I’m Kati, and I blog over at from the blue chair.  I had the opportunity to share my love of color during a brief tutorial at our April meeting.  I’ve made multiple projects inspired by the color wheel.  I love using color in my quilt designs.  This is a follow-up tutorial for those who were unable to attend the April group.

The Basics:

Primary Colors:

The color wheel is made up of 12 basic colors.  The primary colors are red, yellow and blue.  Each is spaced equally on the wheel.

Hue refers to the actual color such as red.  A shade results when black is added to a hue resulting in a dark red.  A tint is created when white is added to a hue resulting in a pink.

Secondary Colors:

The colors between the primary colors are the secondary colors.  These are orange, green and purple.

Tertiary Colors:

All colors located between the primary and secondary colors are the tertiary colors.  These include red-orange, orange-yellow, yellow-green, green-blue, blue-purple, and purple-red.

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Complimentary Colors:

Complimentary colors are those located directly across from each other on the color wheel such as blue-green and red-orange shown above.

Split Complimentary:

A split complimentary grouping is made from one color and the colors on either side of it’s direct compliment such as purple with yellow-orange & yellow-green shown above.

Analogous Colors:

Analogous colors are those located right next to each other on the color wheel such as purple, red-purple and red.

Triadic:

These colors form a equilateral triangle on the color wheel, being equally spaced such as yellow-green, red-orange, and blue-purple.

Monochromatic:

This is simply a grouping of fabrics of the same color hue that may vary in shade or tint.

The challenge:

Each member of the guild received a package of 12 Kona fabric 5-inch charms.  These colors include Tangerine, Orange, Papaya, Canary, Lime, Clover, Jade, Pacific, Lapis, Purple, Cerise, & Red.  The challenge is to create a project using these colors or simply use these charms as a reference when creating a project based on color theory.