Value Finder
The Value Finder is a tool that lets you look at fabric and see only its lightness or darkness. Place the tool up to your eye and look through the red sections. This "removes" much of the color of the fabrics and you can see the value of the fabric. It helps you determine whether your fabrics are light, medium or dark.
Value can make or break a quilt. The right value can make a quilt shine and the wrong values will make the quilt look flat. It is one of the most important parts of selecting fabrics.
To use the value tool: Select several fabrics whose values puzzle you. Place them next to each other or slightly overlap them. Put the tool up to your eyes and look through the tool. The fabric should appear light or dark, almost black or white. You can now tell if the fabric's value is light or dark.
Some quilters have trouble using a value tool; usually when this happens, they are not using it correctly. They are laying the value finder on the fabric instead of putting it up to their eyes. To work correctly, the tool must be put up to your eyes and looked through. If, in the past, you have trouble with value finders, give this a try.
After learning how and why to use a value tool, it will become a very important part of your quilting tools.
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