Inspiration strikes at funny times. Don't get me wrong: I'm never at a shortage of things to make or try. There are dozens of patterns I like, and hundreds of fabrics I love, so I can keep sewing and creating nonstop. But true INSPIRATION, like "wow I love this idea" and "I really, really, really need to make this NOW", well that's kind of rare -- for me at least. I often feel the need to make something immediately, but not because the inspiration is so strong that the idea won't leave me-- usually it's just because I've tired of my other ideas.
Maybe it's because I'm so go, go go. With two kids and their schedules, the business and the millions of things I like to do, sometimes I don't stop and look at something or think about it long enough to see where inspiration may take me. Maybe it's because I'm just now feeling very inspired by the idea of inspiration because I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's book Big Magic right now. (In fact, it's very probably very much because of that!)
My latest inspiration came from my sister. She is traveling all over SouthEast Asia, currently in Thailand and texting me the most droolworthy photos of handwoven pillowcases and scarves I've ever seen. Each one of her photos makes me pause and and take it in, but it was this photo, from Old Town, Koh Lanta, that stopped me in my tracks.
Isn't it gorgeous?
I kept scanning her instagram feed (@rov_life by the way!) and returning to this photo. Then one time different fabrics starting jumping out at me and I had a clear vision for a fun, beachy dress for my daughter--- in the middle of winter. With a snowstorm on the way, warm weather a long ways off, and a dozen other things to sew, my first thought was to put it at the bottom of the list and get to it and when I get to it. But I kept thinking about it, and kind of like an itch you just need to scratch, I gave into the sudden inspiration and starting sewing.
I found this grey and white seersuckers with gold whales at Affordable Fabrics a couple of weeks ago and it seemed utterly ridiculous and a necessary purchase. Now I'm so glad I have it. I love how the grey and white mimicks the weathered wood and beachy feel while the gold whales are an excellent, quirky match for the wood goldfish sign.
When I saw the red and white signage I knew this unevenly striped fabric would be perfect and and nearly had inspirational meltdown when I couldn't find it in my stash. Luckily there were a couple of scraps left in the bottom of my scrap bag.
The turoquoise and lime latticework (another Affordable Fabric find) seemed like a great representation of all the other crazy colors. Then my husband pointed out the latticwork looked a lot like the leaves on the vine and, to be honest, that may have elicited a happy dance from me!
The pattern is the Raleigh Romper and Dress by Melly Sews. It's a great starter pattern and I whipped it up in a little over an hour. I started with a Size 3. My 20 month old is easily in a size 2T and I wanted it to grow with her, but I ended up taking the sides of the bodice in an inch on either side and wish I had made the skirt a little longer to accommodate the next growth spurt! There are going to a lot of these little dresses for her in the future (and maybe a couple of the romper version as well) so I'll have plenty of opportunities to experiment with the sizing.
Now that I have that out of my system I can go back to my sewing list (until my sister posts another photo at least)!
So what do you think? What inspires you? What makes you drop everything and start creating?
Happy Stitching!
Laura
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If you're looking for a dressmaking class check out our Geranium Dress Class in March!