Least Favorite Color and How I Use It

December 13, 2019

Yesterday for the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge we talked about our favorite color, so today we are discussing our least favorite color. I think all colors have their place in design, but in the world of fabric, brown is hands down my least favorite color.  It only has a minor representation in my fabric stash, but I do use it from time to time.

No color is truly ugly if it is used in conjunction with appropriate colors and in the right proportions. The first way I incorporate my least favorite color is to use it in very small amounts to provide a moment of contrast to the overall design. In Synthesized Slivers there are quite a few pieces of brown, but they are only exposed in 1/8″ wide strips.

Brown also played the role as a minor accent color in this Marsala Mini Quilt.  In this instance, the print on the tan fabric helped to tie it into the overall design.

Marsala Mini Quilt

On very rare occasions, a project needs to use brown to tell the story of an image.  This was the case in my π, pi, PIE! mini Quilt.  (I do think that, in most instances, you can use colors other than brown to depict things such as tree trunks. But I like to do some out of the box color schemes!)

π, pi, PIE!

Sometimes you just have to jump in and embrace the color you don’t care for.  Upward Perspective was created for a Curated Quilts mini quilt challenge, and the color palette was part of the challenge.  In this instance, I just went with it.  This isn’t a go-to color scheme for me, but the colors balanced well enough to make a successful quilt.

I just realized I only use brown fabric in mini quilts! Maybe I’ll have to try incorporating it into a larger scale project. What is your least favorite fabric color? Have you ever made yourself give it a try?

I am excited to be participating in this year’s 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge hosted by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com, and I hope you will have the chance to check out some of the other awesome blogs that are participating this month.

4 Comments

  • Reply
    Danice
    December 14, 2019 at 12:32 am

    Very interesting. I do love how you have used brown occasionally though. My least favorite color is any shade or tone of pink.

  • Reply
    Shasta
    December 14, 2019 at 12:05 pm

    I used to steer away from brown too, and orange, but now I really like to use it. It adds so much. Your quilts are beautiful, and yes, you should use brown in bigger quilts too.

  • Reply
    Deena
    December 14, 2019 at 2:03 pm

    I can’t decide on a favorite color–I love them all–bright! But brown is the color I love least. And it is the color of chocolate! I am enjoying your “31 Days” and your pi quilt made me laugh! I might try something similar as a pot holder so I can enjoy it all the time. Absolutely beautiful quilts!

  • Reply
    100 Days of Hexagons: Blocks 1-10 and Fabric Choices | The (not so) Dramatic Life
    April 27, 2020 at 1:37 am

    […] stash is reasonably well balanced among all colors (except brown- I rarely use brown!), but yellow is a smaller stack than the rest.  There tend to be fewer yellow prints that I like, […]

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