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March 11, 2022
Thank you all so much for all your remarks. They are invaluable to me. I want this to be your place more than anything, and hearing from you all, helps so much. You all are a very visual group, which shouldn't surprise me. Because it's with those visuals, that we can create our most fabulous looks. It seems that you all aren't so much concerned about the length of the resource especially if it contains photos, pictures, sketches and technical
sketches. Sometimes technical drawings can be far more revealing than sketches.
On the note of sketches, I try to keep these as realistic as possible. It doesn't do any good to show a thin model in something if that isn't even close to our shape. And a thin model represents only about 3% of the population!
Also, I know I rail about the fast/cheap fashion industry and the effects of a lousy fashion cycle being foisted upon us for the last 30 years. But there actually is a reason other than me being disgruntled. When I would reach a blank spot or confused or overwhelmed or simply curious, I would turn to professionals and that was the runway.
This is a classic 70s runway look that has timeless written all over it, but lots of style too. Flattering, shaped to the body, comfort (at least I would make it with comfort for that skirt), and a great jacket that could be a classic in anyone's wardrobe.
And this this from the 70s for a great look on blocking and how to arrange a look so that it's balanced yet asymmetrical. Lots and lots of ideas here with denim getting dressed up.
Another great classic look, skirt and blouse (that jacket isn't bad either, but it's the skirt and blouse that's so gorgeous here). And this skirt is straight forward, add ease to your body, make it hit at the right length, keep it friendly (stretchy) and not too strict and it's a perfect skirt for any occasion. This has black ponte written all over it.
This was YSL's signature look: Bow tie neckline, immaculately tailored jacket, beautifully shaped skirt that is flattering, and killer hat with great jewelry. If I had this outfit today, people would think it was so fashionable and so much nicer than what's offered in stores.
My whole point about bringing up the lousy fashion out there, is that without that source of ideas, that means we sewists have to come up with our own. Where are the pros providing guidance? ...off in some world of trying to figure out if we should be happy or sad! That's no help to we creatives out here. The pros should be offering beautiful clothing for us to oooo and aaaah over.
A lot of my clients these days are purchasing on sites that have resale of couture garments. They bring them to me and I remake them into something pretty and flattering. The point is that there is nothing out there in the professional world that provides inspiration or even the will to want to be excited about this or that look.
These days, there's more inspiration from independent designers who feel the pain of nothing pretty being available.
   These three have some
fabulous ideas: from a neckline idea on the left, to blocking ideas in the middle and classical look on the right.
You don't even have to purchase the pattern. The line drawings here give you all the information you need to copy this pattern from your core pattern!
So here's what seems to make most sense from what I understand from you, is to do this in sections. The major four pattern books, and online, organize their patterns into sections like Tops, Skirts/Pants, Coordinates, Jackets & Coats, Designer, etc., and that's worked well in the past, so we shouldn't try and reorganize a structure that we all know and love.
Hence the organization of variations. Yes, there are that many. I'm starting with Skirts and Pants because this is a fairly straightforward, but also cause I'm sure you all haven't thought of all the variations you can do with pants and skirts. Those darts on skirts and pants can be a blast to work with, and there's a lot more ideas than you can imagine.
I'm going to be hard at work on more visuals, more videos and photos. Lots of great information from you all that makes this so much easier for me. And you don't have to wait on an invitation from me to email me. All you have to do is hit reply and tell me what's on your mind or what you'd like to hear from me. Believe me I'm always interested!
Again, thank you for all your help and information. I can not tell you how much this means to me. We get to start/continue a conversation cause I always enjoy hearing what keeps you from sewing into anything your heart desires.
And believe me - you can have anything your heart desires - well when it comes to sewing you can!
For the first of the year, after things have settled down, time to start thinking about new projects. But what to do? Here you are with all this time and BAM! Your memory and creative juices have all dried up. Why is that?
Where do you start?
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
I wrote this about 10 years ago but since then I've changed IT folks twice, changed hosting services, had my ...
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This reminds me of the all-too-often-quoted add: Where's the beef? https://youtu.be/Ug75diEyiA0 So the funniest thing about this, is that she ...
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And yet another wonderful Spring/Summer 2022 couture show. For so many decades it's been so discouraging to watch season after ...
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This popped up on my feed for some reason, and the first thing I saw was this: And thought - ...
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