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Step 1
Start with the pattern of the quilt that you're going to make. This will decide how many different fabrics you are going to need to pick out. It will also help you decide how the tones of colors that you're going to pick out depending on the areas that you want to highlight.
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Step 2
Decide how many different fabrics you are going to need and how much you are going to need of each. Always add a little extra onto how much you are going to need so that you have room to make mistakes without running out of fabric.
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Step 3
Consider the color wheel. The color wheel can give you a good idea of the colors that will look good together. A color wheel moves clockwise around from yellow to green to blue to purple, to red to orange. Yellow, green and blue are the primary colors and the other three are the triad colors. For complimentary colors you look at ones that are across from each other on the wheel like purple and yellow. Colors side by side compliment each other well like red and orange.
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Step 4
Think about warm and cool tones. Warm tones are from yellow to red-purple and these are the colors that are always going to stand out. Cool tones are green to purple. These colors will fall to the background. This is important to consider if you want certain areas of your quilt to stand out and catch the eye.
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Step 5
Pick several shades of the same color for more interest. Shade simply refers to the light or darkness of the color. You can pick as little as two colors that go well together and vary the shades of the two colors to add interest to the quilt but still ensure that the colors will compliment each other.
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Step 6
Vary the pattern. If you pick fabric that has a print or pattern to it, you want to get fabrics that have varying sizes of the print. You want a large, medium and small print. If you get all of the same size print, the quilt can either look too busy or the individual patterns will fade all look the same.
