Creative Sewing: how your personality can shine through

Even when you are sewing with a pattern, your personality and taste can really shine through when you learn to sew.  You have a lot of opportunity to make choices so that your finished product will represent you, be artistic, or simply be useful depending on what you want or need.  I often try to mix it up and use fabric choices that aren't recommended for a different fit or drape, or add my own little flair in some way so that making my own clothes can serve the purpose that I was after when I started this journey- it can let me express myself while allowing me to have the dream closet I could never afford. 

I also like to use patterns in unexpected ways.  For example, I bought this 1940's/50's style robe pattern with the intention of making it into a cute, shortened wrap dress (although it would make a darling robe, or longer silky wrap dress as well). 

I ordered this muted green and cream fabric, not really thinking much of it, as an add on to two other cotton fabric choices.  Even when I was cutting out the pieces to make this dress, the potential of the fabric didn't really click for me until I got the whole thing pinned onto my dress form with the left over scraps from another dress I am making pined on as the trim.  Seeing it on my dress form, I finally realized how beautiful this fabric really was, and how much better it would be without the loud pink print overpowering it. 

In theory, these prints look great together.  They are technically the same print just in different colors.  I was also making another dress using the green as lining for the pink and I think it would have worked great for that purpose (I also ended up going another way for that dress, but for different reasons).  However, once I really started to see what this dress could be, I really really started to see it as a beautiful, softly muted, more delicate than loud dress, and I agonized over what to do. 

So, I cut up some scraps of blue left over fabric and pinned them on, but it still wasn't right.  Eventually, I just bit the bullet and realized that I needed something completely different to make my vision a reality.  Off to the fabric store I went, and picked up a single yard of muted yellow/green that I thought would be prefect...

And it is! This pattern, the planing process, changes made, and the total re-imagining of what this pattern could be really made me think about what an art form sewing really is.  I'm so glad I have found a way to express myself through a medium I already really loved (clothes!!!). 

SO, hopefully I can get this done in time for my New York Trip because I am excited about it and I want to bring it with me.  I set my sewing goals a little height in April since I wanted a lot of things done before my trip, but I am trying to slow down and remember that sewing is supposed to be fun and my dining room is not a self imposed sweat shop.