Why value contrast matters more than you think in quilting

What is most important in quilting? Is it the design, the fabrics, straight/curved/matching seams? Or is it most important that one’s quilt looks unique – or just like the model in the pattern?

All of the above may be important to you, but when you get the basics right in quilt construction, one more thing is key. It is important to have proper value contrast in your quilt.

What makes a quilt work visually?

Your quilt colours will look better when you consider value contrast before you think whether your fabrics match. I’ve learned this from my quilting idol Timna Tarr: ”Value does the work, colour gets the credit”.

If there is only one thing to remember, it is this: value contrast determines whether a pattern in a quilt or quilt block can be seen at all.

When colour isn't enough

When I first started quilting, I did not understand the importance of value contrast. I had carefully planned a design and purchased fabrics that matched the colours of the room. However, the finished quilt did not live up to my visual expectations.

I could not understand it. Why didn’t the quilt look right even though the colours worked well together? It took me many years to realise that the quilt lacked value contrast, and that’s why it looked bland.

Why our eyes read value before colour

Value contrast is important because the human eye can distinguish differences between dark and light much more easily than between colours. Our eye will find rhythm and patterns by value, not as much by alternating colours, for example.

Block patterns are meant to stand out – otherwise they would not be called a pattern. If you sew a block of mid-value fabric pieces, the block pattern will not be easy to see, even if the fabrics should be of different colours.

The same blocks, two different results

Here are fun-looking blocks. There are lovely patterns and colours, but see how they blend into each other: there is no clear rhythm.

This set of blocks in the next image have corner triangles that alternate more clearly between light and dark. Even though the contrast isn't remarkable in all of the blocks, the difference is clear.

A third example. In 2013, I used green fabrics with monochromes to create fun, op-art inspired blocks. While I was working on each block, I could see the differences in colour. The blocks seemed fine then, but when the blocks were sewn together and I looked at the design from further away, the lack of contrast became evident.

The takeaway: Make sure that you choose dark, light, and mid-value fabrics for your quilt or quilt block. Using only mid-value fabrics – which are the most abundantly available ones in fabrics – will not achieve contrast, and the result is likely to look vaguely uninspiring.

Colour contrast alone is not enough. For example, a blue and red fabric of the same value may look very different to the eye, and yet, looking at them in a quilt block or quilt surface, they will blend together.

Achieving value contrast by accident

Successful contrast between darks and lights solves most of the colour challenges in quilting. People often over-think the matching colours or fabric designs and do not realise the importance of value contrast. My "Empress Ramandu" quilt is an example of that.

I did not obsess about colours or patterns. I wanted to achieve a result quickly, so I chose the fabrics more by chance, picking more or less at random from my remnants stash. I had one rule: the center square had to be red (or of a fabric that could be interpreted as red).

See my odd choices in this image:

While sewing these blocks, I could not help wondering if the quilt would be ugly. I carried on though, thinking that I could at least use it as a picnic blanket no matter what.

Three things saved this strange project: 

• The red center square (either light or dark in value) 
• I happened to have dark and light remnants in addition to mid-value ones
• The outermost round of strips was consistently of the darkest-value fabrics. 

So, even though I did not recognise the importance of value contrast at the time, I achieved it by accident. And my "Empress Ramandu" turned out charming, don’t you agree!

Contrast beyond light and dark

In addition to value contrast, your design will often benefit from contrast between pattern sizes. You may want to try using small-patterned fabrics together with a couple of large-patterned ones. The quilt surface is likely to become more interesting to the eye.

When I was sewing blocks for The “Grass Is Greener” quilt, my rule was to use blue and green fabrics. The value contrast comes from the nearly white sashing and from my selection of both small- and large-patterned fabrics. Again, creating contrast was not a conscious decision for me yet: I just picked from fabrics that I happened to have in my stash.

Training your eye to see value contrast

Value contrast can be a tricky thing. When making a fabric pull for a project, your eye can be fooled by the difference in colour. The eye usually sees the colour first when looking at a limited number of colour areas. It is very easy to think that the colours will stand out in a quilt or quilt block, too.

In this image, the purple striped fabric may stand out from the rest of the bundle thanks to its colour. When you look closer, the difference between its value and the rest of the bundle is not that big.

On the other hand, the middle bundle of four green-hued fabrics shows a perfect value scale from light to dark.

Fabric colours are important, and you should make sure that your stash includes fabrics whose colours you love. At the same time, make sure that you have those beautiful colours in all values – lights, darks, and mid-value. Your stash will then help you achieve a quilt surface that shows good value contrast, and that is the way to make sure that you will love the quilt you make.