July 23, 2012

Planning a Quilt, or, An Easy Way to Get Overwhelmed

I am a natural born planner.  I love that time before a project starts, no matter how excited I am about it, because anything is possible.  Anything!  When it comes to sewing, whether I'm planning a quilt or a shirt, I can imagine any fabric I want in any pattern and I'm not obligated or locked into something.  For someone with a lot of structure in her life, this freedom is amazing.

However, because I love blogs and Flickr, this stage can be exhaustingly overwhelming.  I obsessively bookmark and mark photos as "favorite," and I tend to pin a lot of projects I know I'll never get around to.  I put things in my cart on Etsy that are never purchased, but I never lose hope that I might own them someday!

So how do you keep yourself from falling into this trap with each project?  This is something I'm continuously learning, but I think the best idea is to have a plan.  If you have a plan and you hold yourself accountable, you'll find that you can keep your stash in check and finish projects.  You may not finish them on time, but you'll be less likely to give up on something because you didn't think it through and now you hate the fabric or pattern.

For my first quilt, after a couple days of never-ending online window shopping, I chose Cluck Cluck Sew's Easy Bake pattern.


I had been contemplating both online tutorial-only quilts and much more advanced patterns (including the oh so popular Swoon), but in the end, this was a cost-effective beginner option.  I didn't have to buy neutral fabric to incorporate into the blocks--one layer cake was all I needed for the quilt top, and when I was ready, I could purchase backing fabric and binding fabric.  No pressure and only a $40 investment.

The purchase of pattern and fabric went hand-in-hand for me.  I am a Christmas freak and thought, if I buy some Christmas fabric, I know I'll love the quilt no matter what.  That also gives me until December to finish (even though I will hopefully have it done before September!).  I chose a layer cake of Cosmo Cricket's Dear Mr. Claus line.  It didn't contain all the prints from the line, so I can use one that wasn't included for the backing, if I choose.



As of early last week, I was locked into a pattern and fabric.  My plan had played out, and because money isn't growing on any of my trees, I now had an obligation to make it.

To further ensure I would make this, I completed the first step Friday night, cutting the layer cake into strips and matching up random strips.  I'm keeping everything in a gallon-sized bag which is highly visible on my sewing table.

So now that I have something planned, I can get started.  This is often a scary step, because something bad could happen.  No one wants to fail, right?  But, this is also great, because something amazing could happen.  When I first started sewing, I worried I had sunk all this money (and my mom's money, because she bought me my machine) and I wasn't sure I could do it.  I hold myself to high standards, and I didn't know if I could live up to them.  But once I took that first step and attended a class to get started and refresh my very small skills, I learned that sewing came very naturally to me.  When you're a beginner, you have a kind of fearlessness that you lose as time goes on.  You don't know enough to realize darts and buttons are more advanced, and patterns usually come in time.  You just jump in and trust that you'll learn along the way.  I'm hoping quilting goes this way--I'll shoot for the proverbial stars and just hope that I don't mess up too badly.

I would like to show evidence of what happens when you don't stick to a plan.  You spend entirely too much money in one week!


Phew...all this money could have gone toward a new mouse or some RAM for my Mac, but instead, it's sitting on my table in fabric and patterns.  Oh well!  Everyone has a hobby.

Next week, I'll have an update on my progress.  Hopefully the 1/4" seam allowance hasn't eluded me!


2 comments:

  1. Emily, you are so intimidating with your planning. I love it.
    Good luck this week.

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    Replies
    1. Haha! I got high hopes and a lot of OCD.

      I have to make myself start it this week. Maybe tonight after dinner. If I only sew for like an hour at a time, I'll get things done...

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