Choosing the right fabric for quilting makes all the difference in your quilting project. One important element to consider when picking out fabric for quilting is the color or color scheme of your quilt. It may be the easiest to go with your favorite color but, of course, it will be more fun to work with other colors as well. Because there are so many colors to choose from, it will help in your decision making if you have a basic understanding of how they work. Remember that color has three properties, namely hue, value and intensity. Hue is the shade of a color that distinguishes it from other colors. Red, blue, yellow are hues. Value is the darkness or lightness of a hue – light blue or dark blue, for instance. Placing fabric for quilting with different values gives the quilt depth. Intensity is a hue’s brightness or dullness. Pure colors, such as red or yellow, are more intense than mixed ones such as red-orange or yellow-green. Quilters should also consider if a color is warm or cool, which refers to its visual temperature. Cool colors appear as if they are receding into the quilt block while warm colors appear to be advancing.
A useful tool when choosing colors for your quilting fabric is the color wheel. On the color wheel, you will see the three classifications of color, which are primary, secondary and intermediate. There are only three primary colors – red, blue and yellow. When you mix two of these primary colors, the resulting color is a secondary color. An example of this is violet, which results from mixing blue with red. The other two secondary colors are green (yellow + blue) and orange (red + yellow). Now, when you combine a primary color with a secondary color, you get an intermediate color. Examples of these are blue-violet or yellow-orange.
Just by looking at a color wheel, you can get various color ideas for your fabric for quilting. Certainly, you can use more colors besides the basic red, yellow and blue. A good way to use the color wheel is to look at which colors compliment or contrast with each other.
When choosing your fabric for quilting, remember that you can use any color combination. You can have a monochromatic quilt, which makes use of different shades of one color. You can also try a neutral color combination, which combines white, black and gray only. Pick out fabrics with three to five colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and your quilt will have a beautiful analogous color combination.
Start with one color and then mix and match until you find the perfect combination. Use the color wheel as your guide. Your color choices are practically endless so feel free to use more than one color of fabric for quilting.
