I spent a while pondering which colors to use for the petals of the wave flowers. These were my original color options. I wanted the piece to have a very purple feeling.
In the end I chose something completely different. When I begin working I have a particular color "feel" in mind but when the fabrics are laid out on the table they sometimes speak to me differently.
I start by laying the first petal down, so far so good. It has to contrast with the background but not distract from the "feel" of the piece. This is not something that I can teach but I describe the procedure so that I convey the considerations that I have when designing the color layout of my patchwork piece.
I try to find words to describe my color "feel". I am sure we all "feel" the colors but not all of us are attuned to these feelings. I describe it sometimes as the way I feel when I hear a particularly moving piece of music or music that makes me want to dance.
When creating I listen to and dance with the colors.
I tried layouts with the purples and blues from my fabric selections and all of them blended in too much. The flowers have to stand out and still complement the colors.
I went back to the scrap boxes and found this shocking pink. When I was younger I would have "chickened out" and not used it. I am far more confident in my color play these days so I laid the shocking pink petals down. And it felt right but a zing was missing. Nice but I wanted a jolt of something else as well.
I found it - this orange not a neon orange, I had some of that too but a rich salmon which felt right.
The orange is perfect. It brightens the flowers up, and doesn't compete with the shocking pink but rather flatters it.
After sewing, the petals will be much smaller so they will not overwhelm the entire piece.
And as usual while creating the layout I end up with many different sized fabric scraps which I sort according to size while I work.
Longer thinner strips for the carnival fabric box
Smaller more or less one inch pieces for that magical box
And the really tiny pieces which I can use to create ScrapFabric or fabric beads
The threads or orts I keep too. They can be used to create beads or as fabric embellishments when slow stitching.
Sometimes it takes longer to choose the fabrics than to do the sewing.
The Wave Floral Garden is Growing.
I will share more of the progress as the piece develops
There are online pdf tutorials and video classes available to purchase
Wave Landscape Patchwork Tutorials and Video Tutorials
The tutorials are available here on Etsy
and here on my site
and the videos classes can be viewed here on my site after purchase