Splendid colour tips for quilting: Green colour in quilts
This post is one of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share information to help you choose fabrics and colours for your quilts with more confidence. Today’s quilt colour is green, and I’ll be sharing the following:
Green represents wealth, health, calm, and nature. It is the easiest colour for a human eye to process, and it is believed to have a relaxing effect on us.
Green is the second most popular favourite colour for both women and men. Therefore, it is a great choice for a quilt or quilted item that should attract both sexes.
An interesting piece of information related to the colour green is related to a Namibian tribe whose language has a single word for both green and blue. And it seems that consequently, it takes them a long time to identify a more bluish green square out of a bunch of uniform green ones. And then again, they can instantly identify and name a subtly different shade of green out of the same green ones.
This is an example of how the words we use for colours seem to have have an effect on how we SEE colours.
Even though green isn’t my favourite colour (because I don’t have a single favourite), I really like yellowish greens, and they seem to attract my eye very easily. Around a decade ago in a quilting event, I bought eight fabric bundles in that colour, one by one – and didn't even notice it at the time.
Nothing similar has happened to me with any other colour.
Yellowish greens may also surprise you. A straightforward bento box type surface looked did not look right to me when too many of the blocks were yellow-green (I had to leave them out of the actual quilt surface at the end).
Although I really like the combination of green and purple, a bright purple and green may look shocking together:
To avoid shocking the eye so much – especially in a larger surface, it is worth considering whether to use a purple or green that is not quite as intense.
As mentioned already in the splendid tips for the colour red in quilting, green and red are complementary colours, and thus their colour contrast is strong.
If you pick reds and greens from a spectrum of hues and values, the result will not look holiday themed. Adding neutral sashings will tone down the complementary colour scheme, too. A selection of the squares in my Jolly Surprise / Iloinen yllätys quilt from 2012 also includes a complementary-coloured strip of scraps.
If green as a neutral doesn’t appeal to you, there is always the option of using a traditional neutral, such as grey, together with green. The result can be elegant:
Nearly three years later, in 2018, this urge hit me already in February, and I used my yellow and green scraps and improvised a surface which eventually became a small, quilted handbag. I covered the process in detail in my post How I turn a pile of scraps into an intentional-looking quilt surface (where you can also see a picture of the finished bag).
The green in the bottom of the bag is one my all-time favourites! I wish I still had some of it left!
I’ve also sewn an “all green” zipper bag, which I named Supple/Notkea. Here is a photo taken when the bag was still in progress:
You may notice several spots of value contrast in the lower piece!
After an enthusiastic start, I noticed that I wasn't on my comfort zone with those stylishly solid fabrics and ended up adding patterned fabrics into the mix. In this photo, the very dark green and moss green solids are easy to spot. They are very difficult colours for me though many quilters love them!
I can see as well as you can that the zipper bag isn’t exactly green. Yet, this was my part of a pact between a fellow quilter. She promised to make a Tilkunviilaaja-style zipper bag, and because she is great at using green, I promised to make a green zipper bag. And that was it!
Is green one of your favourites, or even THE favourite colour? Which shades or hues appeal to you? When did you use green with great success in a quilt? Let me know in the comments!
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 fun updates as well – you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter.
- My thoughts and helpful tips about using green colour in quilts
- What to watch out for, and ways to use green effectively in quilting
- Practical examples from my own quilts and quilted items
Green is the second most popular favourite colour for both women and men. Therefore, it is a great choice for a quilt or quilted item that should attract both sexes.
An interesting piece of information related to the colour green is related to a Namibian tribe whose language has a single word for both green and blue. And it seems that consequently, it takes them a long time to identify a more bluish green square out of a bunch of uniform green ones. And then again, they can instantly identify and name a subtly different shade of green out of the same green ones.
This is an example of how the words we use for colours seem to have have an effect on how we SEE colours.
Even though green isn’t my favourite colour (because I don’t have a single favourite), I really like yellowish greens, and they seem to attract my eye very easily. Around a decade ago in a quilting event, I bought eight fabric bundles in that colour, one by one – and didn't even notice it at the time.
What to watch out for when using green in quilting
Muted, earthy-toned greens do not necessarily look good with brighter, clearer colours. My promising quilt surface turned dull when I picked too many of such fabrics (and added brown, too):As mentioned already in the splendid tips for the colour red in quilting, green and red are complementary colours, and thus their colour contrast is strong.
How to use green successfully in quilting
Tone down extreme colour contrast
Red and green can look great together in a quilt when you pair the brightest reds or greens with their more subdued complements. This way, the colour contrast isn’t as extreme. Here’s an example – a fabric where the green background colour doesn’t compete with the red letters of my Lovejoy Christmas-themed tablecloth:
Green as a neutral - and with a neutral
A very dark green can work as a “neutral” in your quilt. Even a red-hued block can look great next to such a green.Green and yellow bring spring to mind
I don’t know about you, but every spring, I will get an urge to create something from green and yellow. One of the clearest examples is this Spring in My Heart / Kevättä rinnassa quilted zipper bag from 2015:Find your favourite greens and use them
The Evergreens/Ikivihreät quilted zipper bag features many excellent greens:I’ve also sewn an “all green” zipper bag, which I named Supple/Notkea. Here is a photo taken when the bag was still in progress:
Camouflage the not-so favourite greens
In 2018, I was inspired by this commercial bundle of fat quarters:A final thought about green in quilting
It is easier to be successful with green – like any colour, really – when you don’t take things too seriously. Here’s an example – a “green” quilted zipper bag:Is green one of your favourites, or even THE favourite colour? Which shades or hues appeal to you? When did you use green with great success in a quilt? Let me know in the comments!
Earlier posts in the splendid colour tips series
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 fun updates as well – you can subscribe to my biweekly newsletter.
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