Neutral Baby Colors

All fabrics used in these mock-ups is QT Fabric's Vibe Collection.

I may have gotten carried away with all these colors. But what would this look like in only 2 colors? Or what would it look like in a lot of colors? Here's a Black and Cream. Or if that's too bold, a more muted purple and cream. But All the colors?? I love rainbow colors. Rainbow quilts are especially good for parents who have a baby just after a mis-carriage. This baby is often called a Rainbow Baby.

Pool Party!

I often get asked about baby colors, and neutral tones for an unknown gender. Baby colors have gone through many trends, just like everything. I notice people in their 60's+ tend to want pastels (pale pink, blue, yellow) for babies. Personally, I like using bright, bold colors like black and white with royal red and blue. I know those younger than me like soft, muted colors. Not pastels, but things like Sage Green and rich brown. Other generations like using primary colors for babies. It's all a personal preference, but if you're making a baby quilt, think about current baby color trends. You want the parents to like the quilt and want to use it. A simple google search of "Baby Nursery Ideas" will give you the current colors many young parents are using, if you don't know the exact colors these parents will want.

So, my go-to colors are colors that feel like a bright summer pool party. Yellow, Aqua, Blue, Lime, and a touch of Orange. These don't really scream "Girl" or "Boy" but they are fun and cute. You can pick the lighter colors, or the darker colors, or a combination of both. Here are two examples in my new JuneBug Pie pattern. I didn't use every color shown below, but I did use several. But, knowing current trends, I don't think young parents would enjoy this quilt as much as they would one with more muted colors.

Woodland Party

Triadic and Complementary

I'm not really sure what to call this Color Palette. It's pretty, it's muted. It's gender-neutral, but It's just a bit boring. However, I know many young parents would love a quilt in these colors. These are popular nursery scheme colors. It fits the "woodland" for "jungle" colors that are so popular now.

Monochromatic and Analogous Colors

Complementary Colors are those that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Yellow/Purple, Blue/Orange, and Red/Green are the most common, but you can also use tertiary colors. Color Theory is a topic for another post. Since I feel like Red and Green is far too Christmasy, I did not include it here. However Red/Blue/Tan is a form a Triadic Color Scheme. The traditional Red/Yellow/Blue, with primary blue exchanged for a more muted tan. This is also a good Gender-neutral color scheme. You could also do a Purple, Orange, and Green.

Pink - A girl's color?

Monochromatic color schemes are those that only use one color. Only shades of Green or Shades of blue, as shown below. And Analogous color schemes are those that use 2 or more colors next to each other. Orange/Yellow/Green, or a Yellow/Green/Blue combination is an example. My first 2 palettes above: Pool Party and Woodland Party, are actually examples of this type of color scheme.

More, just for fun

Now, it's my personal belief that colors don't have genders, and pink can be for whoever wants it. However, if you give any of the following to parents with a new baby boy, they will most likely not use it. If you notice, any of the above quilts would be great for a boy, and okay for a girl. This is because in American Society, the only real colors that are "girls only" or "boys only" is pink. I also try to steer clear of purple in boys quilts, because that one's on the fence. People always say that "Real men wear pink." this is because pink is considered a "girl color." There is not a real "boys color." It's perfectly acceptable for girls to wear blue.