The Color Challenge

The interesting thing about doing custom orders is that you are using someone else's ideas for your work! I previously mentioned that I was making some custom garters for a customer who likes lots of colors. At our first meeting she gave me a carefully written chart of colors for 7 pairs of garters.
The problem is that her color combinations include 7-9 colors for a 1" wide piece. (We did not talk about this in advance.) Since I am using primarily carpet wool yarn, I have about 35-39 total pattern threads to work with. (Weft color doesn't count since Inkle weaving is warp-faced.) Normally I would use 2-3 colors. I compromised at 5-6 colors which was still a challenge to make the pattern interesting.
So far I have given her the first 2 pairs and she loved them! Whew! (I always hold my breath when waiting for a reaction from the customer.)
The following photos are of the next 3 pairs.
Here are the list of color combinations given to me and , highlighted in red, are the colors I actually used. Most of these are not color combinations that I would have come up with on my own. In my opinion, the results were mixed. One of these I like a lot, one is okay and one is disappointing.

Grey, sea blue, pink, mauve, light green, brown, black, cream

Navy blue, royal blue, light blue, pink, emerald green, lilac, cream


Sea blue, milk chocolate brown, butterscotch, khaki, off-white, chinese red, pink, navy blue