Getting the Glow

Have you ever noticed that some quilts are so vibrant the colours are almost a song and dance show, while others are flat and dull? When you take a closer look, the fabrics used in each quilt are both perfectly fabulous fabrics – so what’s the difference?

It’s all about value – not the cost of the fabric, but the colour value. That is, the relative lightness or darkness of colours used, which create contrast in the design. Quilts that use a lot of samevalue fabric often fall flat, whereas quilts that have a wide range of values from light to dark, even within a single colour, are much more vibrant.

How do I create contrast?

The most vibrant quilts have a range of values from light to dark in them, and this is where the interest lies. It’s important to note that not every quilt has to include the lightest and darkest in them, as value is relative, and colours appear lighter or darker depending on what they’re paired with. For example, a collection of pretty pastels look soft but may read flat. Add a few mid tone prints, which are relatively darker, and the quilt will start to pop. Likewise if you add a few super-light prints. But add a few dark prints and these will look out of place as they’re too high contrast.

It’s not enough to just mix up fabric values—you need to know where to place them too. For simple blocks like square patchwork, distribute contrast evenly so pops don’t blob together. Step back from your design wall to check spacing.

Repeated blocks in a quilt can look drastically different depending on where contrast is used. Mock up samples—on paper, computer, or with fabric—and move value placements around. Use value to emphasise parts of the block. Be consistent.

When sorting scrappy fabrics, group by value and use each value in a set position. Good contrast gives design definition.

For example, in a nine patch checkerboard layout—with darks in the centre and corners and lights on the edges—sticking to this across 50 blocks creates strong contrast. But flipping light/dark placements or using same-value fabrics makes blocks look off. If a block feels like it doesn’t fit, check its values.

Some blocks create secondary designs when joined or alternated with others. Where you place values can change the entire look and what part of the pattern stands out. Experiment with this!

What about the background?

Your background fabric needs high contrast with the rest—this is why very light or very dark options work well. White or light grey gives a crisp look, while black or navy can make medium-value prints pop. If your background blends too closely with a medium print, the whole quilt may blur.

This matters more in some designs. Take an Irish Chain quilt—it uses two alternating square blocks and relies on contrast between chain squares and background. Lose that contrast, and you’ll end up with a blob of squares instead of a clear pattern.

Good Value

To show you what we’re talking about, here are a few examples of where value (AKA contrast) works well.

The fabulous Molli Sparkles has been playing with value in his Trip Around the Universe blocks (a pattern he made for us way back in Issue One of Make Modern). His blocks use a single colour fabric, but the value moves from light to dark across the block, which creates an effect known as luminosity. Small patches of light fabrics create luminous spots in the overall design and are a very effective design technique.

Another great example is HollyAnne Knight’s beautiful quilt. This quilt features lots of colours, but when you look at it in monotone you can see it clearly moves from light to dark in a diagonal down the quilt, which is what gives the design so much glow. Again, there are pops of luminosity around this quilt.

Here’s an example of where the value was wrong and the project fell flat. I can say this, because this is one of my quilts. I had great aspirations for this classic New York Beauty quilt (which turned into a table runner because it just wasn’t working). The fabrics I chose were great, and it could have worked – except I didn’t consider value. Most of my print used in the long triangles in the outer rings are medium value, and they all mash together with no rhyme or reason. Had I made all the triangles in one direction in a different value to all the triangles in the other direction, it probably would have worked just fine. But the way I did it, there was no definition or movement.

This is an extract from Getting the Glow by Jane Kelly. Read the full article in Make Modern Issue #28.

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