How to Pick Color Schemes and Fabrics for Quilts

The color scheme and fabrics you pick to use in a quilt can turn a boring, ordinary quilt into a unique, eye-catching quilt that adds interest to any room. In quilting, it's not only the color but also the texture of the fabrics you use that adds overall interest to a quilt. Follow the steps below to learn various ways to choose great color combinations and fabrics for your next quilting project.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Favorite Fabric

1. Choose a printed fabric (florals, paisley, novelty) and use it as the basis for your quilt.

2. Pick out four to five individual colors from your printed fabric. These colors can then be found in other fabrics.

3. When choosing the additional fabrics, vary the texture of the fabric. One can be solid, another a stripe, the others a different type of print.

Favorite Color

4. Choose your favorite color as the basis for your quilt and find a fabric you like in that color.

5. The additional fabrics can be chosen in three different ways.
   1. Choose variations in the hue of your fabric - light, medium, and dark.
   2. Choose complimentary colors (those next to your favorite color on a color wheel), vary the hue of the fabrics from light to dark
   3. Choose contrasting colors (those across from your color on a color wheel), vary the hue of the fabrics from light to dark.

6. When choosing the additional fabrics, vary the texture of the fabric. One can be solid, another a stripe, the others a different type of print.

Wallpaper patterns

7. Choose a wallpaper that you like and pick out four or five of the colors that are in the wallpaper as the basis for your quilt.

8. When picking the fabrics in the colors of the wallpaper, vary the texture of the fabric. One can be solid, another a stripe, the others a different type of print.

Quilting inspirations

9. As you look through quilting books and magazines, look for color combinations that other people have used in their quilts and choose those colors as a basis for your quilt.

Tips & Warnings

• Use 100 percent cotton fabrics.
• Prewash fabrics to remove excess dye before using in a quilt.
• I always try to use a touch of yellow in just about all my quilts. It seems to draw ones eye and adding interest to the quilt. If yellow doesn't work, then I try a bit of pink.
• As you are choosing fabrics in a store, stack your choices together, stand back and squint at the stack of fabric. This shows how the fabrics will look next to each other in a quilt and if they will work together. Play with various combinations of fabrics until you are satisfied with the fabric selection.
• The salespeople at quilt shops are more than willing to help new quilters pick fabrics for their quilts, just ask for a little help!
• Boring quilts can be the result of choosing fabrics that are too similar. Stay away from using fabrics that are similar in color, hue, or texture.
• Just because you bought a piece a fabric for a specific quilt, does not mean you have to stick with your choice. Sometimes you start making a project and a fabric just doesn't look right. Stop what you are doing. Reevaluate your fabric choice to determine which fabric needs replaced and find something else before proceeding.