For the first time ever I’m planning out my sewing projects for the next season in advance so that they will complement each other.  It’s fun in a sewing/fashion-nerd sort of way.  I’ve reorganized my fabric stash into fall/winter and spring/summer instead of fabric-type to make it easier to pick out things that work together.  As usual I’ve gotten pretty ambitious with what I’d like to make up but at least I’m getting a head start.  (I’ve already finished one quick project this weekend and have started another.)

I’m showing you two palettes.  There are a lot of browns; no surprise there.  The first one consists of pale muted blues and greens and ivory.  Toile and houndstooth and dots and cotton velvet.

The second palette is warmer although there is some black in there too.  Rust and mauve and mustard yellow brighten up this set.  Faux fur and florals here.  All of it, naturally, very vintage-inspired.  Pretty, faded, old-fashioned prints and textures.  I’ve got some ’30s patterns picked out, some from the ’60s (for basic shapes) as well as modern ones too.

Have you started planning or even working on projects for next season yet?  Do you like to plan in advance and to what degree?

While trying to tidy up my fabric stash–something that, oddly, seems to make more of a mess!–I began setting aside fabric for my Sleepy Hollow quilt, something I quite gushed over last fall.   If this stack of fabric was all the fabric I owned, I’d say “Wow, I have a lot of fabric.”  I laugh and laugh!  I would be almost embarrassed to show you how much I actually have.  (I say “almost” because you all are probably the only ones who wouldn’t think I was nuts.)

Most of the top pieces have been collected over the years and/or are left over from past projects.  (Brownie points for anyone who can spy fabric in this pile that I’ve used for a dress or two!)  The 4th from the top is a pretty blue print that Nancy used in her oh so lovely Stacking the Odds quilt.  (Which Fabricworm speedily sent to my doorstep.)   Much of the lower part of the stack (see all the browns and blues?) came from Reproduction Fabrics (thanks again, Lisa, for the link!).

Here is a close-up of the stack:

And here are some favorites (pinks):

(blues; I do like all these stars as they seem very colonial to me)

(browns)

It’s entirely possibly some pieces won’t end up being used in the quilt, I’m still undecided.   I also feel like I need another stripe-y print or a check and I don’t seem to have much green, gray or lavender in here at all.  Like in the movie quilt I plan to use plain off-white muslin for the alternate triangles.  For the back?  I don’t know yet either.  If I can’t settle on anything I really like, I might just use plain muslin for the too.

Oh, and I found a free pattern I can use as a guide: Studio Perfect Triangle Quilt pattern!  It took me a while to figure out that this pattern is for their die cut products (because there wasn’t any template or triangle size in the pattern) but since I’m not in the market to buy such a fancy and ingenious device I’ll have to cut the triangles out the old-fashioned way.  (Cut triangles are 5″W x 6″H for this pattern, I’m not sure if I’ll go that big or smaller like in the inspiration quilt.)

Is anyone else making a quilt right now?  What do you think of these prints?  It seems like more of a wintry activity but, knowing me, I should get started sooner than later if I want to have it for cold weather!

I find the quilt-making process exhausting and yet every time I finish one (not that there have been that many times) I’m already thinking about my next.

Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is a movie that has certainly grown on me over the years.  (I know I’ve must have mentioned this movie before!)  I love the production design, especially the costumes; Colleen Atwood can do no wrong.  But in the last few years (I watch it annually around this time) I’ve changed my focus to something else: the quilt.

This quilt is one of the prettiest I’ve seen.  The pictures are dark, I know, but I hope you can see what I see.  This simple triangle pattern might be my favorite quilt design.  I’ve seen this type of pattern more often in older quilts, like early and mid 19th C.  What I find most interesting are that the triangle’s bases in one row do not line up with those of the next.  (Unlike the example you can see here.) Instead the triangles themselves line up with the triangles in the second row over.  (Sorry for the possibly convoluted explanation.)   This pattern seems less common than the former, perhaps because it’s more difficult to keep all the rows lined up neatly without having the bases to match up.

Here you can see some detail.  This is also proof that I’m a certifiable sewing nerd: “Folks, forget Johnny – LOOK AT THE QUILT!”  Oh, I even love the shattered pieces and yellowing.  Look at the blue piece by Johnny’s right ear, isn’t it lovely?  (Gosh, I wonder how the art department found such a quilt.  It looks like a genuine antique, doesn’t it?)

Another slightly more awkward image of Johnny, I mean Ichabod, on the quilt.

I’d like to make a quilt like this.  I don’t know if I’d use feedsack or feedsack-like prints or something more Victorian.  I’d probably use colors that are lighter and maybe a little brighter although I really love the ones used in this piece.  Anyway, I don’t know when I’ll make this but I already have some fabric in my stash that would be suitable.  I hope to start this winter.

In the meantime, I’ve got some frocks to finish up and share with you!

…simple little frocks and smock dresses.  OBSESSED I tell you.  So much so that that is the very reason for this late night post.

Now that I’ve shared this obsession with you, two things could happen: 1) I’ll become bored and forget the whole thing (ha!) or 2) A tiny red and white biplane will fly over my house and drop the above dress (wrapped neatly in brown paper and tied with stripey string) on my front stoop. (Please let it be the latter…please!)

I mean, cotton/wool Liberty print?  Pretty gray color?  Cute half sleeves?  Short, gathered skirt?  Boatneck?  Aack!

Do I hear a propeller?  No?  Shoot.