An Ode to Dingy White Fabric

I recently completed a quilt commission that really stretched me as a quilt maker. Not only did it require lots of patience and sharpening my skills, it also required a color palette that was…. well… not me. How do you get the motivation and artistic energy to produce something beautiful when working with materials that feel creatively oppressive?

A wonderful repeat-client of mine contacted me to start work on their next quilt project, and the concept really got me excited. The quilt was to be based on a quilt in Tim Burton’s film Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane. As a film lover, I’m sold! Every time I see a quilt in a movie, I take a screen shot in hopes of eventually recreating it.

Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton (1999).

My client had a specific color palette in mind, with mustards, rust reds, navy, dark greens, etc. Love it so far… The background color was the most important however, and my client was very adamant about this detail: it was to be white, but very dingy looking, almost soiled. Not cream or beige, but a “dingy white”.

I get it…. the aesthetic of a Sleepy Hollow quilt is to evoke American Colonialism, influenced by 17th century Europe and austere in tone, and most importantly: antique. Basically, it’s got to look old, and old things get dingy.

I gathered all the fabrics necessary and started assembling the quilt. If you have followed my work or have ever checked my Instagram, you would know how I work in bright colors. I enjoy contrast and revel in the cheerfulness of loud fabrics. So I was pleasantly surprised that as the quilt started to come together, my feelings on it began to change. Dingy white is kind of awesome! I love a moody quilt, and dingy white definitely creates a mood. The quilt immediately looked like an heirloom, and felt as if it was from another world. Quilts are artifacts passed down from generation to generation, and here I was with a brand new quilt that felt like I was cheating time.

The moral of my story, if there is one, is perhaps to be open to being surprised by fabrics, colors, patterns or styles that at one point underwhelmed you… you never know when you might discover your next dingy white.

The finished quilt!

Close up of fabric and quilting.