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January Inspiration

taylor-jan-blog-inspiration

Who: Taylor
Role: Graphic Designer

Staying inspired is an important part of creating. Sometimes inspiration is too bountiful, making it hard to focus your creative energy. Other times you feel stale and as if your inspiration is tired. I have always found it helpful to take the time to reassess and gather new inspiration. This is what inspired our latest blog feature. Each month a staff member will be sharing what inspires them, and how they are applying this inspiration to their life and sewing. – Haley

Explain your over-all monthly inspiration.

This time of year in the Pacific Northwest it’s mostly dark, wet, and cold. I am trying to embrace the natural inclination to retreat to bed, as well as the bed-head that comes as a result. I really want to focus on effortless beauty. I collected a lot of different types of images from food to fashion, to some little notes I like to remember.

How do you plan on translating your inspiration to reality through sewing?

I want to focus on wardrobe planning, and bringing a feeling of effortless ease into my closet. Something I’ve found when I’m searching for fabric is that I’m super attracted to bright, bold textiles and fabrics, but that may not necessarily be something I would pick for myself to wear. I’d like to work on editing that down to a pop of something fun.

The key words to keep in mind for myself when planning are: Fun, ease, comfort and natural.

For more inspiration follow us on Pinterest, and check out our January inspiration board.

What are you inspired by this month? Share your inspiration below!

Taylor Pruitt

Taylor is an enthusiastic maker. As the graphic designer at Colette she infuses her creativity into all of our projects from print to web.

Comments

Beverly

January 12, 2016 #

Thank you for so succinctly putting my feelings into words. I am looking at doing the exact same thing this year, not only with my sewing, but with my life. Beautifully expressed!

Kathleen

January 12, 2016 #

What you said about fabric rang so true! I think we sewers struggle with that ALL the time. The types of RTW that I buy tend to be rather plain, simple, natural but when I see that type of fabric on the bolt it’s rather uninspiring (to put it mildly). But when I buy fabric I love on the bolt it’s the last thing I would actually wear. – it’s too bright and busy and after I’ve made the garment I realize to my dismay I wouldn’t wear it in a bet. So how to address this problem? I’ve been considering options like learning heirloom to fancy up rather plain fabric. That way I get the excitement about being creative but have control over the embellishing. Avoid built in embellishment such as bright, busy designs on fabric :)

Taylor Pruitt

January 12, 2016 #

That sounds like a great thing to focus on! I should add a few heirloom techniques to learn too.

Elle

January 12, 2016 #

I love posts like this! I’m always too antsy/impatient to make a vision board but I love looking at other people’s. I’m trying to be better about fabric buying too this year– spending more on stuff I will actually wear. It can be hard to resist the pull of the new and shiny and cheerful!

Amanda

January 12, 2016 #

I love seeing other people’s inspiration board. I’m not yet very good at identifying images that inspire me, they seem to do so at a subconscious level.

Elena (@randomly_happy)

January 12, 2016 #

I’ve been thinking a lot about making a capsule wardrobe. I was once told by a stylist to think of the type of person who would wear your ideal wardrobe (like French rockstar, colourful vintage librarian). I’m aiming for Swedish barista this year ;o)

I think you totally harnessed your key words. Can’t wait to see how these translate into makes.

Taylor Pruitt

January 12, 2016 #

I like that idea! I’m going to work on my style persona now. :)

Ministry of Craft

January 13, 2016 #

Such a Beautiful post, It’s brightened up our morning!

Marie Purnell

January 13, 2016 #

This really got me thinking of how to reinvent my process. I want to create and I have some beautiful fabrics, I am just overwhelmed with ideas and am afraid to take the plunge with one pattern and wish later that I had used another. My OCD at it’s worst. I never had a problem like this before. Just too many ideas. Any advice on leaving this particular creative rut?

Taylor Pruitt

January 14, 2016 #

I totally understand what you mean! With the new year starting I was quite intimidated by my list of patterns I want to make, as well as what fabric I would like it best in. Something that really helps me is pairing before I even start. When I’m fabric shopping I like to think of a specific pattern in mind, therefore I’ll be more excited to jump in and execute. Another thing that Kris, the designer here at Colette, recently said to me was, “Just pick something!” And she was right. Once I picked the one thing (A Wren I recently sewed up this past weekend) I had the energy to keep going towards the rest of my projects, I’m currently working on a Myrtle. Good luck with your future makes, and just pick something ;-).

Marie Purnell

January 14, 2016 #

I will do that….just pick something and not look back. Thank you!

Judy Canham

January 17, 2016 #

Imagine my surprise when I looked down at my layered outfit the other day to find that the only thing I was wearing that I didn’t make was my shoes and my undies. My wardrobe goal last year and continuing into this year is to develop a core group of garment patterns that can be hacked or tweaked to suit different seasonal or design inspirations. I don’t pass up the urge to buy new patterns but I try to work their different design elements into my core group. I’m getting good at remembering fabric yardage requirements which makes fabric shopping a lot easier. I’ve done enough sewing by now, that most of the things I make, I wear. How satisfying!
I love everything about sewing and approach it like a creative meditation. So whether it is selecting the perfect fabric, mastering a new technique or correcting a mistake, it’s all part of my process.