The Basics of Color Theory for the Quilt Designer

If you are going to be designing your own quilts, choosing your fabrics and colors is very important. If you are going to put in the time and effort to create your quilt masterpiece, you would be wise to learn the basics of the power of color and how to use it. In the book "Designing Your Own Quilts" by Willow Ann Soltow the author has an excellent chapter on basic color theory for the quilt designer. Obviously this short article will not be able to summarize all the valuable information provided in this chapter, but here are the basics and the highlights:

Color is directly related to light and how that light reflects from different surfaces. Fabric purchased in the store under bright fluorescent lights is most likely going to look noticeably different in the natural sunlight of your home.

There are certainly vocabulary terms associated with color. The quilter should be familiar with these words and understand their meaning.

The term "hue" is another word for "color." So instead of saying "it is a blue color", you could say "the hue is blue."

"Value" describes the lightness or darkness of the color. Values can be light or "high" in value (and are called "tints") or dark and "low" in value (and called "shades.") What we would normally call "red" would be considered as being "medium" in value, while a dark brick red would be "low", and a light rose color would be "high."

Colors can be brightened or dulled; this describes the color's "intensity." Adding the color gray makes a color more "dull", while a color that doesn't have any gray would be considered "bright."

Your simple color wheel consists of 12 basic colors, three primary (red, blue, green), three secondary (green, orange, and violet), and six tertiary (blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, and blue-violet.) Secondary colors are created by mixing two primary colors in equal amounts, while tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and a secondary color in equal amounts.

"Analogous" colors are those located next to each other on the color wheel. So red, red-violet, and violet are analogous.

"Complementary" colors are those that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Yellow and violet, for example, are complementary, as are blue-green and red-orange.

Red, yellow and orange are considered "warm" colors, while green, blue, and violet are considered "cool" colors. By being careful about mixing warm and cool colors in your quilt, you can set the "mood" in your quilt or make a powerful statement. Warm colors are considered powerful and eye-catching, while cool colors are more relaxing. A quilt that is primarily made up of cool colors can be made more dramatic by adding just a touch of a warm color as an accent.

Paying attention to the colors' values and intensities and how they relate to each other is also important. Light colors tend to be seen as cheerful, while dark colors (though relaxing) can be seen as serious and somber. If you want your quilt to have a relaxing feel, combine colors of all the same relative value. If you want a more visually exciting quilt, consider using colors of different values. If all your colors have the same intensity (bright or dull) it can be draining for the viewer. The author recommends that you consider a mixture of small areas of intense color with larger areas of duller or neutral colors.

Color also has highly symbolic value, depending upon your cultural background. For example, while black is the color of mourning in the United States, in China it is white. And while the Russian might find the color red very powerful and positive, to the American it can symbolize blood or violence.

Talking about how colors interact with each other when placed next to each other can get quite complicated. Often the quilt designer will decide to have a dominant color, with a subordinate color made up on the dominant color's complement. It would be important in these cases that the dominant color is truly dominant and that there is markedly less of the subordinate color in the quilt, otherwise it won't have a harmonious feel.

Trying to find balance between warm and cold colors can be important, too. While adding a little warm color to a primarily cool quilt can add a pleasing accent, adding a little cool color to a primarily warm quilt doesn't always provide the same effect. In those cases, the small cool color can get lost, overwhelmed by the more powerful dominant warm colors.

I would like to finish my article by listing some important color "laws" that the author recommends the quilter learn. These are called "Chevreul's Laws" and were conceived by the early nineteenth century textile and dyeing expert M.E. Chevreul, and later published. According to the author, Chevreul's book is still in print and used by artists today. These laws include:

"Colors are influenced by their placement near other colors.

Light colors appear most intense when placed against black.

Dark colors appear most intense when placed against white.

Dark colors appear darker when placed against light colors.

Light colors appear lighter when placed against dark colors.

A color placed by its complement appears more intense than when viewed by itself.

Adjacent colors influence each other by 'tinting' their neighbor with their own complement."

Blessings!

Source
Willow Ann Soltow. Designing Your Own Quilts