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Saturday 6 March 2010

Colours and sewing

On her blog, Myrna has been writing among other things about the colours that work best for her. I don't always agree with everything she says :-) but her comments often make me think a bit.
I don't recall the exact words, but if I think about my own personal palette I have quite a good grip on it these days.



Its basically brights and darks with a warm but clear undertone. I don't always follow that, but have to be careful how much I push it. I could wear anything I like but some things are going to look nicer than others LOL.
Brights. These colours have a LOT of pigment in them, and I do have to be careful that they don't look too cartoonish/childish, BUT they are my signature, and tbh if I don't wear an item in one of these colours I feel a bit sad and lifeless.
Brights: red, red-orange, strong warm pink, strong coral pink, turquoise, rich teal blue, rich teal green, emerald green, frog green, strong yellow green. The pinks and reds are particularly good for making me look healthy and well, the blues and greens (becuase I have green eyes with a blue learning) are particularly good at making my eyes noticeable.

I am heavier on my lower half (whatever my weight) so to contrast with my brightly coloured (and patterned tops) I wear darker plainer trousers and skirts. These are in my dark neutrals, and are colours like dark navy and bitter chocolate brown. Like everyone I also have black in my wardrobe though I don't like it as much as the navy and brown. I'm exploring olive at the moment, which seems to work even if its not quite so dark becuase of its green undertones. I did have a foray into purple, but am not convinced it works too well for me, ditto grey, even charcoal. I'm also going to try an antique gold colour but I expect its slightly too soft.

I also like to have a few ivory or cream items to add a bit of contrast. Pure white is a little cold on me, but like black easily available, so some purchased items do end up in the wardrobe :-)


I'm not an artist, but I like to make things. Amongst people who buy everything this still makes me a little odd, but its a good antidote/flip side to my day job organising the builds of large IT systems. Sometimes after a long and interesting day getting all the right technical people to do things in the right order to end up with something that works, I really NEED to do something with my hands.

I've been sewing on and off since I was a teenager, and have a basic competence in constructing simple clothes. I have a lot to learn on fit. And have learned a bit on shape/style/colour for me.
I have been a slave to the pattern, and only recently started to chop things about a bit to see what might work.
I have several large boxes of previous projects that went wrong, and I did not have the heart or knowledge to find a way to finish them off.
More recently I pull things from this box and see what I can do with them. Sometimes the results work out well other times not so much, but I am learning as I go.

1 comment:

Veronica said...

I enjoy reading your blogs, you and I seem to be going down the same paths when it comes to color choices. I love all the bright colors you use. Along with you I have sewn forever it seems, but tell recently have tried my hand at the cutting and reconstricting of new patters to get a new take on things and better fit.