Colour my world

 “Colour my world”.  Besides being a song released on vinyl by Petula Clark in 1967 it is also an essential theme for patchworkers and quilters. 

We are drawn to all sorts of colourful fabrics in our quest to create our next patchwork masterpiece. Even with this excitement many experience a sense of being overwhelmed in making our colour choices.  One solution is through using the colour wheel as it can help us gain confidence in fabric and colour selection.

Oh…did you know that the colour wheel was invented by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666?  Consequently it has been around for quite some time and has been adapted over the years by many different artists in many different disciplines. Today the colour wheel is a tool made up of 12 colours.

For the patchworker the colour wheel is a visual tool to help put together colour combinations that look pleasing to the eye. These colour combinations are called colour chords, harmonies or schemes. By simply becoming familiar with the colour wheel and learning how to effectively use it will give you more confidence in your fabric choices for your next patchwork project. Sew you too can sing “colour my world with sunshine every day!”