Colorwashed

Recently I've been sort of entranced by colorwash or watercolor quilting. It seems to have largely fallen out of favor, and definitely has a very 90's vibe to it--it's almost cheesy? It walks the line, that's for sure, but that's what I like about it.

Anyway, it takes a lot of different bits of floral fabrics in different values and colors to work, something I didn't have. I put out a request for scraps on a quilting group, and some lovely ladies sent/are sending boxes of scraps and squares for very reasonable prices. And so I'm playing around.

One lady sent me what was originally a quilt kit--it was all 2" squares. So I got them organized from light to dark. 

And I wanted to work small, so I cut them in four, giving me 1" squares. Let me tell you, 1" squares are difficult to work with, very fiddly. But I finally got the hang of chain piecing them together, and started making a gradient. Well the strip I made was just about the right size for a shirt collar...and is all spiraled out from there. 

From top to bottom: collar, button placket, two cuffs, and a braid trim for a pocket. 

The collar that started it off. The blue-and-white stripe on the backside will  be the body of the shirt. I'm going to keep the rest of the shirt very simple, no piping or detail or anything. 

Tried out a little bit of braid-piecing to trim the collar. The pieces were 3/4" I quite like the effect, I might try to make a tie this way.