Doctor T Designs

I really liked the way I made color palettes for last year’s Sew Geeky plans, so I’ve decided to choose my palette for this year in the same way: 2 neutral colors, 3 main colors, and 4 accent colors.  I’ve also come to realize what colors I actually really like to wear (cool and saturated jewel tones), so I’m going to focus on sewing clothes in those colors this year.

There are several systems that can be used to find your best colors.  I discuss them in posts here, here, here, here, and here.

Personally, I like the 12 seasons palettes as a starting point – it narrows down the infinite rainbow of colors in the universe to a pre-coordinating palette, and I find that the subtle differences between the colors really allows for fine-tuned customization.  However, I also somewhat agree with Merriam Style’s color system, in which she separates colors into four quadrants: bright/cool, bright/warm, muted/cool, and muted/warm.  Under her system I would be bright and cool, which means I should stick to saturated cool colors, which I typically do.  However, I think the advantage of the 12 seasons colors is that if I’m looking for things that coordinate, the color combinations are already built in.  I know I don’t look good in yellow/orange/lime green, despite the fact that there are a few yellows on the True Winter palette in the 12 seasons system.  However, I don’t really look at this system as saying I should wear lots of yellow, but rather that if I do choose to wear yellow, this is the most harmonious shade.  It’s probably not a “correct” interpretation of either system in a strict sense, but I think it allows me to feel like I have a wider range of colors to choose from (from the 12 seasons palette), but also helps me focus on which colors would be the absolute best for me (cool, bright blues, blacks, pinks, etc.)

Last year I made four seasonal palettes as part of my Sew Geeky challenge.  I really liked the way I used those color palettes to incorporate the Geeky theme into my wardrobe plans, but this year I’m choosing colors without any outside inspiration.  I had to think what colors I really want to focus on as the core of my wardrobe, and this is what I came up with:

• Neutral 1: Black (TCI FN 2.5)
• Neutral 2: Dark Gray (TCI FN 2.4)
• Main 1: Bright Blue (TCI A 7.7)
• Main 2: Bright Purple (TCI A 5.9)
• Main 3: Teal (TCI A 7.4)
• Accent 1: Deep Red (TCI A 4.5)
• Accent 2: Navy (TCI FN 7.9)
• Accent 3: Hunter Green (TCI A 5.4)
• Accent 4: Light Gray (TCI FN 1.1)

Clearly, it should not be a surprise to long-time blog readers that I want to make a lot of blue, purple, and teal clothes.  These really are my colors.  I especially love mixing them with black as an accent.  I want to make a lot of “professional” looking clothes this year too, so I wanted to include a midnight blue/navy as a secondary color.  I also want to incorporate more deep green and deep red in my wardrobe, so I included those as accent colors as well.  I thought about using pure white as an accent color, but Kibbe’s color recommendations for Soft Naturals is to have less stark contrast, so I thought using black and a light gray would provide the balance needed by a winter (more contrast) and a Soft Natural (more blended).

Overall I’m really excited with this color palette.  It’s not wild and bold, but it feels very me.  I wouldn’t be upset at having a full wardrobe in these colors, and I’m really excited to be working with this palette this year!

What about my Sew Your Kibbe Challengees out there – have you started working on a color palette?  Are you warm or cool, bright or muted?  Do you like the 4 seasons/12 season/DYT/Merriam Style color system the best?  Do you have any helpful insight in choosing a color palette?  Feel free to discuss in the comments!