Color Study Assignment #1: The Color Wheel

I finished my fabric color wheel! The overall mini-quilt finished at 18" high x 27" tall. Since there was space to fill at the side of the color wheel, I added a few sets of colors; the primary colors at top, followed by the secondary colors, and two rows of tertiary colors on the bottom. In this color system, the primary set of three colors (red, yellow and blue) are mixed together in pairs to make the secondary set of colors; red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue = green, and blue + red = violet. The tertiary colors are made by mixing one primary with one secondary; red + orange = red-orange, yellow + green = yellow-green, ect.

This color wheel mini-quilt had more than one purpose, but the most obvious one was to help identify the true hues of the color wheel in fabrics. (See how I found and matched the true hues here.) Now that it's all finished, there's lots more to see in the wheel. For instance, discovering relationships between colors - like the colors that are exactly opposite each other around the wheel which are called complimentary colors. These colors appear bright and more intense when placed next to each other, and can make for energetic combinations!

I've been playing around with artist's color wheel next to my fabric color wheel - do you have one of these? It is an awesome tool for helping to explore different color combinations around the wheel. (Find one at any art supply store, or your local quilt store might even carry these.)

The center of the artist's color wheel shows the most popular combinations around the wheel, such as complimentary right there in the center, pointing to opposite colors across the wheel.

The wheel also turns, so you can spin it around to explore different color combinations. Cool, right? It's been awesome to be able to play with the artist's color wheel right next to the fabric color wheel!

The fabric color wheel has a home in my sewing space right next to where I sew - so I can use it as a reference when I'm thinking about color. And it doesn't hurt that it's also bright and colorful!