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August 6, 2021
Back To School
When I was taking piano lessons, I started with a lady who was from the church where I went. Mother had heard that I had some talent and needed to take some lessons, and this was as good a place to start as any. So why not. After about six months, the teacher came to Mother and said that she couldn't teach me any more. She was basically a beginner teacher and there was a great teacher in town who could teach me more. So that's how I started learning
"real" piano.
After about a year of piano lessons, the teacher began to realize that I really did have talent and she needed to start a theory class. I thought she was nuts. Theory in piano?...really? I mean playing music is all about practice.
So what was theory. To cut to the chase, theory was the most glorious thing I learned about music since a tormented my piano teach into teach me Solfegetto, by C. P. E. Bach (Bach's most famous composing sons). Learning theory was learning how music went together. Modal mixtures, common tones Enharmonic Double Chromatic Mediant Modulation is all about how it goes together. Those are a bunch of fancy
sounding words that do not make sense, unless you hear them and you go - aha, that's what that cool part of that song is about. Click here to hear that cool song based on Rachmaninoff's 2nd movement of Concerto No. 2 in C minor. You will have your socks blown off!!!
After listening to that little video, don't you have a completely different view of music theory? Well, that's what learning about art fundamentals is all about. It's the theory of how to create great art. It's learning how to put good design together. It's learning about what good design is and what it isn't. Often it's about learning why there's a problem, and therefore, (because you now know what the problem is), how
to fix it. There really are guidelines and helpers to help you work through all sorts of would-be issues, and once you do, you can often find out where the design flaws and how to fix them.
So when I say Art Theory or Elements and Principles of Design, don't go all glassy-eyed like I used to do in art school. Cause there really are some cool things in her.
Along with the Elements and Principles of Design, there are proportions and there are also some rules about those. And talk about ethereal concepts. As if Elements and Principles of Design aren't ethereal enough, Proportions and Apex Point rules sounds like something right out of thin air! But these are some rules that can save your life when it comes to working through a lot of your designs.
And you say, "Oh Claire, I don't design. I'm not a designer!" But here's the thing. If you have a core pattern and you've changed it, BANG - your a designer. How about taking that change to a new level?...how about dome some fun things with that core pattern? ...how about doing something really rockin' but because you're using your core pattern it's going to fit your size, flatter your shape and feature your style.
But how to do that? There are only 365 million choices out there. How in the world do we possible edit out those wrong choices and keep the choices we make good for us? Enter the Elements, Principles of Design, Proportion and Apex Point Guidelines. It doesn't sound very sexy and it sure doesn't sound like it helps, but these are some of the rules and guidelines I've used when designing for my clients. The best compliment I receive when I'm
designing is, "Oh Claire it look just like her!" That means I've crawled into her head and gotten who she is and made her feel very special for her very best day!
So I'm taking everyone back to school in August and September, and have updated these wonderful tools and put them on sale. They are essential for your design toolbox.
If you have purchased these in the past year, you should have received an email from me with the update to the one you've purchased, whether that's Elements of Design, Principles of Design, Proportions and Apex Points, I should have sent that to you. So you don't need to purchase that again. That's why this is divided up into sections.
However, if you don't have any of these - lucky you, cause you get them at a discount for this month.
As we move into fall, get your core pattern out cause we're going to take it out for a ride and whip up some pretty neat things with that core pattern. I want you to really think up some fun things, within the guidelines of these art theory principles and have some fun with your core patterns!
Welcome back to school!!!
This is the quintessential toolbox for the wannabe designer, and you don't even have to draw to use them. All you have to do is trace. That may sound just a little too far fetched, but believe me, not all designers can draw, and most of them do not sew. So you have sewing going for you, and that can make a world of difference.
This package includes a lot:
Elements & Principles of Design w/Color
Proportion (Divine and Rule of Thirds) and Apex Point Fitting
and something new:
 Sketching - taking the idea to sketch, to pattern to garment and yes, you can do that. It's not that hard. There are a lot of steps, but this is the final part of the whole package of creating something especially for yourself.
You know all those pictures on Pinterest or pinned in your studio or on your bathroom mirror?...those ones you know you would look smashing in if...1.) you could find the right pattern, 2.) you might be able to find it in RTW, but to fit you would be a problem or 3.) you've always wanted to create a look or certain collar or fabulous sleeve or some other detail and never knew how. Here's how to do that.
This does require that you have your core pattern up and running. That's what the whole pattern will be based on and it is what makes all this work so well. Whereas commercial pattern makers and designers have to go through 5 to 8 iterations to get it right, with your core pattern, we already know it works, and what we're doing is copying that to make the style you want.
If you have one or two of these (no one has the Sketching cause it's new), only get what you want. All of these are on sale right now.
At the same time if you want the whole kit and kaboodle, it's at an even greater discount than normal. Here's everything with the whole kit and kaboodle at the bottom!
Enjoy!
Elements & Principles of Design with Color Primer
Fitting with Proportion and Figure-Flattering Tools
(This one comes in two parts)
Sketching - From Idea to Garment
The Design Toolbox - All Three Resources above in one download at a terrific price.
Once this special is over, the Sketching will go into both the Proportion and Elements & Principles (it's already in the Toolbox), at regular pricing.
On the Blog
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