Colour is the impression the eye gets from the rays of light (with specific wavelengths), that are reflected by objects. They are perceived as red, yellow, blue etc.

If you read about colour there are many expressions describing different colour properties. I’ve written the most import ones down in the list below.

• Hue: is what a colour looks like in it’s pure state, example: red, yellow, blue and so on.
• Tint: is a hue that looks lighter, like there is white mixed through the hue.
• Tone: is a hue that looks ‘dirty’, like there is grey mixed through the hue.
• Shade: is a hue that looks darker, like there is black mixed through the hue.

A good way to show the relationships between colours is by organising them in to a circle, the so called ‘colour circle’. I’ve made a nice little colour circle with fabric hexagons to show you a number of colour scheme. The best known colour scheme is the ‘Achromatic colour scheme’ and the most used version of this colour scheme you can see right here: black text on a white background. Achromatic in simple English means: ‘without colour’. All sorts of colour schemes are used to create a certain style and appearance. Below I have made an overview of the most common colour schemes.

So as you can see there are lots of colour schemes with impressive names. There are actually so many colour schemes that almost any colour combination for a quilt can be ‘justified’ within the colour theory. However certain quilt designs need a basic colour like white and/or grey to enhance the chosen colours, as you can see below.

Have lot of fun creating your own amazing (quilt) design!