Quilting Today Article

The Importance Of Color In Quilting

When you’re choosing fabric to make a quilt, it’s not only the texture you should keep in mind. Color plays an important part too, depending on what you wish to convey through your quilt. Everyone has a favorite color and every time you are out to buy something, the eye automatically gravitates towards that color. Be different and try out something new for a change, and you’ll find it so much more fun to play with colors. When you see different colors, you may be in a quandary as to what to pick. Here are a few tips on color that will help you determine what color works best for you when you get down to making your quilt.

The first of the three characteristics of color is hue. Hue is what determines the difference between one color and another. For instance, red and yellow are hues. The next characteristic is value. This is determined by how dark or light a hue is, e.g. light red and dark red. In the context of quilt making, the quilt acquires greater depth when different values are used. The third property is intensity. This refers to the dullness or brightness of a hue. Red or blue has more intensity than colors that are a mixture like red-orange or blue-violet.

Colors are also classified as cool or warm. By looking at a color, the idea of it being cool or warm suggests itself to you. Warm colors seem to stand out when you look at them. Cool colors on the other hand seem to retreat into the background.

The ideal way to decide which colors you’d like to choose when making your quilt is to use a color wheel. The color wheel classifies colors. You have primary colors, secondary colors and intermediate colors. Red, blue, yellow constitute the primary colors. Secondary colors are the result of a combination of two primary colors. When you mix yellow and blue, you get green, while red and yellow gives you orange, and red and blue results in violet. Intermediate color is what you get when you mix primary and secondary colors. An example of an intermediate color is blue-green.

Before you set out to buy fabric for your quilt, it is a good idea to study your color wheel. You will realize that you don’t have to stick with the primary colors. You have unlimited choice. You might like to go with contrasting colors or with colors that complement each other.

There are endless possibilities as to the combination of colors you could use as quilting options. For a monochromatic effect, you could use the same color in varied shades. If the look you wish to achieve is neutral, go with white, gray and black. For an analogous result, use adjacent colors on your color wheel. You could use as many as five colors. The effect would be spectacular.

Think differently, forget your favorite color or what everyone considers conventional combinations for quilts. Keep your options open. Study the color chart. Eventually, you’ll hit upon the perfect color combination that works for you. When you’ve accomplished your task, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the magic color can do for your quilt.