...that I'm simply going gaga over this year can be summed up rather well by the colours in the photo above: scrumptious blues, turquoises, violets, mauves balanced by some lovely browns, warm greens, golds and oranges... Yum!
To get a better sense of this autumn palette of mine, I uploaded the photo above (a crisper view of the same pillowcases and blanket as in the first photo) into CSS Drive's image to colour palette generator and ended up with this mix of colour swatches:
Do you ever play around with some of these online colour palette generators? I certainly do, especially when I'm looking for some colour inspiration, or when I find an image with an appealing colour mix and want to better see all the discrete colours being used. Looking at the colour swatches above, I think that perhaps there should be a warm gold somewhere in the mix and, where is the orange from the blanket binding?! But, I guess the colour generator probably picks up more on the dominant colors and not on small specks of colour like the orange tones in the binding...
Anyhow, I'm quite happy with all those swatches of blues, turquoises, mauves and violets as these are the colors I can't seem to get enough of at the moment. In some ways, this may seem like a bit of a departure for me because, I think for the longest time now, I've been shying away from purples and mauves, choosing green-blues like turquoises and aquas over indigo, navy and periwinkle blues. Cath Kidston's trademark colours, which I think are well represented in the crochet blanket and the sweater below (photos from the CK online catalogue) and which don't really dip too deeply into the violets or mauves, have always acted as a bit of a reference point for me when I'm choosing colours for a design, simply because I love the freshness of these colors when put together. (I included the photo of the sweater because I think it's adorable -- definitely on my wish list!) Over the years now, I think CK has expanded the range of colours used in their designs with definitely more navy in evidence but still, from what I can see in the catalogue, not too many sightings of violet. (Unfortunately, I can only see the CK collections in online catalogues as I'm not as lucky as some of you who can easily stroll into one of the many lovely CK shops!...) Despite my admiration for all that is CK, I now feel definitely ready to embrace more of all those lovely violets and mauves into my colour schemes...
In fact, I really seem to fancy the family of minky-mauves like the ones I circled below; it's a bit of a funny murky colour, making me think of the colour you'd end up with when, painting with watercolours as a kid, you'd mix all your watercolours together, forgetting to wipe the brush after changing colours! (It would also probably be the final colour of the water in your jar because of all the mixing going on in there...)
Since I've started crochet-trimming pillowcases, I find that I've been using mostly shades of pink, mint and light blue yarn for the trims; undoubtedly, it's because they have worked well complementing the colours of the pillowcase fabrics I've been favouring up to now, but with more periwinkles, indigos and violets in my sights, I'm ready to pull out my minky mauve and orchid plum yarns for some trim work! While I've used a minky-coloured yarn for the top pillowcase below and am really liking the way this shade of yarn is complenting the scrumptious fabric of the pillowcase, I still haven't quite found the perfect fabric match to use my lovely shade of plum yarn on... I guess I will have to dig deeper into the stash because I so badly want to use this plum shade in one of my pillowcase styles! (Do you ever get that way when there is a certain colour of yarn that you really have a "thing" for and desperately want to use for something?!...)
Do you have a favourite autumn palette that you're going gaga over at the moment?.. If so, I'd love to see it (you can share it by linking photos to your comments below and perhaps I could post all of them together in the form of a collage...) As some of you may have noticed, I am slowly adding more new pillowcases to my Etsy shop; I still have a lot to add and, at the pace I'm going, it might still take me a little while! I hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings about colour palettes and, hopefully. you'll come by again soon when I post about a special corner of my house... Thanks for the visit!
What beautiful shades. I have had two skeins of variegated embroidery yarns in that exact palette in my stash for years - one 'minky-mushroomy' the other 'aqua-tealy-silvery'. Now I feel inspired...
Posted by: Anna | October 17, 2013 at 07:42 PM
Cath Kidson sold the company some time ago so I doubt the colour palettes are her choices. More like those of a board of designers. I still love the ranges though!
I'll have to try the colour websites.
Posted by: Rachell | October 17, 2013 at 10:03 PM
Sorry about my lack of clarity with regards to Cath Kidston: when referring to CK, I meant the brand or the company, not specifically the person. (I've changed my wording in my post to try to reflect that a bit better.) From what I understand though, Cath Kidston, the person, is still the creative director of the company even though she sold her majority stake in the company a few years ago.
Posted by: Beata Basik | October 17, 2013 at 10:36 PM
I love minky mauve, such a lovely colour! I use it a lot in my textiles. I love your pillow cases.
Posted by: found and sewn | October 18, 2013 at 02:50 AM
Lovely purple tones. :)I seem to be hung up on the 50's color palate at the moment. Lots of aqua and pink. lol Re-decorating my kitchen at the moment to reflect that era. Currently making retro looking potholders to decorate above all the windows. Look forward to seeing your work in the new colors.
Posted by: Angela-Southern USA | October 20, 2013 at 03:14 PM
A dreamy pile of autumn colours! I (like many) am loving mustard...
Posted by: mrs robinson | October 23, 2013 at 05:13 AM