Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts
Publisher:
Willow Ridge Press
Author:
Maria Peagler
Illustrator:
Editor:
Reviewed
By: Penny Murphy
Color Mastery is a beautiful book, even before you open it. The cover is colorful, showing what I'd call unlikely quilt squares put together. The result is busy, eye-catching, and somehow beautiful, though I never would have chosen such combinations while browsing through the fabrics in the store. I had a feeling I would learn something new, in the reading, and go beyond my cautious two- and three-color combinations.
Two things really attracted me to the book in the first place: One was that I could do the exercises using the fabric I already own. Another is that I could make any colors work together! My budget would thank me for that. I already have a couple of plastic bins full of fabric. If I could learn to match colors in a way to use what I already have on hand, instead of going to the fabric store every time I start a new quilt, well... what a bonus!
This book is intensely practical. Part One is a “color mastery workbook,” with exercises to help the reader develop a feel and eye for color. You study ten principles of color mastery through keeping a color journal and playing with colors, specifically three aspects of color: hue, value, and intensity. As I mentioned before, you do this not by trying to match fabrics under the fluorescent lights at a fabric store, but right in your own living room (or sewing room, if you happen to have one), using fabrics you already own.
Of course, if you're fairly new to quilting, this book will work well for you as well! In fact, starting out with Color Mastery just might prevent you from collecting boxes and bags of fabric that you can't quite figure out how to use! You will, however, want to have a basic understanding of piecework and quilting before you pick up this book, so that you're not learning too many new concepts at once.
Color Mastery is beautifully laid out, with plenty of full-color illustrations. The author leads you through her ten principles of color mastery through a series of exercises. Along the way she debunks color myths, answers questions, lets you in on an artist's secrets, and opens a new world of color possibilities. Chapters are punctuated with “Know This/Think About This/Do This” summaries, and helpful charts and diagrams abound. This is a book meant to be used.
...which brings us to Part Two, containing a series of projects that encourage you to try out Color Mastery techniques. Not just stunning, as the title promises, but breathtaking, these quilts (and a handbag) look like the sort I've seen at the county fair, with blue ribbons hanging from them.
Appendices include a two-day “At-Home Color Mastery Retreat” (Doesn't this sound like something fun to do with friends or daughters?), color wheels and charts, and templates for appliqué used in projects.
You can download the first chapter of the book at the author's website, download how-to videos, even find a homeschool unit study to use with the book.
Color Mastery is everything I love in a quilting book: colorful, fun, educational, and inspiring.
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