Thursday, September 1, 2011

Valuable Lesson

So I've heard about value and it's importance in quilt design, and I've seen the cool HST quilts that play with value.  Katie even has a tutorial on it.  I've never really thought about it much though - until now.
I was happily making oversized pinwheels in a favorite new color combo.  Isolated, they read very clearly, but something happened when I put the quilt together.  The pinwheels kind of got lost.
It's interesting to find that, even though the colors are very distinct, the yellow and gray pinwheels blend right together where their values are too similar, particularly the lighter fabrics.
I can't decide if I want to rip it apart to weed out the offenders, or try to save the design with some emphatic quilting.  It may get shelved for a while.  Anyway, lesson learned!

9 comments:

Jackie Russell said...

Some think some thin sashing (1") may help the design stand out more. Of course that is going to require some ripping.

Jacey said...

Even though I can see what you mean about the pinwheels getting lost, I still think it's going to be a beautiful quilt! If it were me, I'd continue with this quilt, and give your pinwheels another try. You picked some lovely fabrics to work with here!

Alyson said...

You know, I really like it the way it is! I think emphatic quilting is the way to go. Can't wait to see it completed.

Unknown said...

i see what you mean, but i agree with jacey - its still gorgeous! love those colors! maybe you can figure out a quilting that would help make them pop more.. though, sometimes a subdued pattern isn't a bad thing :)

Jenny said...

Very interesting...I wouldn't rip out! You could try to accent the pin wheels with some quilting design. I do love the quilt...love yellow and gray right now too!

angela w said...

Definitely quilt it emphatically!!! Use different designs in the two colors and that will help split it up.

Rachel at Stitched in Color said...

Thanks for sharing your lesson with us. It's great to see the photos. This is totally the type of "mistake" I make. I don't see the forest for the trees. I hope you find a solution, quilting or otherwise, that makes you smile!

Helensh said...

embroider your quilt in different colours to highlight the shape of the pinwheel, if you use bigs stitches it would make it stand out better, just a thought. Love the colours though.

Florence Knapp (Flossie Teacakes) said...

Irrespective of values, I do love the colours though - it's gorgeous.