most common method. It may be done to produce simple single coloured fabrics and also as designed materials through tie and batik. Colour can also be added at the fabric stage by painting, printing, embroidery and patch or appliqué work. Here the colour application can be in any shape and form.
Textile designers need to have a sound knowledge of the dyeing properties of different fibres and fabrics. Depending upon the requirements of the final product, they decide the stage and technique of colour application. Colour Schemes or Colour Harmonies Certain basic colour schemes are used as guides for combining colours. A colour scheme merely suggests the hues that can be combined; the values and intensities of the hue and the quantities of each to be used are the decisions taken by the designer or the consumer.
Colour schemes are best studied with reference to the Colour Wheel. Colour Schemes can be discussed in two groups: Related and Contrasting Related schemes have at least one hue in common. These are: Monochromatic harmony which means a harmony based on one hue. This single hue may be varied in value and/or intensity.
Achromatic harmony uses only neutrals such as a combination of black and white. Accented neutral utilises one hue and a neutral or an achromatic colour. Analogous harmony refers to a color combination using two or three hues that lie side by side on the colour wheel. Use of four or more hues may create a jumble unless each one is in very small quantity.
Contrasting schemes can be the following: Complementary harmony refers to a harmony using two hues that lie directly opposite to one another on the Colour Wheel. Double complementary has two pairs of complements, generally neighbours on the Colour Wheel. Split complementary harmony is a three color combination utilising a hue, its complement (directly across on the Colour Wheel) and neighbor. It may also use a hue and two neighbors of its complement.
Analogous complementary is a combination of analogous and complementary schemes, a complement selected for dominance in a group of neighbouring colours. Triadic Harmony