Creativity – Don’t make it more complex

All my life I have been called a creative person. I never really understood it. I guess one definition of creative means creating things. I do that and have done that all of my life, probably because I was surrounded by makers.

I took a class once from Sandra Betzina about being creative and she spoke in a way that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. She talked like some other people I’ve been around. Saying that their inspiration came from nature or colors or patterns they would see. Because this is how so many people talked about creativity I never saw myself that way.

Recently I have been having ideas for skirt styles and dress designs. These ideas have not come from anything so abstract as the veins on a leaf or the shape of a cloud in the sky. I have been looking at vintage and modern clothing styles. I have seen details on vintage clothes such as embroidery and applique and style lines. These things have sparked ideas in my mind and I have actually started to try to sketch them out so I don’t forget. My fashion sketching skills are sorely lacking but I can look at them and know what the point was.

One thing that is helpful to me is to take some time out. This past weekend we drove to Muncie Indiana to visit my daughter. The 4 hours in the car each way were great for new ideas. I’m not sure why car rides open things up for me so well. It doesn’t even matter if I’m the driver or a passenger. the problem with driving and new ideas is I haven’t found a great way to record my ideas safely so if you have any ideas I am happy to hear them.

I’ve been playing around with offering a dress on my webstore. I have been considering the best way to do it and how the sizing would work and what would happen. This past Friday during the car ride it all came together for me and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I need to make a few sample dresses in differnt sizes to make sure my idea will work but I hope to release a Winter or Spring collection near the end of the year or in mid January. I hope you will follow along with me!

I guess my point in writing this is to let you know that if you are a person who craves creativity but don’t feel a connection to those creators who speak about being inspired by the colors of the sunrise or getting some inspiration for a garment in the shapes of a wrought iron gate it’s ok because I am here with you. The desire to create is in all of us and it manifests itself differently in each of us. Don’t let your individuality stop you from creating the things you want to create.