Colour Confident Stitching Book by Karen Barbé

Color theory and choosing the right thread colors for a stitching project might sound like a daunting task for many of us. The Colour Confident Stitching book by Karen Barbé organizes this abstract knowledge into an accessible guide on how to create your own color palettes, when and why to choose a certain color combination.

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About the Colour Confident Stitching Book

This useful and inspiring book was written by textile artist Karen Barbé. One thing that caught my eye right from the Acknowledgments section is that Karen styled and photographed all the images used in this book! How amazing is that!

Not only the book is beautifully presented with stunning photography and illustrations, but Karen managed to explain in a very practical manner the complicated technical side of the color theory.

The lovely sample stitches displayed on the cover come from Karen’s students during one of her embroidery workshops. I absolutely love the cover and it can be a project on its own for anyone to try!

Colour Confident Stitching Book by Karen Barbé was published by Pimpernel Press in June 2017.

About Karen Barbe

Karen Barbé is a Chilean textile artist, embroiderer, and blogger based in Chicago. Her work combines her love for traditional crafts, color, and textiles with a solid design background. Her portfolio ranges from home textiles, accessories, and fashion with an emphasis on warmth, simplicity, and comfort.

You can find her works on her website and social media channel, where she shares her knowledge and a glimpse of her colorful world. She also creates some amazing stitch color palettes and regularly posts them on her blog.

Instagram: @karenbarbe

The Colour Confident Stitching Book

Now that you met Karen’s work, if you haven’t already, let’s have a look at what her book looks like on the inside. And I’ll start straight away by telling you why I love this book so much to write an article about it.

You see, most color theory books are so overloaded with the technical abstract side of colors, that make them so hard to follow and I think that’s why many people struggle to understand the color theory altogether.

I have always been surrounded by colors, as a graphic designer and web designer for the last 15 years, color has always been around one way or another. In my spare time, I like to also paint and I really struggled, for a while, to completely understand colors and how they affect each other and our mood.

While this book starts with the color theory – The Understanding Colour section is not too technical and serves as a good introduction for beginners or a nice reminder for the more color-skilled stitchers. And that’s exactly what I love about this book!

The emphasis goes on understanding colors in a more practical way, training your eye to see and feel the colors, rather than blindly following a theory. Colors are more than a theory, they have to express an emotion, create a mood, and communicate a message.

This is exactly what this book feels like to me! An invitation to go beyond the theory and learn the skill of color through observation and exploration.

In the next few pages, Karen writes about the meaning of the colors. This will give you a better understanding of how to choose your thread colors depending on the mood you are trying to set with your works.

She then follows with a color cards section using twelve main hues from the color wheel. And a helpful guide on how to create your own color cards.

Next is the part where I think this book brilliantly took an abstract theory and made it so easy and practical to follow. Creating a color palette using a simple 4-step process that will give you the how, the why, and the when to choose a certain color scheme. Brilliant!

Moving forward to the Feeling Color chapter, Karen is showing us a few examples of how to create our own color palettes using a photo reference or even words! Yes, words can be a source of color inspiration too!

Lastly, in her last chapter – Stitching with Colour, Karen is encouraging us to try her five practical projects and create our own specific color stories. There are five different projects, each with a step-by-step illustrated stitch instruction.

You can choose from a sleeping mask, embellished knitted sleeves, tea towel, framed embroidery, and cross-stitch fun characters stitched on a cardstock background. With winter almost here, I started to work on the embroidered knitted sleeves project. Can’t wait to share my progress once it’s done!

This is a book I always keep handy and go back to from time to time. An invaluable practical guide to color even if you already feel confident about your color skills!

PROS

• Great book on colour theory applied to textile art
• Useful resource on how to create your own color palettes

CONS

• If you’re looking for an instructional stitch resource or step-by-step embroidery projects, then this book might not be the right one for you.

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Which books have inspired you the most in your creative journey? I would love to hear about your experience and preferences in the comments below.

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