I've been whittling away and trying to finish two secret sewing projects, both of them new quilt patterns, which leaves me just shy of two finished quilt tops... one more row on the first, and the last border on the second. There's way more done than what I can share right now, but teasers are always such fun, don't you think?
I'm always so back and forth with myself about how much to share before official announcements... perhaps you can help me with that? This is planned to be my fourth quilt pattern, which will be a medallion quilt. My previous pattern testers have usually only done a one block, or smaller pillow/wall hanging project. This quilt will be larger, would need to be a full flimsy finish, and is heavy on applique. What time frame do you think is realistically needed for testers? (interested?... let me know)
My concern that if I share the full quilt too far in advance, and testers need a longer time frame to finish, then the excitement about the quilt has fizzled out by the time it's been tested. I think that realistically this would be a 2018 spring release. (I have to finish the top myself, quilt it, AND finish writing the pattern, not to mention the third pattern that releases ahead of it, but it's good to have a plan, right?)
In addition, I unfortunately I've had to put this to the side because I ran out of fabrics for the last border. The joy of living in Germany is that I will have to wait at least three weeks or more. The missing border is my heavily appliqued border, which should take a good bit of time, but I have started working on some of the applique shapes. I just love these little pomegranate buds. It's not a final design, but still fun to lay them out in a mandala arrangement.
Do you plan a year's worth of projects ahead of time, or do you just take it project by project?
Linking up this week to Let's Bee Social.
No ,I do not plan the entire year because I want to allow me the luxury to agree to opportunities that migth come knocking along the way. Having said that, I do however have general plan as what I want to get done this year.
ReplyDeleteAs for how much time to pattern test? Good one. Hard to say, it all depends on how how fast or slow the sewists are, whether they work full time, part time or flex time, what skill level and so forth.
Mayb you could ask for expressions of interst, show them the project with a ratio of where to expect applique, piecing etc. and let them decide whether they can make it until the deadline you propose. This way they go in with full knowledge of what to expect.
Every sewist hopefully has a feeling as to how much time they would need and whether ot not they could cope.
See, your blog is so beautiful and so dangerous for me to visit!! I want to sew it all. LOL
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the excitement dissipating: this is going to be another quilt with lasting appeal. There's something classical about it, and the modern fabrics just make it fresh and interesting. Depending on the final size of the flimsy, I would give the testers 3-4 months to finish. Why rush it, when you have another pattern up your sleeve anyway?
ReplyDeleteThis year I put all of my projects into a spreadsheet because I essentially doubled the amount of sewing I am doing for fabric companies, so the number of deadlines and different projects was sort of overwhelming. I can't say that my whole year is "planned" -- I know what project I am doing each month as an Island Batik ambassador and the tentative schedules for blog hops but I basically take things month by month and prioritize what projects have hard deadlines, soft deadlines, and no deadlines. Each month I have my hard deadline things as my priority projects.
ReplyDeleteI love Susan's suggestion. Can you send this pattern out to testers when your quilt is also only a flimsy. And then publish the other and during the "lull" time finish your quilting and the final touches on the medallion. Then the tester would have enough time to do a full quilttop because you release the third pattern in their sewing time.
ReplyDeletehahahaha
ReplyDeleteNo.
I do admire your creativity and drive.
People like me need you. What ever works to get our spark of interest, is okay.
I usually have a million works in progress
I think give your testers at least 4 months to finish the flimsy, perhaps also before committing, let them know what fabric allowances are required so they know whether there is a big financial outlay required first, or whether they can do it from stash.
ReplyDeleteTeasers are fun and I love the "modern" look of this quilt AND applique. Quite pretty. I usually just work on what I feel like working on, no plans at all. Unless there is a deadline - then I work on that quilt/project.
ReplyDelete