Inspiration

I have been thinking a lot about where we take creative inspiration from and what it means to let a drawing, a movie, a photograph, a setting, or even another person inspire you.  For example: I have always taken inspiration from Audrey Hepburn's style, however, it took me years to realize that letting someone inspire you doesn't mean you have to copy them exactly.  I will never be 5' 7" 110 pounds, nor will I ever have her grace, but that doesn't mean that she has nothing to teach me.  

By all accounts, Audrey Hepburn shouldn't have been a great beauty.  Skinny to the point of being bony, a largish nose and ears and great big black eye brows.  But put all together, it worked so perfectly because she so owned who she was.  Trying to be exactly like her is truly ironic because what made her so beautiful was her acceptance and even celebration of her own uniqueness.  

A few months ago my friend Kimmi gave me this awesome Anthropologie dress that was a bit too big for her.  I nearly snatched it out of her hands when she offered it to me. I just adore it!  I wore it on a date night with my husband last weekend, and I felt so pretty I made him grab a few shots on our way out the door.    

This dress is very special because it is full of unique twists while still being elegant. Not only did they play with contrasting textures in its construction (the dress is light silk while the straps are made of a woven material), they also played with prints adding a surprise panel of pink, deep teal and yellow up the back (silly me, I forgot to get make Jer get a shot of it so you will have to settle for this lousy after-thought photo).   

This dress really inspired me to take some risks in my sewing.   I finally made my first Taffy top from the The Colette Sewing Handbook, and this is the result:  

Front shot.

Back shot.

I work hard to try to make sure my personality shines through in my sewing.  I always want to make sure to make things that I would actually wear, and also that don't look like something I could easily find at the store.  Inspired by "the Kimmi dress", I took a chance and used blue and white bias tape on the shirt, but added bright blue bias tape to the back of the sleeves , and "connected" the two bias taps with a button that matches the white and blue bias tape on the back of each sleeve.  I also added two matching buttons to just one side of the shoulder, just to add a little flourish.  

Sleeve detail.  

Shoulder detail.

I am quite happy with how this top turned out!  Although it looks nothing like the dress, copying was never my goal.  Remember that inspiration doesn't have to be interpreted literally. This has been my main thought today, as I think it is fitting with this post:  


If you aspire to be like someone else, the best you can ever 
hope for is to be an imperfect copy of them. Learn to inspire
 yourself because you are already perfect. 


Thanks for reading!  Have a great day beautiful!  :)