Contrast: What It Is & Why It Matters

When I had just begun to quilt in the mid-’80s, I offered to teach people in my craft club how to make a block. This was before rotary cutters, so we made templates—and struggled.

But the biggest surprise came when the schoolhouse blocks the crafters made were nearly invisible. They didn’t show up at all, and I was baffled. What in the world went wrong?

In the decades since that experience, I have learned that contrast, more than