Besides connecting with friends at Sew Expo, I love seeing what everyone is wearing and taking in lectures that make me think and focus my work. I went to a limited amount of presentations - five. I wasn't impressed with one of them. It provided little real info and was basically advertising. I walked out of another before it started because the hand-out at the door was crafty-tacky and didn't reflect at all what I was hoping to hear and it was so crafty-tacky that I had no fear I'd miss something by leaving. The three I enjoyed were Marcy& Katherine's fashion show and Diane's lectures A Room of Your Own and Creative Tune-up.
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My friend Ute arrived wearing a version of Marcy's coat pattern Vogue 8934. She painted the patches with black on top of the same purple that the rest of the coat is sewn from. This is low contrast as opposed to the high contrast that I was working with on my version back in October. her coat looked FABULOUS. So many times, I try a pattern once and if it doesn't work out, I nix it from my repetoire. Ute's version of my failed attempt encouraged me to try, try again. I have some gorgeous stretch silk dupioni that could be perfect... and I have paint... and I have desire.
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Every time I see Marcy & Katherine's fashion show, I am impressed with the quality and the drape of the fabrics and what an incredible difference those factors make to the finished garment. It's the jump from okay to fantastic or from wadder to wearable. My Vogue 9035...
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... pants were so unlike the pattern envelope that I didn't even finish them even though my pressed cuff looks a lot like the envelope. On me, they weren't graceful and attractive; they were poke-ing-out-ish. After seeing Marcy's in the show, I wanted to try again so I had her help me choose a black knit fabric to work with. That should up the odds of success.
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The topic of Diane's lecture A Room of Your Own is one that's near and dear to my heart. Since leaving home at eighteen, I have always had a studio. To me, it's the critical component for a creative woman especially as - IMHO - we were not put on earth just to make everyone else's lives easier. Our lives matter. Our skills ans abilities were gifted to us for a reason. It is important to both nurture our creativity and to allow it to nurture us.
When I wrote my book Setting Up Your Sewing Space, the focus was on organization of time and space. It was matter of fact and not too emotional because at that time in my life, I was matter of fact and not too emotional. LOL - things have certainly changed. Years later, I taught a a workshop called Studio Makeover that focused on creating studios that meet both our physical and our emotional needs. To me, this is the perfect and essential blend.
In her lecture, Diane talked about the percentage of your studio that is devoted to the past, the present, and the future. FAR too often when I was teaching I would see studios crammed to the rafters with projects that were never going to be finished and possibilities that were not going to be explored further. And what I found with my students was a real sense of failure around the projects that "failed" and the crafts they'd tried but didn't like. Why?
We can't know what a combination of fabric, figure, and pattern is going to be like until we combine fabric, figure, and pattern. And that's enough. We don't have to wear the garment to learn from it. And it's not like we can walk into a "restaurant" and order a "pint of painting", taste it, and see what we think. We have to buy the supplies, try the craft, and evaluate whether this is for us or not... and if it is, we find a present place for in our studio... and if it's not, I vote that we move that stuff along. There's no need to let it block our creative flow. Is your studio holding you back or encouraging you forward?
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I went into Diane's Creative Tune-up lecture feeling focused and on track and came out feeling confused and frustrated. Since this is definitely not the typical reaction to one of her - amazing - lectures, I needed to give that some thought. It was when she started to talk about the mystery of not knowing that I began to doubt and then - with more thought - I realized I'd slipped back into wanting to be someone creative and that I needed to refocus on being myself creatively. It's an important difference.
Although I completely forgot to get pictures of my outfits everything I wore was comfortable and felt like me. I found myself looking around for simple garments with subtle details that added punch without dancing and demanding attention. When you're looking, there's a lot to find. At one point, I was in line behind Vicky, a woman I've attended several Design Outside The Lines retreats with. The garments she was wearing - like her coat above - were exactly what I'm aiming toward. VBG - I do believe that I would enjoy living in her closet for several hours. I came away from standing in line behind her inspired that yes, it can be done. I can be me and I can be me creatively.
And THAT... is worth the price of admission.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - I can be me creatively
My friend Ute arrived wearing a version of Marcy's coat pattern Vogue 8934. She painted the patches with black on top of the same purple that the rest of the coat is sewn from. This is low contrast as opposed to the high contrast that I was working with on my version back in October. her coat looked FABULOUS. So many times, I try a pattern once and if it doesn't work out, I nix it from my repetoire. Ute's version of my failed attempt encouraged me to try, try again. I have some gorgeous stretch silk dupioni that could be perfect... and I have paint... and I have desire.
Every time I see Marcy & Katherine's fashion show, I am impressed with the quality and the drape of the fabrics and what an incredible difference those factors make to the finished garment. It's the jump from okay to fantastic or from wadder to wearable. My Vogue 9035...
... pants were so unlike the pattern envelope that I didn't even finish them even though my pressed cuff looks a lot like the envelope. On me, they weren't graceful and attractive; they were poke-ing-out-ish. After seeing Marcy's in the show, I wanted to try again so I had her help me choose a black knit fabric to work with. That should up the odds of success.
The topic of Diane's lecture A Room of Your Own is one that's near and dear to my heart. Since leaving home at eighteen, I have always had a studio. To me, it's the critical component for a creative woman especially as - IMHO - we were not put on earth just to make everyone else's lives easier. Our lives matter. Our skills ans abilities were gifted to us for a reason. It is important to both nurture our creativity and to allow it to nurture us.
When I wrote my book Setting Up Your Sewing Space, the focus was on organization of time and space. It was matter of fact and not too emotional because at that time in my life, I was matter of fact and not too emotional. LOL - things have certainly changed. Years later, I taught a a workshop called Studio Makeover that focused on creating studios that meet both our physical and our emotional needs. To me, this is the perfect and essential blend.
In her lecture, Diane talked about the percentage of your studio that is devoted to the past, the present, and the future. FAR too often when I was teaching I would see studios crammed to the rafters with projects that were never going to be finished and possibilities that were not going to be explored further. And what I found with my students was a real sense of failure around the projects that "failed" and the crafts they'd tried but didn't like. Why?
We can't know what a combination of fabric, figure, and pattern is going to be like until we combine fabric, figure, and pattern. And that's enough. We don't have to wear the garment to learn from it. And it's not like we can walk into a "restaurant" and order a "pint of painting", taste it, and see what we think. We have to buy the supplies, try the craft, and evaluate whether this is for us or not... and if it is, we find a present place for in our studio... and if it's not, I vote that we move that stuff along. There's no need to let it block our creative flow. Is your studio holding you back or encouraging you forward?
I went into Diane's Creative Tune-up lecture feeling focused and on track and came out feeling confused and frustrated. Since this is definitely not the typical reaction to one of her - amazing - lectures, I needed to give that some thought. It was when she started to talk about the mystery of not knowing that I began to doubt and then - with more thought - I realized I'd slipped back into wanting to be someone creative and that I needed to refocus on being myself creatively. It's an important difference.
Although I completely forgot to get pictures of my outfits everything I wore was comfortable and felt like me. I found myself looking around for simple garments with subtle details that added punch without dancing and demanding attention. When you're looking, there's a lot to find. At one point, I was in line behind Vicky, a woman I've attended several Design Outside The Lines retreats with. The garments she was wearing - like her coat above - were exactly what I'm aiming toward. VBG - I do believe that I would enjoy living in her closet for several hours. I came away from standing in line behind her inspired that yes, it can be done. I can be me and I can be me creatively.
And THAT... is worth the price of admission.
Talk soon - Myrna
Grateful - I can be me creatively
If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you.
- Zig Ziglar