All tagged creative life

Sewing For Fashion Design- Take a Look at my New Repurposing Method - Heirloom Repurpose

some sewists are sewing up A LOT of stuff. Are we wearing or using all of it? and what do we do if the answer is no? Sometimes its hard, just like clothing you buy at the store, not every item that we make really gets worn for a multitude of reasons. And its really hard to part with a me made- if you donate it, because it doesn't have a designer label, it can just get thrown in the "craft" heap. Sometimes they have sentimental value too, like the ones I'm about to show you.

In this post, I want to share with you a recent make, and a method that I devised called "heirloom repurpose." It is a practice of actually repurposing me mades that you no longer have use for, or never quite got worn, but still maintain significance that make it hard to part with them.

Creating a Fashion Collaboration: Introducing my Fair Fit Pattern

As I hinted at last week, I have decided to release my Fair Fit Dress as a sewing pattern and online workshop. The pattern actually goes beyond just a dress, because it is a customizable system of components and pattern pieces that build upon each other to make infinite variations.  If the first dress is well received, then throughout the year I plan on releasing each of the components that allow you to further customize the parts into tops, skirts, and other styles of dresses. In this post, you will get a first look at the project!

Finding New Ways to Appreciate Fashion, through Fair Fashion

In this series, I have explained the name Fair Fit and what it means to me from many different perspectives that have been shaped by my own experience, and where I’m taking my design and education practice to create an opening for students and fashion sewists who do want choice, and more of a voice in how they experience fashion design and the clothes they choose to wear. 

Fair Relationships in Fashion Professions

Have you ever had to create your own job? I once did as part of my professional growth, and in this post I share how my student loan debt taught me about creating income and helped me to find a way to make my own job and pay it off. I’ll share with you the steps I took and questions I asked to pay it off. Read along and learn how I turned this big problem into a path to grow professionally.

Why teaching is so important to create a "Fair Fit."

Last week, I shared with you the story as to how my projects developed in the academic art world in Chicago, and then continued to grow into new areas of presentation when I took the art project I made to the runway in New Orleans. I also shared how the two world conflicted, and how at that time, I didn't know how to resolve it, so I took a leave from creating fashion collections. Today, I want to pick up where I left off, and share with you what happened during this sabbatical, and how the key takeaways came to prosper me, and show me new ways of operating in the profession of fashion design. There are some laws of creation I learned and I hope the lessons inspire and encourage you creatively too!

5 Lessons Learned from Building a Creative Business in 2016

I’ve heard it said, creating your own business is like the biggest exercise in self development you can take on. In this post, I want to share with you some of the key lessons, situational takeaways, and solutions to problems that I learned in 2016 while growing a creative business. Because building a business is a creative act, just like building a shirt, building a wardrobe, building a family, relationship, or friendship. Its an act of making, and I feel like a lot of these lessons are helpful even if you aren’t running a small business yourself. They apply to any creative thinker, project or endeavor. People email me and tell me, “Hey Andrea, you know how to get things done.” Well, trust me, I’m not special or have some secret super power (magic wand). I have strategies. Let’s dig into some of those today :)