounds heavenly. I’d love to try them.
My favorite palette should be easy to identify, right? Not so! I am drawn to rich colors in contrast – harvest colors against a green background, deep blues and/or purples against a pale color. Reds, greens, browns, it is all wonderful. I love color, and walking through fabric, yarn, needlework or garden shops is always one long “OOOOHHHH, I LOVE That!” Color is such a joyous experience and combining it with a favorite project provides hours of pleasure, both during and after!
I really enjoyed seeing the kaleidoscope you are stitching. I can’t wait to see the entire piece once completed!
I am so “the same” with my favorite color choices. I love green, pink and brown.
However, last year I talked to a bride-to-be who was using navy, dusty blue and rose for her wedding colors and I am so inspired by that color combo. Who knows? Maybe I can branch out(o:
When looking for colour combinations I am particularly drawn to heathery purples and pinks. Greens absolutely fascinate me too there are so many shades and it’s such a relaxing colour.
Generally I like blues, greens and purples but I also like the reds, yellows and oranges – just depends on my mood. I just love to sit and stitch!
I love teals with dark blues and some light colors thrown in as creams or pale yellows
but I also love the more neutral palette of creams,whites, soft blush and soft sage greens
Carole frpm Ottawa,Canada
Sooo Mary, the most appealing colors to my eyes are blues, greens, and reds. I love all the variations of these colors like
fuchsias, pinks, aquas, teals, lavenders, lavender-pinks and so on. For some reason, the yellows and oranges have never appealed to me. In looking at your beautiful color combinations however, I’m changing my mind from rather rigid favorites to be far more inclusive of the other colors.
Love the new thread which will be easy to incorporate in projects. My favorite colors to stitch with are blues/aquas– Art Fabrik overdyed Degas Blue and Aquamarine are used in several of my projects. Thanks for the info on these threads–and enjoy the weekend!!
The very first thing I stitched as part of the Certificate at the Royal School of Needlework was a crewel work piece. There were certain rules laid down for the piece – certain stitches to be used, at least one leaf with a turnover and, most important of all, only three colours could be used. I think we were allowed four tones of two and three of the third. I chose blue, green and purple, and that’s probably still my favourite colour grouping!
My favorite color combination is blue, blue, and a little more blue! I gravitate towards the darker blues, usually a variegated fiber when I choose my own. I don’t buy kits, but charts with strong amounts of blue in them will always get a second glance from me.
Thank you for the opportunity. Happy stitching!
My favorite colors are the colors of fall with the yellows and oranges in with the deep reds and all shades of brown. Of course there must also be bits of greens in there as well. These colors just draw me in and it makes no difference if it is embroidery or quilting.
Colour to me is life. I find that my eye is drawn to the bright happy colours and sometimes I am drawn to the muted soft romantic colours an endless feast for everyone to choose from. My heart beats faster when I look at fabric and beads and threads because they encompass the possibilities of thread artist.
Did you ask me which colours I like to uses the most often? Today I think it would have to be black, brown white, off white beige, cream , yellow with a touch of green.
That’s it for me today.
When doing embroidery I enjoy working in various shades of pink, purple and blue.
I have done very little work using silk, so I would love to try these Sajou threads.
honestly when it comes to silk and color i can say they are all my favorite! the shine! the softness! the feel of the silk rubbing on my face! yes, i said rubbing on my face. if i am going to put hard earned money into purchasing silk i am going to rub it on my face as wekk as smell it, hold it and sit in a datk room with a light on a glass bowl filled with my new purchase of shinny silks! strange as this may sound i think i am having a love affair with silk. and to stitch with it is just heavenly!
r t smith
Working with silk thread is like having a choice of all the different ice cream flavours there are, in your freezer with easy access! Silk threads are so lovely to work with and the effect they can bring to your work is definitely scrumptious! I especially love the overdyed threads and how they can lead your colour into different directions. I love blues and greens and ok all colours. They all have their place in stitching! Ok, I’ll admit I’m probably a threadaholic!
Hi Mary! My favorite color is pink, and every shade of it…hands down. Many of my needlework projects lean towards the pastel palette including the pale Spring greens and yellows to the pinks and light blue hues.
Have a great weekend Mary!
Thank you!
I love color! I’m not sure I could pick just one palette–on the one hand, I love complementary colors in a design that pop out at you. But I’m also a huge fan of the muted colors in modern whitework (thinking Trish Burr’s Katarina pattern which I’ve purchased but haven’t started yet!). Color tells a story, and I think the palette depends on the story you want to tell!
My favorite color combination is red,pink,purple and blue.I like to mix them with green,light green, and brown in case i’m embrodering a rose for example.
What beautiful thread! I looked at a couple of my current projects and the main colours were pinks and greens, with splashes of purple and blue. The occasional hint of yellow peaks out as a pop.
Asking for my favorite color palette is like asking for my favorite candy. I tend to drift toward rich jewel tones in royal blue. Teal greens, magenta/burgundy, butter yellow, gold, fuschia, coral and copper tones, turquoise. I have to force myself to include lighter shades or pastels. Orange seldom comes home with me, but I love it in other people’s work.
I typically gravitate towards purple, green and yellow — to the point where those are the colors I order when trying a new type of thread since
1) purples and greens seem to be the colors most likely to end up weird in some way (the former too red and the latter too blue or too grey) so if they’re solid the rest of line probably is too and
2) I’ll find somewhere to use them eventually, like an accent to a sewing project rather than embroidery, even if I decide I don’t love the thread itself.
Lately I seem to be wandering towards bright white threads on unbleached or natural fabric, but that might be partly laziness since it means I never have to decide which thread goes where…
I rarely do this but just finished reading Mary’s article about her recent project that blew me away, as usual. She uses my favorite colors of blue, yellows and the spectrum of all of those. I have done several pieces and find that those colors used in gradation are so beautiful. I have also enjoyed using the many new colors, like bright turquoise but always go back to blues and yellow in all of my hobbies, be it quilting, embroidery, beading, or zentangle with pastels!
So, I am very new to needlework in general. I started out with plastic canvas and have moved onto cross stitch some. I do love blackwork in all its different forms though. My favorite color palette no matter what I’m working on is any shade of red, teal/turquoise, and blue. Those are my 3 go-to colors and most of the yarns and threads I acquire end up being in one of those 3 colors. I have made a magazine holder with much of it being red and shades of teal. After that I just love rich deep colors, nothing to bright or light really. I will probably do most of my blackwork in colors other than black as well.
I love the purple and blues, but I try to use all the colors on my crazy quilts.
I love, love, love these silk threads!
For some reason I tend to go with the combination of a grass green, dark blue and bright pink if I don’t need to worry about those colors. I don’t know why but they just seem so happy to me!
Anyway, I love this website. Thank you for all your guidance!
I love blue in any and all shades in my needlework.
I am always drawn to anything with blue in it – blue motifs, blue backround, blue grass, blue trees etc etc. I love all the colours that go with blue especially blue/pink/red combinations. I love colour in general and always have fun playing with my threads to “try out” various combinations.
This made me pause and think, and I surprised even myself by finding how often I am drawn to a purple and green color combination, I never even realized how much I really do love that duo till I reckoned up all my most recent embroidery projects. Just love the vivid contrast. A monogram you did recently Mary using purple and green was simply stunning! I have thought of it often.
The colours all depend on the project. Sometimes brights, sometimes muted. But my favourite would be cornflower blue tones with contrasts.
I always enjoy reading your articles and seeing your beautiful work. I always have difficulty choosing colors and patterns and hesitate but I am working on being adventurous especially after I see your work.
Thanks for the reminder in your new post since I don’t think I submitted a comment earlier as I had intended! I’d love to try this thread — and the colors I like vary so much depending on what the project is and whether it’s for my home or a gift for someone else. For myself, many are rose, purple, deep pink, cream.
Blues and greens but not pastels are my general colour preferences for everything so those are the colours that attract me for needlework. These are the colours that “grab my eye” in looking at kits. There are some kits with beautiful designs but a colour selection that I can’t stand such as some oranges and yellows – with sometimes pink thrown in as well. So I would select blues, greens, some blue-purples with yellow and/or gold to highlight for my own choices.
The colours I like best in needlework are the ones suitable to the subject. So for example shades of brown are needed for trees. The colour choices play together with the subjects to determine what designs I would like to do.
My favorite colors are all the family of pinks, lilas and violets. Last year, I went to Paris to “L’aiguille en fête” and I went to Sajou and to Ver à soie for a night of embroidery. It was wonderful. I bought some silk threads and it would be fantastic if I could add some colors to the basic ones I have. Thank you Mary to offering us those opportunities to try different threads.
I love, love, ❤️ working with silk thread. I enjoy all colours, especially since I do mostly surface embroidery. I do favour all shades of green and blue.
I truly love working with bright happy colors, bright yellow, hot reds and blue’s.
I guess just about anything with lots of color would be a project I would Love. I am working on a pillow slip at the moment with blue butterfly’s but if wasn’t a gift would be making monarch butterfly’s and swallowtails.
Color makes me happy.
Mary
How can you have a favorite color? Though I love light sage green and light pink, sometimes burgundy and evergreen are perfect. Sometimes I see a beautiful fiber I haven’t seen before and just have to have it and work a small project around it. Sometimes silk fibers produce beautiful jewel tones that are inspiration, I am fickle but happy with when I look in my color box and just admire the various colors, textures and sheens.
For smaller projects I like to use jewel tones like burgundy, turquoise, deep green, gold, fuchsia, and a little black. Saturated color in small amounts is beautiful.
For larger projects I like to revert to pastels with perhaps a jewel tone highlight or three. The pastels seem easier on the eye for large projects. Large or small, I seldom use many neutral tones, opting instead for a blend of many colors.
I have never used silk thread before. I who’ve always used cottton or rayon. I just retired today after 29 years of teaching, and one of my goals is to improve my embroidery skills. I love lavender in general. For embroidery projects it depends on the piece.
My go to are bright colors, colors that scream for attention except when soft pastel colors whisper to be noticed and then there are the shades and hues that demand their time in the spotlight. Why are there so many colors and at the same time, not enough? Right now, I’m drawn in by the whispers which may be a reflection of the season and the beautiful flowers emerging in town. I typically select my colors and then my project or maybe it’s the project’s colors that decide for me.
I’m a bit embrassed to say, but I really, really like working “white on white” embroidery. It can look very contemporary, or quite period.
But the funny thing is when I see a vivbrant colored embroidery my heart sings. So maybe its time to jump in, and go a bit wild.
My floss boxes never seem to have the purple, turquoise, or bright pink that I want when I am selecting colors for a project. Those three colors, in the order listed, must be my favorites.
I’d love to trial this new thread in my latest project
My favorite color is the rainbow! Even though I love love love a classic color scheme, like blue & white, it seems my embroidery always ends up with every color in the rainbow! I find myself adding that little touch to kits as well! Somewhere over the rainbow, all my stitching dreams come true!
At the moment, my favorite color range is anything in reds—anything from a light pink to rose to a brilliant red. My choice could be heavily influenced by the season and what is growing in the yard and garden. This month my zinnias, “bleeding hearts,” and pink roses are coming on, so it’s the reds.
Blues, greens and purples all the way! I’ve been pushing myself to do other combos, but blue, green, purple are what draw me in time after time. Thanks for doing these giveaways!
Thank you for telling us all about threads. I never tire of reading your blog. Because I am new to stitching I do not have a favorite color combination for needlework yet, though at home decor stores I notice that I gravitate to the beachy soft colors of blues, aqua, tan, and weathered white. I am very fond of natural colored flax / linen. But on a different note – when I am repairing / looking at liturgical items the rich hues are calling me.
The threads look gorgeous. I have never tried stitching in silk and would love to try! I love greens and blues – the colours of early spring here.
Oh Mary, what can I say. The threads are the most lovely things I have seen for a long while and as for the embroidery —-Oh I do wish I could do some of the things that you do. my arthritis is getting worse – and the shakes- so I am finding things a bit difficult, BUT I do so enjoy your letters.
God Bless and keep you safe.
Love
#Marjorie
not a fan of screaming bright or pastel colors. Since I do a lot of samplers I usually stick to traditional colors or just a white on white when doing Hardanger.