Changing Skin and Hair Tones

At times, you may want to change the skin and/or hair colours of a figure in a chart to make it look more like someone you know. Although some charts print alternate floss colours, this is still rare. The type of chart most likely to give multiple colours for hair and skin is one with a wedding theme.

Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, the designer of the Lavender & Lace, Butternut Road, and Told in a Garden designs, has alternative skin colours on some designs. Lists for Asian, African American and Native American are also available from her offices in Maine.

Included below, with the very kind permission of Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum, is a quote from a post she made to rec.crafts.textiles.needlework...

Keep in mind that you are going from light to dark, this is a colour range. Going up or down the scale will lighten or darken the range. DMC

   African American:
          Skin......  -   3772
                      +   632
                      E   632+898
                      Lips in 356 and outline features in the 632+898 blend
                      Eyes and brows are outlined in 3371
          Hair... Most designs have 4-6 hair shades...the darkest 2-3 shades
                  I make 310 black. Then use 3371 for one or two shades and
                  the lightest symbol with 3031
   Native American
          Skin....light to dark
                    950
                    3773
                    407
                    3772
                    632
          Hair...light to dark
                    3781
                    3031
                    3371
                    310

By finding the colours asked for on a design and laying them out light to dark you can match the shades you want to replace them with. Make a new legend for your replacement colours.