Originally Posted by kwhite
OK guess what my camera can do? Take photos in BW. I am not sure though how this helps me.
one thing it can do is force you to look at the patterns, like one other poster suggested. In this grouping you have very little contract between fabrics. The lights on the bottom and the black with the dots are the only two that really contract with the rest and the black doesn't contrast much because it's the same dark shade as many of the patterns. In the patterned fabrics, almost all your prints are about the same size, that makes them blend together even move. IN your block you used only the black and similar sized prints.
First try the same block using the light/white plus the same prints as in the black block and see what a difference it makes. Next, change some of the med/small prints with a large print and again, see what the difference is. YOu don't even have to sew the blocks together, just cut out your pieces of fabric and lay them next to each other in roughly the same way they will look in the finished block and you can see the difference.