Organic Creativity

Buttons and buttonholes are not something for me to do at 5:30 in the morning when my eyes are emerging from blurry mode. Since that's all that was left to do on the blouse I'm making, yesterday morning I worked on a tank top. It's the sleeveless version of Marcy's Vogue 9057 - a great pattern.

I love when creativity happens organically, when one thing connects to another and you end up engaged in a project that's far more fun than you'd anticipated. That often happens when I make a mistake or when I don't have enough fabric as with this pink and black rib. There might have been enough for a regular tank top but not for one with an asymmetric hemline and individually cut pieces.

I cut out a full back and a partial front and mimicked the angle of the hemline across the bodice and then I pieced strips of fabric to form the bodice alternating the direction of the ribbed pattern row to row.

Marcy once referred to this technique as my signature element. It's something I brought into fashion from textile art. I layer the fabrics and stitch them together with until I create a big enough piece to cut out the desired shape. I love the texture this technique creates.

Once I'd pieced a full front, I stabilized the hemline, neckline, and armholes and how I'm ready to finish sewing the top together. I have the side seams, the hemline, and binding the neck and armholes. So far, I plan to use pink binding but we'll see what really happens.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - play

If necessity is the mother of invention, then play is the father. Use it to fertilize your thinking. The next time you have a problem, play with it. If you don't have a problem, take time to play anyway. You may find some new ideas. Try adding a constraint or two to your problems as a way of stimulating your thinking. 

- Roger von Oech, A Whack on the Side of the Head