I was chatting with an online student this week about what colors she needs to jump into the Warp and Weft course. Choosing colors can feel pretty daunting especially if you haven’t worked with color a lot. And color use in tapestry weaving differs from other art mediums because of the nature of the material (yarn) and the structure of the weaving.
When you’re new to tapestry and faced with so many color choices, how do you pick those first yarns and how many do you need? A commercial yarn line might have 60 colors or it might have 400. Both of those can feel overwhelming.
How many weft colors do you need to start?
To weave any tapestry, I’d say you need at least three different yarn colors, but you’ll be happier with a few more than that. I recommend about eight to start with. For my beginning tapestry classes and particularly Warp and Weft, I recommend making sure you have between five and eight different colors that also represent a range of values.
The colors you choose will depend a lot on what weft yarn you’re using. Some yarns have a lot more color choices than others, but you should be able to find a useful palette in even the smallest of yarn lines if you pay attention to hue and value. If you’re choosing a weft yarn that needs to be bundled, you’ll have more color options than if you choose yarn where you use just one strand alone. Examples of yarns that need to be bundled or that are thin enough that you have to put multiple strands together are Gist Array, Appleton crewel, and weaversbazaar fine or medium. Examples of yarns that work well with one strand at 8 epi are Harrisville Highland and Quebecoise.
Hue is simply a word for color. Blue, red, and violet are all hues.
Value is how we talk about how light or dark a hue is. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a hue when compared to a grayscale from white to black.
Making your first weft color choices
I am going to walk you through choosing a palette for the Warp and Weft online course using Gist Yarn’s Array tapestry weft. You can apply this procedure to any commercial yarn and to many different projects. Over time you’ll add to your available colors. The palettes you can create are endless, so try not to get too caught up in decisions over your first yarn purchases. You can always get other colors later and you’ll use what you do get somewhere down the road if it isn’t quite right at the moment!
Indigo 2 in Array from Gist Yarn
I recommend starting with a favorite color. I love blue-violet, so my first choice is a medium-value blue-violet: Indigo 2.*
From there I like to add some similar hues. Analogous hues are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.** Blue-violet is between blue and violet on the color wheel, so I’m going to choose one of each of those colors as well as a red-violet. This gives me four analogous colors from red-violet through blue on one side of the color wheel.
One of the color wheels I use. It is here for you to reference as you read this post.
Let’s start with Sapphire for the blue, Violet for the violet, and Walnut for the red-violet. Some of you might question that Walnut choice and call it brown. Browns are almost always a variation of red and this particular hue has a lot of violet in it so I classify it as a red-violet. I could have chosen Lotus for a brighter red-violet. But I like having a form of brown in my palette and Walnut is a particularly beautiful one that fits into my scheme here.
What values should I choose of these colors? See the section below about value, but you’re going to want a variety of them, both light, dark, and a few mediums.
I started with Indigo 2.
Let’s add Sapphire 5 for a very light blue.
Violet is a very dark color and could be used as an accent or in place of a black, so I’m going with the darkest Violet, Violet 1.
And for the Walnut, let’s choose a medium value. Walnut 3.
Sapphire 5 in Array from Gist Yarn
Violet 1 in Array from Gist Yarn
Walnut 3 in Array from Gist Yarn
I have now chosen four colors. I want to add a second value of one of these colors. Since the Sapphire 5 is so light, let’s add a medium yarn in that hue so that we can practice blending colors that are similar but not the same. I’m going to add Sapphire 3.
Sapphire 3 in Array from Gist Yarn
So far that gives us 5 colors:
First five analogous colors in Gist Array
Indigo 2
Sapphire 5 and 3
Violet 1
Walnut 3
Now let’s add some complementary colors. Complements are colors that are across the color wheel and when used next to each other, they tend to make each other look more intense. I’d like to add the complement of blue-violet which is yellow-orange. Marigold is a beautiful yellow-orange and let’s take that color in it’s darkest form. Let’s add the colors on each side of yellow-orange as well. Array’s pure yellow is called Daffodil and I’d like to include this at a lighter value, Daffodil 3. And lastly let’s add an orange which is the complement of blue. We could use a bright orange, Tangerine or we could go with a more toned down orange, Terracotta. For this palette I think I’ll try Terracotta and will choose a fairly dark level, Terracotta 2.
Marigold 1 in Array from Gist Yarn
Daffodil 3 in Array from Gist Yarn
Terracotta 2 in Array from Gist Yarn
Terracotta 1 in Array from Gist Yarn
As I was putting the yarns together and looking at the value, I realized that Terracotta 2 is actually not all that dark. I liked Terracotta 1 better and switched those two colors out.
That makes our final complementary three colors Teracotta 1, Marigold 1, and Daffodil 3 as pictured.
The complements on the yellow-orange side of the color wheel
That makes our final list of 8 colors:
Indigo 2
Sapphire 5 and 3
Violet 1
Walnut 3
Marigold 1
Daffodil 3
Terracotta 1
And here is the whole palette. For the purposes of the Warp and Weft course, this palette meets the need of having a variety of hues and values as well as creating a palette that will be interesting to work with. As you’re learning tapestry techniques, it is important to use colors that you can see the difference between. If all your hues are similar especially in value, it is going to be difficult to learn the techniques because it is harder to see what is happening when the yarns are close in value. Darker yarns are also more difficult to see when you’re practicing techniques like joins. As you practice, putting hues of varying values next to each other is the best way to be able to see what you’re doing.
Array choices of tapestry yarn
A quick tip to help you see value
We can’t forget to include value when choosing weft yarns. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a hue when compared to a grayscale from white to black. All that really means is how light or dark is that yarn you’re looking at? Is it an almost-black violet or a super light pink. The pink is a light value, the violet is a dark color. When creating visual images, a contrast of value is quite important. If all the weft yarns you choose are the same value, the results can be very dull. Our eyes will see the value before the hue so that green hill against the same-value blue sky will just mush together. If you’d like more information about this, see the resources below or visit THIS blog post from 2020 where I was making some less than perfect value choices in a weaving I was doing on Change the Shed. There is a video clip of that episode included.
If you’re having difficulty seeing how light or dark a hue is, you can use a photo to help you. This works great on a smartphone. Open the camera app and find the filters. Go to the black and white filter that is called Mono (or use whatever filter you have) and put the phone over the yarn you’re looking at. The color is stripped out of the image and you can see how light or dark the hues are. There are aspects of a hue that can fool you using this method, but in general, it is a great way to gauge the value of the yarns you’re looking at especially when you’re designing a piece and have the yarn in front of you. If you don’t have a smartphone with camera filters, you can take a photo with any device and use an online app to turn it to black and white.
If you’re ordering yarn, the gradations of Array and how they’re labeled can be very helpful in knowing the value. The higher numbers (4, 5, 6) are lighter than the lower numbers (1 and 2).
Using a cell phone camera to look at value
Here are the yarns I chose in color and in black and white.
The palette in color
The same palette in black and white
Notice that the yellow and lightest blue are the lightest values and the indigo and the violet are the darkest value. We have a nice range of value here as well as a good variety of hues.
You may decide on a palette that is vastly different than mine. That is just fine! We all have different color tastes. As long as you have some variety in the value, you will have a good start!
How much yarn do I need?
If you’re taking one of my shorter classes or weaving mostly on small looms, you can purchase smaller amounts of yarn. Gist’s Array comes in 1 ounce tubes or 4 ounce cones. The tubes are fine for small projects. Other yarns come in various put-ups though a frequently one is 4 ounces in cones or skeins.
If you’re purchasing the yarn for my Warp and Weft online class, I recommend getting the 4 ounce cones. We weave a lot in that class and the 1 ounce tubes will not go very far unless you’re using a lot of different colors. Generally 4 ounces of weft yarn will cover one square foot of weaving and often people weave 2-3 square feet in that class. More about this HERE.
Where to learn more about color theory and choosing colors
If you’re new to tapestry weaving, joining my Warp and Weft course is a great way to start learning about color. There are not specific color theory modules in the foundational section of this class, but you will learn a lot about why you’d chose various hues and values as you learn the techniques.
And once you have more experience with tapestry technique, consider the two Design Solutions for the Artist/Weaver courses. They provide in-depth information about color theory and how to choose colors for a design. Perhaps the most important thing to realize is that learning how to use color specifically in the medium of tapestry is important.
I touch on color in all my online classes so feel free to ask all your color questions in whatever online class you’re in.
The Indigo colors of Array from Gist Yarn
*Gist’s Array tapestry yarn is dyed in gradations. This means that the hue name is followed by a number from 1 to 6. Indigo 2 indicates that the hue is Indigo and #2 is the second darkest color in that gradation. It is second from the left in the photo here.
**A color wheel is a very useful tool. If you have a tapestry how-to book, there is probably one included. There is a chapter in my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, called Learning to See Color that describes these terms and includes a small color wheel. I recommend having a larger color wheel. It is a tool you will use a lot as you choose colors for your tapestries. The one pictured in this post is by The Color Wheel Company.