 |
January 14, 2022
So I'm sitting here all rested and looking across the front of my desk (my sewing machine cabinet and writing desk are back to back so looking straight from either gives me a view of the other area), I'm dying to sew. I want to sewing anything. But I'm here working on this project, and I need to stay focused on this to get this finished in a timely manner.
In the meantime - I really want to sew!!!!! But the truth is that I'd like to be sewing. Remember those old license tags....I'd rather be fishing and then a whole bunch of others ensued...I'd rather be sewing!!!
But the minute I go over to my sewing area and call down the creative monsters to come help - BLANK!!!!
About this time my creative process is like this:
This isn't the first time nor is it the last time I've heard this complaint from students. When it comes time for creating it's like we're "Uh, who me? Uh are you sure you mean me?" It's like it's this special time for you alone to do something special for you, and enjoy this time for YOU! And then suddenly the memory, ideas and resources fail you!
What's going on?
You'll be glad to know that this is a common phenomenon with artists. It's call the artist's block or the plague of the white canvas. In our case it's the empty sewing machine syndrome! But whatever it's called, it seems like it's hard to get started, and particularly when it's for you. It seems when it's for someone else, it's much easier, but it's almost that because it's for you, it makes it harder.
There's great news here though, cause believe it or not there's lots of research out there on how to make employees more creative in the business world. And this has been studied and studied, and there's lots of data. There are helpful techniques for time management, there are helpers for creating the right environment, there is help with concrete steps to get you to a creative place, and now that my program is not crashing, there's help here for we
sewists!
I've put together a great collection, especially for this time of year. The holiday rush is over, and we're rested, the world is back in order so we have our time pretty much slotted out, and it's time to think about ourselves and doing something special for us.
This can be something to end the winter with or make the transition into spring - whatever floats your boat. But included here are scientifically proven steps to help you figure out what to do, how to take that information and formulate a plan and then how to go about executing it. Actually the execution is a piece of cake, cause once you have the creative idea finalized then the making it kinda becomes a blast. With me, once I have the idea, I'm like clear the decks
I'm sewing and that's all I want to do.
The whole idea here is not to sew for sewing's sake, but to do something really worthwhile and to use our time well, so there's time management. It's also important to have a great working environment, and in case you don't think a working environment counts, it does. I'm hooked on these home redos on HGTV and Magnolia TV (formerly DYI), Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, Home Town, Live It or List It, and Fixer to Fabulous are all spell-binding to me,
and to a one when each of these shows does an office or workroom area, there are basic rules that everyone of them uses and they do this for a reason. These basic rules make an office work. The arrangement of your studio matters. It matters so much that I've included this in this package.
There are the blocks, why they occur, what they are. There's inspiration and the creative process and why it's not only interesting but highly illuminating why it occurs and why it doesn't. There's the breakthroughs and where they come from. There's the stoppers and how to stop the stoppers. There's the perceptions that sewists really aren't artists (really - if there's nothing else you learn from me, learn that sewists are artists -
very very much artists).
Then most interesting are the psychological studies on creativity and what makes it so prolific here and not there. The chemical process that happens in the brain and extends to the body during periods of creativity, and most importantly the process of being creative has on our life over the long span - better than the fountain of youth!
So put down your what-am-I-going-to-sew attitude and let's enjoy being creative!
So for those Christmas gifts I passed out last year, we're going to put them to good use now. This is the time of year to get our creative engines going, and create some goodies for ourselves.
Where do you start?
That's the infamous question when you go into your studio and now that all the holiday stuff is up and things have settled down but what about starting something new? It almost sounds like it's too big to be true.
It's all about Steps...
It's not that hard, and it's not that big. Let's take this in steps, and just like any big project, when you break it down in to steps suddenly you see how to go about doing this.
Easier as you go along...
The fun thing here is that as you start, it's slow, but as you get going, it gets easier and easier, and finally when you get close to starting your project, you're so pumped it's hard to stop!
As usual these are all offered separately, and at a nice discount, but an even bigger discount for the whole package. If you have some of these already, no worries, cause you don't have to get it again, that's why I do these all at a discount.
Inspiration - this is a great guide on getting you through blocks, explaining what they are, and it includes the new "The Artistic Process" which is more up-to-date information and guidelines for whipping your creative juices into action.
Arranging Your Studio - is just as vital as those steps toward creating your project. Without the right environment, it can be a real task to keep going. With the right environment, you will naturally feel good about your space and want to be in it creating.
Time Management is key for getting through this process without going down those time-steeling black holes, and again corporations have studied this up the wazoo, and there's no reason we can't use their techniques and methods to make our precious time spent as well as possible.
Sketching - This is like an artist's cheating secret. With sketching it's so easy to work through one design after another, after another.
My Favorite Inspirational And Idea Books - There is nothing like great books that are filled with ideas that become your go-to resource books. As well, it's great to understand the concept of creating and what we can do to better create - here's my list of these books I have
used for decades. Some are out of print, but the used versions are just as good.
The Whole Creative Inspiration Package is here. This contains all these resource from the SewingArtistry Library as well as some bonuses - like Space Dynamics in better designing your studio space, lists of my favorite inspirational and idea books, list of my
favorite inspiration and idea books which will really get your creativity juices running and some other gems.
As usual these are all at 20% discount but the Inspiration Package is at a further discount with extra goodies.
On the Blog
From the time I started my design company, I was sketching designs for clients. It was the only way that ...
|
It's fascinating to listen to this discussion of How Much Clothing Do I Really Need? for me because I don't ...
|
What has happened to fashion? There was a day when well-dressed and even not-so-wealthy women looked to the latest in ...
|
View past emails or in your browser click here.
To talk about a sewing problem, a style quandary or size situation one on one with Claire, click here.
We respect your email privacy.
|
|
|
|
