Inspired by Time

Oddly, like Inspired by Firefly, fabrics associated with time and travellers through it happen to be tough to get hold of. Unless you’re willing to get something custom printed on Spoonflower or cut up a quilt cover, you’re pretty much stuck. It’s a bit odd considerable other significant science fiction franchises – which I’ll return to later – have fabric spilling out all over the place.

When we did find some good fabrics for temporal travellers, it was about time (I ask no pardon for the pun). Seriously – we searched and searched. As it happens, most of the fabric we order has to be picked out months and months in advance. We chose a couple of neat fabrics and waited – and then we saw the introduction sequence to the new series of a certain show…

spiralling faces of analog time pieces and watches
Time Spiral – All Rolled Up – outside
cog material with an interior of dark blue and star speckled space on the pockets
About Time – All Rolled Up – inside

Seriously – we chose these months before the new series. Months. We almost freaked out.

Personally, I was excited because we had found something that looked great, with a brilliant pattern – and it happened to tie in seamlessly. Sometimes it works out that way.

Mind you, this isn’t the first time we have gone for designs suited for those wishing to invoke thoughts of time or space. We have wall-to-wall timepieces in Time Matters and scattered theories to which you might do well to Listen in The Answer.

wall to wall clocks in a recurring and somewhat seamless pattern
Time Matters – All Rolled Up – outside
fabric showing a blackboard covered with chalk sums and formula, shapes and angles
The Answer – All Rolled Up – rolled

I also found influence from travelling through time when I named the Continuum series (not associated in any way with the time-travelling series, which I never really noticed until after we named it). While we both name the All Rolled Up, I (that’s Paul) do about 97% of it. Sometimes, other people make a suggestion and I roll with it. Other times, Fil makes a proclamation and I concede to the inevitable (so, Orbital Velocity is not Orbital Trajectory, for example).

When I saw the first version of this fabric – which was Brown – I had this weird sense of the swirl and dizzying confusion of time travel. I can’t really explain it. I might have had a steampunk thing going through my head, perhaps a notion of H G Well’s time traveller. I’m no longer clear on the source or the drive, but it stuck. The original has been retired, but now we have a Continuum Red and a Green – and I remain quite satisfied with the name.

swirling red, black and off white design on a black background
Continuum Red – All Rolled Up – inside

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