Thanks for your incredible responses to my question, "Are you a book-person or a pattern-person?" It was so fascinating to read your perspective. Many of you said you utilize both and, in hindsight, I probably gave short shrift to patterns. As Taran says, "We shouldn't have to choose! And neither do you! "
But your comments got me thinking. Roobeedoo might have hit it on the head when she wrote:
I am a real sucker for the "lifestyle" that the photographs in a book portray - so I spend hours at my sock-knitting pattern books, ogling the model's pyjamas / cushions / mugs / garden instead of getting on with my knitting!
I thought, "Yes, that's exactly it!" I'm totally a sucker for lifestyle, or put another way, the style and personality images express. I can daydream for hours in this universe that's been half built by the author and illustrator/photographer and half built by me putting myself in the clothes (fast-forwarding to them actually being sewn, it is my fantasy after all!). Speaking of pretty photographs, I've been oogling Japanese sewing books (like Scruffy Badger) and Burda Magazine (like Solvi) for a while, but if I were to procure them, it's quite possible I'd get no sewing done at all.
Patterns can offer style and individuality but largely through sewers, in my opinion. That's why I love the blogosphere. I typically turn to other bloggers (you!) for inspiration. I love seeing the possibility of patterns, how a single pattern can be interpreted numerous ways. It's just so damn creative. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a project on one of your blogs and thought, "I'd never think to pick up that pattern from the envelope illustration but it's lovely made up!" or "What an unexpected color choice that totally works!" or "Wow, this is a totally new take on this pattern." Or simply, "You go girl!"
See, the thing is, I fear I'm not very original. I envy all of you who can look at a pattern illustration or sketch and dream up your own unique vision. Like Karen, I just love the photos that books and blogs offer. She wrote:
I guess my imagination just needs some help! Of course the danger with that is it's harder to imagine variations in color or fabric (like in Twinkle Sews which I LOVE I get one variation stuck in my head and it's harder to think how it would look in, say, a different weight or color of fabric).
Yes again! Twinkle Sews, unlike my other sewing books, does not offer variations on patterns. The first project I'd like to make is this Skyline Skirt, far right:
And guess what I'm making it in? Navy and black and white houndstooth.
Oh, and there's the Rooibos pattern on the way to me, and guess what I'm thinking? Navy blue with white trim. My excuse is that I've got it in my stash, but the truth is I haven't been able to get it out of my head since I first saw this photo. And the list of imagined projects that don't stray far from the original photograph goes on and on.
Something about this feels like shopping the hard way. Or sewing sans agency. Me see, me likey, and then try to replicate is exactly.
I hope this is part of the maturation process of sewing, that the more I sew, the more chances I'll take. I'll get a better handle on my own personal style, fabric choice and be more courageous to concoct what I don't see. And perhaps I won't always need variations to very obviously see what appeals in a range of options.
What are your tendencies on this issue? How do you dream up original takes on patterns? Where do you find your inspiration if it's not in the pattern itself? Books and blogs serve this function for me, but perhaps its fabric or magazines for you? And do you care about making each piece "you"?
By the way, through Karen, I discovered the Crafty Book Challenge, an opportunity to actually use your craft books in 2011. And I promise sewing-related posts to come, I've got two quick pieces to share with you.
Happy sewing!
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I don't think there's anything wrong with making an item exactly like the pattern cover. After all, many of them are beautiful and inspiring. You are a great seamstress, Ali, and you make lovely things. You go, girl! :)
ReplyDeleteI am so uncreative - I never come up with an original idea. I shamelessly knock off JCrew or designer items (with varying degrees of success, hehe!). I could never be a designer, or even a Project Runway contestant for that matter.
ReplyDeletehi Ali,
ReplyDeletefirst things first, thanks for the heads up on the crafty book challenge...
i wouldn't be worrying about whether you are coming up with alternative ways to make up patterns that you like, you're making things that you want to make that fit in with what you want your wardrobe to be, and i love both seeing the results and reading your "thinking things through" posts, just keep doing what you're doing :)
louise
The important thing is that you end up with items you love, right?
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm getting better at picturing patterns in different fabric as I go, but it's still a bit of a surprise. One of my favourite things is tweaking a pattern to make it into something really different, like my Lady Grey sweater. :)
I look in shop windows, in mail order catalogues and people watch and if I see something I like I then try and work out how I can make it and how I can adapt an existing pattern to to fit what I have seen. An example of this would be the skirt I recently made before Christmas I hdn't seen an identical one but last year I saw a lot of skirt images with the piping below the waist. But I find it harder to work the other way round, ie to start with a pattern and take it from there. I often see other bloggers' finished garments and think "Wow - I never would have thought of that" One thing that works for me is to concentrate on the line drawing not the photo on the pattern envelope, not to rush into it but to carry the pattern idea in my head for a few weeks, and kind of add inspiration from other sources. It also does seem to get easier to think up different interpretations of patterns/fabrics the more I sew. And Ali and big thank you for the giveaway - I never win so I am really pleased, a lovely new year's surprise.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to do copies of what I've seen somewhere. I don't consider myself very creative... but sometimes by combining things you have seen somewhere or simply using a different fabric for a project makes the whole thing look different. My way to get inspired is saving pages I like on my bookmarks... taking pictures of pretty things in shops. What I love about crafting is the engineering that comes with it...seeing something and making it yourself...I feel a sense of accomplishment even if it's an exact copy :o)
ReplyDeleteI think creativity is connected with skills, experience and fantasy. It´s one thing to come up with a great idea, another to actually bring it out to life! I absolutely think that creativity can be learned, it will take time, but it really is a learning experience. For sewing, it´s all about combining patterns, fabrics and trims/buttons in different ways. And like tanitisis said - to use the same pattern over is a great way of creating new styles!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I get inspiration from a certain fabric, sometimes I just want to knock off something I´ve seen in a magazine.
And we shouldn´t forget that the people creating the images in our beloved books and magazines are professionals that know what they are doing (most of the time, anyway) - so why not copy them from time to time, you never can go wrong with that, right?
Very soon, I'm going to make that Twinkle Sews skirt in the middle of your pic above (the blue one) but I swear I'm going to TRY VERY HARD to make it in a color other than royal blue!!! I'm going to try to break free : )
ReplyDeleteFor inspiration, I carry around a little notebook in my bag and when I see something I like out in the world, I draw a quick sketch. Plus I have a bulletin board in my sewing room covered with a bunch of stuff ripped out of catalogs (mostly Anthro) and printed from sites like Mod Cloth. That helps give me ideas. Along with great blogs!
i think even if you make something like the original or copy a commercial design, you are still picking your own colors and making the design fit you, which makes it unique.
ReplyDeletei have a different problem. i keep buying/making different items in the same colors, over and over. it's time to put a hold on my undying love of navy blue, i think.
I like to think I osmose a lot of inspiration from blogs that then percolates in my little brain and resurfaces after the subconscious has a chance to massage the ideas together! Haha, a nice way of saying I am "very inspired" by what other people make. In all seriousness, I tend to 1) fixate on a fabric or color combination or fabric combination and then whenever I see a pattern/FO that I like, I force feed said color/fabric combination into the pattern and see if it will fit, or 2) think about what I'm missing in my wardrobe (e.g.: work-appropriate winter dresses in neutral colors) and then every time I see a pattern/FO, I'll think about what I need and if I can make it work. For example, I have been fixated on making a navy dress with white piping for over a year now [hm, I sense some solidarity with other bloggers here!], so every time I see a dress that somebody's made that I like, I'll instantly try to imagine it in navy, with white piping.
ReplyDeleteTo sum it up, I do lots of fixating ... and I wind up dreaming up 4 or 5 combinations for one pattern, 3 or 4 of which never come to fruition.
Oh! But if you decide to make Roobois in navy with white piping, can we have a "navy dress with white piping" sew-along/sewing challenge? I always love doing things where there are certain guidelines and then everybody interprets them differently.
ReplyDeleteYour crazy-ass blogging friend who wants to come see you in the East Bay soon!
Ah, Ali, you're not alone! I also have the feeling sometimes that I only ever make knock-offs of things I've seen somewhere. Even most of the drawings in my sewing sketchbook are things I've seen online or in a shopping window or on the street... That makes me feel fake sometimes, but I guess as long as it produces garments I love and wear, it's not so bad. I also try to see the garments I'm inspired by in other fabrics, with different trims or collars or pockets, a circle skirt instead of a gathered skirt, some buttons here or there - and I guess that's the beginning of real creativity, right there. And I hope that at some point, I might come up with something truly original and someone will be inspired by me (nice dream, isn't it?). But if not - whatever, I'll still have some lovely garments, right? ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I love the idea of the "navy dress with white piping" sew-along... :D