A Red by Any Other Name

For me, the hardest part of making a quilt is selecting the colors. The color choices dictate the feel of a quilt. Do you want something calm and soothing, or something fun and vibrant? If the quilt is to be a gift, the tastes or preferences of the intended recipient should also be considered. There are many different color schemes that you can use to select your quilt colors. Some of them are:

• Monochromatic - Different shades and tints of one color. Various shades of one color can make a soothing baby quilt, either in traditional pinks and blues or more modern takes such as gray or other neutrals.
• Analogous - Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, for example: shades of blue, green, and yellow. This is a good scheme for someone who has a well-known favorite color.
• Complementary - Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, for example, red/green or blue/orange. Complementary colors are a good scheme if you are going for a bright, vivid quilt.
• Triadic - Three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel. A triadic color scheme is a good way to give your quilt visual balance.
• Focus Fabric – Not actually a color scheme but rather a technique, select a print fabric that you love as a starting point. Then pull out colors from that print to inform your companion fabrics.

As you are trying out different options, be sure to take a picture of each scheme you consider so that you can later make side-by-side comparisons.

Choosing your colors is probably the single most important decision you can make when starting a new quilt. Although it may seem daunting at first, it can also be a lot of fun!

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