Color Value Basics
Color value is a term that refers to how light or dark a color is. Value is an important characteristic because it helps quilters decide how to arrange patches of fabric to make them either blend or contrast with each other.One of the best ways to get comfortable with color value is to experiment with fabrics on a design wall.
Gather a group of fabric swatches of different colors. Place them side by side on the wall, starting with the lightest fabric and moving across the wall with darker pieces. Step back. Does the line of fabrics blend subtly from light to dark or are there fabrics that pop out to interrupt the flow? Re-sort the fabrics and check again.
You didn't do anything "wrong" if the organization still isn't quite right. That's because it's easy to sort fabrics when they're all basically the same color, but throw in multiple colors and it becomes more of a challenge, in part because you're adding another characteristic to the color value issue--color warmth.
