Quilting in Colour: an introduction to the colour wheel

Hello Friends and Welcome!

I have really been enjoying the spring weather as it gets warmer here in Ontario. I hope that the changing of the seasons, be it into spring or fall, has been good to all of you too!

I have found that, as the seasons change, they bring about a variety of new colour experiences. Winter with crisp white snow and cool blue evenings, spring with the vivid colours of blooming flowers against the dark, wet soil, the summer sun casts a golden haze, and the changing of the autumn leaves creates a collage of greens, yellows, and reds. The world surrounds us with beautiful colours all the time, but for some of us, translating that experience to our own creations is a challenge.

This is the first installment of a series focused on colour selection for sewists. This week will focus on colour theory, introducing the colour wheel and discussing how you can use it to create a visually appealing colour scheme. Next week we'll talk about the effect of colour saturation, the use of neutrals, and the importance of contrast. The final week will be about borrowing colour schemes from other sources and challenges for those who want to test their colour sense.

While this series will be focused on quilting, these same principles can be applied to garment sewing and other art forms as well! Whether you're making a capsule wardrobe, a drawing, or a quilt, colour can play a big role in the overall effect of a finished project.

An Introduction to the Colour Wheel

As an art student, I spent years studying the colour wheel, so much so that I tend to forget that not everyone is so intimately acquainted with it.

Here it is my Friends, in all its rainbow glory! Some people may find it a little intimidating, but remember that it's just a tool. Like all tools, it may be of more use to some people than others, and plenty of people can get through life without ever using it.

I personally think the colour wheel is a very useful tool. I've used it to compare, contrast, and blend new colours! We won't actually be making anything today, instead, we'll take a look at the different parts of the colour wheel and what you can do with them!

Primary Colours

Primary colours are the three base colours used to create all others. They are red, yellow, and blue. By adding more or less of each of these colours, you can create any colour in the world!

Secondary Colours

Secondary colours are created at the mid point between two primary colours. Between red and yellow is orange, between yellow and blue is green, and between blue and red is violet.

Tertiary Colours

While many people know about primary and secondary colours, tertiary colours are often not discussed beyond artistic communities. Tertiary colours are meant to be broadly inclusive, so they don't have specific names the way primary and secondary colours do, instead they combine the names of the two adjacent colours to create red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet.

Warm and Cool Colours

Another common way to break down the colour wheel is based on temperature. The colour wheel is split in half, with the blue and blue adjacent colours considered cool, and red and yellow as warm.

Making a Colour Scheme

Of course, studying the colour wheel isn't the same as applying it. As I mentioned earlier, the colour wheel is a tool, and now that we know about the different parts, we can use it to create a colour scheme.

As a general rule for all of these colour schemes, it's best to pick one dominant colour and use the additional colours to accent it. If you attempt to use all colours equally, it can sometimes produce a muddied effect. That's not to say it can't be done, it's just presents a little extra challenge.

Triadic Colours

A triadic colour scheme uses three colours spaced equally around the colour wheel. The primary colours are an example of this. So are the secondary colours.

There are also two variations of the triadic colour scheme that use tertiary colours. The first uses yellow-green, blue-violet, and red-orange. The second uses blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange.

Using a triadic colour scheme is a great way to limit the quantity of different colours while still maintaining variety.

Complimentary Colours

Have you ever heard that opposites attract? That's what this colour scheme is all about! Complimentary colours are those which are directly across from each other on the colour wheel. Some examples include blue and orange, or red-violet and yellow-green.

Complimentary colours exhibit really great contrast when used together. This works really well for some projects, but in others, can sometimes result in the colours clashing rather than existing harmoniously.

Split Complementary Colours

This is an interesting variation of the complementary colour scheme. A split complementary colour scheme uses three colours; a dominant colour, and the two colours that fall on either side of its complement.

For example, if red-orange was the dominant colour, blue and green would be the split compliments. Or, if violet was the dominant colour, yellow-orange and yellow-green would be the split complements.

Tetradic Colours

This is another variation of the complementary colour scheme, this time using four colours. A tetradic colour scheme uses the two colours adjacent to each of two complementary colours. For example, if the base complementary colours were orange and blue, the associated tetradic colour scheme would use yellow-orange, red-orange, blue-green, and blue-violet.

The tetradic colour scheme offers a wider variety of colours while still making use of the contrasting nature of the complementary colour scheme.

Analogous Colours

An analogous colour scheme is one which uses several adjacent colours on the wheel. They can use as many or few different colours as desired, starting with just two adjacent colours, or even using all of them to make a rainbow!

Using only warm or cool colours would both be examples of an analogous colour scheme.

For practice purposes, I would recommend using only four different colours, for example using yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, and green. This way you don't inadvertently turn ever analogous project into a rainbow.

Monochromatic Colours

The final colour scheme for this week is a little different from the others since it doesn't actually use the colour wheel at all. It also offers a peak at the topic for next week by using value to create contrast. A monochromatic colour scheme uses only one colour, but changes the darkness and lightness.

This can be used to create really beautiful illusions of depth without a bunch of different colours obscuring the palette.

Colour Practice

Making colour schemes might be intuitive to some people, but if you're not one of those people, it can be a good idea to get a little practice. And even if you already have a great colour sense, there's no harm in testing your skills every now and again!

Journal Swatch Test

A great way to get your head wrapped around colour theory is to make some test swatches. Pick a colour you like and use it to test some of the different colour schemes using a medium you're comfortable with. Markers, coloured pencils, crayons, and digital art programs can all be used for this.

I decided to use my blending markers to make swatches. I got a little bored in the middle and decided to doodle some abstract quilt designs to make it a little more interesting.

Fabric Swatch Test

To connect colour theory to sewing, you can use fabric as your test medium. Choose any fabric from your stash, it could be yardage or a remnant from a past project, then combine it with other fabrics to make different colour schemes.

I made a split complimentary colour scheme using blue, red-orange, and yellow-orange. I really like this shade of blue, and I've been collecting a lot of fabric in this colour, so this is a great way for me to test what other fabrics I like with it. You can also see that one of my blue prints has some red in the pattern, but it doesn't upset the cohesion of the colours.

Laying out your fabric like this is also a good way to compare the actual colour of certain prints. I was trying to make a monochromatic green fabric selection and found out that I have a lot of blue-green fabric.

On the left you can see the true green fabrics, and on the right are the more blue-green fabrics.

Testing Colour Composition

Test your colour scheme using a colouring page version of the quilt you'd like to create. You'll notice that, depending on colour placement, each block can look totally unique! Here's a sample I made using the Swing in the Centre quilt block and a split complimentary colour scheme of blue-green, red, and orange;

Many quilt patterns recently began including a colouring page that you can use for just this purpose. I suggest making a copy of the original and colouring on the duplicates. This way you have the option of trying multiple colour schemes and the original colouring page will be available if you want to make the pattern again in the future!

If you don't have a particular quilt in mind, there are lots of free colouring pages online. Find one you like, print it out, and go wild with colour! Or, if you're like me and don't have a printer in your home, you can use a ruler to draw a block by hand or try some digital colouring.

Friends, I love experimenting with colour. I think it's a lot of fun to see how different amounts of different colours work together to produce something beautiful! But, I also know a lot of people find this to be a very daunting part of the creative process. I'm hoping that if you are one of those people, this introduction to the colour wheel and basic colour schemes has helped you to see that you don't need to pull ideas out of thin air!

If you liked this article, please join me again next week to talk about value, intensity, and accent colours that will give so much more depth to your projects! In the meantime, feel free to experiment with colour, make up some colour schemes of your own, and maybe find some inspiration!

I would love to see the outcome of your colour experiments, feel free to share photos of your favourite colour combinations in the comments below, or send me an email through my contact page! You can also tag me on Instagram @vafibrearts or share your ideas in the VA Fibre Arts Facebook group.

Until next time Friends, keep creating!

VA