Warm and Cool Color Demo for Quilters

 This post updated February 26, 2023 for the Aunty & Annie Blog Re-visit.

Of all the Color Theories, the warm/cool concept is very practical and manageable for quilters.  It is easy to understand. 

Starting with a 12 point color wheel, divide it in half keeping the yellow and green divided. 

The warm side consists of  yellow/orange/red.  
This may make you think of fire and sun.  


The cool side consists of green/blue/purple.
This may make you think of cool water, grass and sky. 

 

This patterned example will give you an idea

of how fabric might look as a Color Wheel. 

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The Demo:
 

First start with a bag of scraps. 

Here are the scraps spread out onto the table. 

All the colors in the color wheel, mixed all together. 

Now start to divide them, using the color wheel as your guide. 

 

This is the warm color pile: yellow, orange, and red scraps. 

The warm neutrals of browns and creams

work best with the warm colors. 

This is the cool color pile:  greens, blues, and purples. 

The cool neutrals of black, gray and white

work best with the cool colors. 

A sample of warm color scraps sewn together. 

A sample of cool color scraps sewn together. 

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The following quilts are all made from scraps. 

This quilt I made pulling

any and all colors out of the scrap bag.

(Custom quilting by: Virginia Klarenbach)

Here is a link to the method:

Crazy Quilting Tutorial

This quilt I made pulling

only warm colors out of the scrap bag. 

This quilt I made pulling

only cool colors out of the scrap bag. 

(Custom Quilting by: Lorraine Appleby)

Thank you for looking at this demo...Melanie

These photos are from the Chinook Guild of Fibre Arts Demo in Calgary on December 10th. 

Please see this additional post for Neutral Color Theory

 - excellent for choosing fabric for your Mystery Quilts

Neutral Color Theory Demo