Sunday, April 10, 2011

You Need To Play With Color

If You Are Going To Design A Quilt


























Nothing is more important than color choices when it comes to designing a quilt. Color is the first thing you notice about a quilt. And color is the most important factor in determining whether you like a quilt.

You can change a quilt design just by changing its colors.

It's not surprising then, that designers have all sorts of rules about colors. There are whole books written on the use of color. Study color theory and you will learn about complementary colors, triadic colors, analogous colors and much more. Learning about color can be both interesting and involved.

However, ultimately the most important thing about any color scheme is do you like it.

Today I'm going to play with color to see if I can find something I like.

This is one of the tessellating blocks from yesterday's post.

When I repeat it, this is the design I get. It is not the most inspiring of designs. In fact, it is repetitive and dull.

What if I start playing with color? Can I make something interesting happen?








If this one looks the same as the last one to you, look at the placement of the lightest colors. They now form a kind of pinwheel.



I like these colors so my search is at an end.

The final design looks very different from the original one, even though all that has changed are the colors.

Do the colors I picked conform to color theory? I don't know. And frankly, I don't care. All that matters is that I found colors I like.

Normally I would pick a color from the quilt to use for my binding. In this case I decided to experiment with a blue instead. I think it works.

6 comments:

  1. Oh my, I would have to pick the quilt with the yellow that goes light to dark as my favorite. Very interesting. May I have permission to play/use that one?

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  2. JoQuilter

    I'd be pleased for you to play/use the one that you like. I'd be even more pleased to see what you do with it.

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  3. Loved it!!!... I wait for your posting everyday!!.. So much I can learn from it!!!..
    Thank you again, Wayne!!!
    Susana

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  4. Susana

    Thanks for your enthusiastic words.

    I'm glad you're learning something from my blog. I think that the best way to learn is to play and create designs of your own.

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  5. Wayne,

    Love how this developed ... wasn't too sure about some of the designs along the way, but it finished up as a beauty!

    Judy B

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  6. Judy

    It's the final design that counts. The designs along the way don't matter, except for the fact that they helped get you to the final one.

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