Triangles & triads in quilting
Jennifer Houlden
It's been so much fun talking about
color and contrast. Color is one of my
passions and creating contrast within
my quilts is another passion. How do we
use triangles and triads in quilting and
what do they have in common? And
what does it have to do with color and
contrast?
What is a Triad?
A triad means three. Associated with the
color wheel the triadic color scheme is
made up of three different colors. These
colors are spaced evenly around the
color wheel.
Triadic color scheme depicted on color wheel with an equilateral triangle
Triangle Shape
If lines were to be drawn between the
three colors on the color wheel an
equilateral triangle shape would appear.
Now that we know what triangles and
triads have in common let’s delve into
the triadic color scheme just a little bit
further
On the Wheel
On the center of the color wheel is an
equilateral triangle to depict the triad
scheme with each point of the triangle
pointing to the color that makes up that
triadic color scheme.
This color scheme can make for a very
powerful and eye-catching quilt. The
key is to use different values of each
color to create contrast as well as to
keep it all balanced by having one of the
colors take the lead role and the others
supporting it.
Green triangle depicts the primary triadic color scheme
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Photos by Jennifer Houlden.