Splendid colour tips for quilting: Turquoise in quilts
Today’s post concentrates on turquoise colour in quilts. You will get a tip or two on what to watch out for and many examples of how to use the turquoise colour successfully.
The name "turquoise" for the semi-precious stone and its colour comes from the French word "turquois," which means "Turkish". This refers to the stone’s trading origins. (Source: https://www.thefactsite.com/turquoise-facts/)
Turquoise has an element of both blue and green, and thus it is a close relative to them both. The colour is often associated with inventiveness and creativity.
I planned to create a stunningly beautiful zipper pouch from a combination of turquoise and a lovely red, but the result stunned me in a different way. I did not like my garish creation at all. Not one bit!
The colour contrast turned out to be glaring, not glowing, there wasn’t enough value contrast, and the overall design was not successful, either. Sigh!
There aren’t as many brights, and I’ve used pinks and pale pinks and whites. This is worth presenting as a good example of the importance of value contrast.
Another example: my Trixter quilt turned out very nice, again because I avoided placing deep reds next to vivid turquoises. Instead, the darks and lights alternate. The beginning of the project looked like this:
And in the summer of 2024, the finished Trixter quilt looked as cool and lovely as the Norwegian fjord scene on the background:
You will find the Trixter quilt pattern in the Tilkkunen webshop.
Turquoise is a handy colour because it can be used as a blue or a green if needed. You can see that I’ve used it as a blue in some of these blocks (and I’ve used purples as a blue in some blocks as well):
Neutral and gray shades also go well with turquoise – and this is more to do with the fact that they are so neutral. Here is an example of browns and beiges together with turquoises and blues.
I’ve successfully combined turquoise fabrics with greens and purples in my Summer Dreams / Kesäunet quilt which I sewed of a set of batik strips. The light sashing pieces bring a bit of freshness to this quilt.
Here’s my rule of thumb: turquoise tends to work best when you take care of value contrast. Choose a neighbour fabric for it that is either lighter or darker.
I was pleasantly surprised by turquoise when I was making the Cocktail quilt using all kinds of orphan blocks. I picked the turquoise batik fabric for my angled sashings only because there seemed to be enough of it for this project (and there was – almost enough). I had low expectations of success for the quilt, but the dark turquoise sashings look intentional and bring just the right kind of structure for the riot of blocks.
Turquoise and dark purple can look rich together (though in this image, the red rubber boot catches all the attention that the colours should get):
Turquoise next to peachy hues or corals will create an excellent colour contrast. Here, the fabrics are lighter in value than a pure blue or orange, the contrast is not overpowering.
One more example, a successful but in my projects, a rare combination. Turquoise spiced up with a spark of mustard yellow. Lively and joyful! The combination looks good enough to be tested in a larger quilt project, but my stash is very mustard-yellow-poor. (It is one of my least favourite colours.)
If you’re unsure about turquoise, start small. Why not try using it as one of your blues or greens? As you saw in my examples, turquoise is a versatile colour and can be very quilt-friendly.
In case you did not see this yet, here is the first splendid colour tips post: Orange colour in quilts.
I’ll be discussing other colours soon, sharing tips and stories from my own quilts. If you want to be sure to get all my colour tips – and possibly other updates as well – you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter.
Turquoise has an element of both blue and green, and thus it is a close relative to them both. The colour is often associated with inventiveness and creativity.
What to beware when using turquoise?
To many of us, turquoise brings tropical waters to mind. A bright turquoise together with other bright colours may make the quilt surface resemble a Hawaiian shirt. (Though this may be the quilter’s goal of course.)I planned to create a stunningly beautiful zipper pouch from a combination of turquoise and a lovely red, but the result stunned me in a different way. I did not like my garish creation at all. Not one bit!
How to use turquoise successfully in a quilt surface?
Here’s proof that turquoise was possible to match with the lovely reds with success. Though the combination looked bad in the previous example, here it spells success:Another example: my Trixter quilt turned out very nice, again because I avoided placing deep reds next to vivid turquoises. Instead, the darks and lights alternate. The beginning of the project looked like this:
Turquoise is a handy colour because it can be used as a blue or a green if needed. You can see that I’ve used it as a blue in some of these blocks (and I’ve used purples as a blue in some blocks as well):
I was pleasantly surprised by turquoise when I was making the Cocktail quilt using all kinds of orphan blocks. I picked the turquoise batik fabric for my angled sashings only because there seemed to be enough of it for this project (and there was – almost enough). I had low expectations of success for the quilt, but the dark turquoise sashings look intentional and bring just the right kind of structure for the riot of blocks.
In case you did not see this yet, here is the first splendid colour tips post: Orange colour in quilts.
I’ll be discussing other colours soon, sharing tips and stories from my own quilts. If you want to be sure to get all my colour tips – and possibly other updates as well – you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter.
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