Color Theory Quilt

Most of us have been introduced to the color wheel at a young age, probably in an elementary school art class. Mixing specific colors to get new colors has always fascinated me. In fact, the ability to see in color is such a blessing which I often take for granted. In the design world, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination, according to Wikipedia. For quilters, picking the right color combinations is very important too, in fact it can make or break a quilt.
 
One of my goals for this year is using up my fabric scraps instead of buying more fabric. Since I literally used the color wheel as my guide for this quilt, it was a pretty challenging process picking the exact colors from my existing stash.
 
I started out by cutting a bunch of 2.5” x 3.5” rectangles from yellows, oranges, reds, pinks, purples, blues and greens, as well as light colored fabrics.
 
Once I had a good amount of rectangles in each color, I decided to start with yellow and work my way all around the color wheel (don’t ask me why I chose to go counter-clock wise…).
I alternated each color rectangle with a lighter one.

As I landed on exotic sounding colors like Magenta, Fuschia, Violet, Cerulean Blue, Turquoise and Chartreuse, I sometimes had to go back to my stash and pick colors as close as possible to match the specific color. I wasn’t always able to match everything perfectly, but I think it turned out pretty good.

For the backing, which I had to purchase, I wanted to get a neutral color. I decided on Kimberbell Tiny Dots in gray from Maywood Studio, a very convenient 108” wide 100% cotton backing fabric with tiny white polka dots scattered against the gray background.

Once I layered the quilt, I quilted straight lines one inch apart down the length of the quilt. For the binding I used Timeless Treasures’ Black & White stripes from my stash - more neutral colors.

Dimensions: approximately 57” x 68” (145 cm x 172 cm), Throw size