Complimentary colors are colors that compliment each other and are across from each other on the color wheel. You have three primary colors with three secondary colors that compliment - a total of 6 colors in all. Most of the time when you see a quilt that you think is beautiful and you can't quite take your eyes off of it, it's because the maker put together colors that are complimentary to each other.

If you don't know which colors compliment each other, do yourself a favor and go to an art store or quilt store and pick up a Color Wheel. Having this tool in front of you when you are choosing colors will help you decide which ones you need to compliment what you have chosen as your main colors.

For example:
Let's say you want to make a quilt using Red, Black and Cream. What colors are you looking for?

• First: Black is not a color!



• There isn't a color as Cream: so you need to first put it into a category (Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Orange or Purple - which one is it?) It's Yellow.



• Red is a color on the color wheel

When you are choosing fabrics for your quilt you want to pick out the Red, Yellow (Creams) and Blacks that you want to use, but to add additional dimension to your quilt, use complimentary colors as well. Complimentary colors do just that - they need to compliment or add to, not diminish the look of your quilt. So, add them sparingly!!!!!

• Red is a color in the quilt, so on your color wheel directly across from the Red you will see Green so let's add that to the colors for the quilt.
• Yellow is a color in the quilt. On your color wheel directly across from Yellow, you will see Purple. Add Purples to the mix.

Let's see: now you have Red, Yellow (or Cream), Black, Green and some Purples. When you put these together in your own quilt, it will be fantastic. If you decide to make a quilt using these colors, I'd love to see it.

©2003 Lynda Hall
Primitive Pieces by Lynda
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