Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

December 27, 2024

During the "in-between time" of holidays, it's a time to step back and recognize, appreciate, and applaud yourself for everything you've accomplished—that includes your sewing and non-sewing accomplishments.  

The wintertime has the shortest days of the year.  It's a time of rest and contemplation, meaning there's lots of time to wonder, dream, and contemplate what you've learned from the old year and what you desire for the new year.  This is my time to do the Thirteen Holy Nights and think about what I want to focus on for the new year.  

But even wondering can get off track, so it's good to have an organization to your wondering.  The best way to start is with something inspirational - a detail, a silhouette, a look (tailored, artsy, professional).  That comes down to the life you lead, the person you are, and how you would like to present yourself, the last two being different.  For example, I love to present a professional look, but I'm artistic and want to do that in an artistic way, but not weird.  

Knowing your personal style is vital.  And this might change from day to day, and that's OK too.  But there's a look that you like more than another.  It's that look that speaks of you, from inside.  

That's different than what you want to project.  Sometimes when I'm teaching class I need to look a certain way, at the same time staying within the boundaries of my personal style.  At the same time, I still have some other non-sewing businesses that I inherited and require a different look - professional. Yet, I don't want to lose my artistic, creative nature.  

Then, some functions of my clothing are based on needs, such as warm clothing for cold weather, vice versa for hot weather, and activities outside of other duties that I may need.  When Walt and I are out traveling, we like to hike, and I still ride my bike (not as much as I would like), but those all require different needs.  My hiking pants I adore.  They are stretch woven, so they don't have as much stretch as a ponte or leggings, but they are perfect for hiking.  They have zipped pockets for putting valuables, like keys to the car while we are chasing an animal down the road, or a camera lens that needs just as much keeping, and yet needs to be flexible and move well.

Then there is the space consideration.  At this point in my life, I don't bring anything new into my life unless something else goes out.  And as much as I may love opening my closet to excellent choices, there's always something that can come out that I'm not wearing as much.  Keeping my space limited means that I'm not overwhelmed, even if it is with good things.  

The best solution is for me to start by throwing some ideas out there.  As I try to return to that time I learned, it's hard.  When I found my mentor/teacher I had been wanting to know someone like this for ages - for almost 30 years, when I found her, I was so elated, that all I wanted to do was to learn this or that.  Finally I ran out of ideas that I had, had for 30 years, and turned to print magazines, fashion articles.  I devoured every fashion magazine and articles I could, Town and Country, NY Times Fashion Magazine Issue, Vogue, Bazaar, French Vogue, British Vogue - all I wanted was page after page of ideas that I could learn from her, everything that she knew.   I took all that in so fast, that I was a little like Neo in the Matric when he first learns something.  They plug him into the Matrix and in 5 minutes, he knows Jiu-jitsu.   I felt those ten years with my mentor were a flash.  I didn't know how to sew well, then suddenly not only did I know how to sew well, but didn't even need commercial patterns.
 

When I was learning to sew, my resources were mostly print.  There was this program on CNN called Style with Elsa Klench.

She was the first media to share reports from the runway of designers from all over the world.  And the first to form a reciprocal relationship with designers, that they had never experienced before.  

I would record her Saturday morning shows and drink them in when looking for ideas to sew.  It was as much for me as it was for my clients.  They could see that I was wearing what had just appeared on the runway in Paris.  It was the dawn of having that look just as it appeared on the runway in Paris.  

Now, I just have to do a search on Pinterest to get a myriad of ideas.  

If it's too general, all I have to do is sort it out a little - "retiring creative style," or "professional mature style," or "artistic GenZ style,"  and suddenly I'm presented with a myriad of ideas.  

Using a core pattern base, I can redo my collar, add interesting creative features (a Burberry print pocket) or details (outlined buttonhole features), that would take weeks to dream up.  

We really are fortunate to have so many ideas, not only on Pinterest, but Instagram is a remarkable source of ideas, even though they have arranged their hashtag search, it can still be of use for a direct use.  

The important thing here is to use this time as a time to re-think, explore and cook on ideas that either have been bouncing around in your head, or completely new.  This isn't really work time or time to accomplish, but more time to gather information, so that when that creative time to sew comes, you have this development and set-up accomplished so that all you have to do is dig right into a project.  

When doing this sort of set-up time, it's as important to remember that not all the time has to be spent accomplishing something.  I learned decades ago after the fast pace of the holidays, it was key to wind down and recharge.  Without that time to recharge, my creative output was severely limited.  

So I'll be pursuing ideas, but also I'll be completely away from sewing for a couple of weeks.  And what I really notice after I've been away, some of my first projects are enormously successful and some of my favorite projects.  

So for the next while, enjoy the time off and rest your creative powers so they can recharge.  But if you feel the need to work on something, wonder through ideas that have been in the back of your head, and keep them  in a place that's  easy for you to access.  

Enjoy this resting time.  

The SewingArtistry Resource Library is designed to contain information to not only make your sewing better, but to aid in you fitting and flattering your shape, size and style.  Check it out. 

Look for future classes coming in 2024
The Core Pattern Shirt, (one of my favorites for woven core pattern that you can make into a myriad of different garments), 
Basic Knit Top (core pattern class for knit basic tops, shells, tees, dresses, and tunics)
 

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