How to Add a Pop of Color to your Quilt: Part 1

January 10, 2018

One of my favorite fabric palette tricks I have in my belt is the POP of color!

Adding a pop of color to your otherwise monochromatic (one colored) quilt can instantly add a lot of interest.

There are lots of different ways that I like to add a pop of color, so we're going to be exploring those over the next few posts.

Let's start with the most subtle of all pops-- I like to call it the Analogous Pop!

The Analogous Pop of Color

An analogous color palette contains colors that are next to one another on the color wheel. (You can learn more about analogous palettes here.)

Colors that are next to one another on the color wheel are similar, they share some of the same colors (like green and blue are next to each other on the color wheel, and green contains blue) so they are going to be harmonious. So adding an analogous pop of color will be subtle and not jarring.

SO to insert an Analogous POP, simply start with a monochromatic palette (as you can see below, I started with blues, and to keep it interesting, I varied the values of those blues, including lights and darks.)

Then I chose a color near blue on the color wheel -- this chartreuse green. In the quilt, I included the chartreuse only in little pops, notice there is just one little piece in each bird, and the pieces are relatively evenly distributed.