One of the things I’ve noticed in myself and others is the haphazard way we go about buying or making clothes. We buy something because we like it or we make something that looks interesting. And then we wonder why nothing in our closets work together!
While I was working on my custom clothing certificate, I learned about creating color palettes for a “collection” (design speak for a mini wardrobe). The main idea is that these palettes help set a mood for the collection and ensure that the garments work with instead of against each other.
As I look through my fabric stash, I have a lot of blues in various hues, blacks in various densities, and lots of whites from cream to pure white. It is just a mishmash of fabrics that I bought (usually on impulse) because I liked them.
During our last Only Own Beautiful Clothes in 2012 virtual retreat (click here for February’s retreat and here for March’s retreat–the links will take you to my other blog), Brandi found a great color palette resource online.
Design Seeds posts several palettes every day. Each palette is inspired by a photo or something in nature. There are literally hundreds of palettes from which to choose.
Since I love blues (and they love me), I toyed with several palettes for my “Ladies Who Lunch” wardrobe collection.
Peacock:
Source: design-seeds.com via Julie-Ann on Pinterest
Glittered Blues:
Source: design-seeds.com via Julie-Ann on Pinterest
After discussing the options with The Mister, I decided to go with the Thistled Blues palette for spring/summer:
Source: design-seeds.com via Julie-Ann on Pinterest
One of the things I like about the Design Seeds website is that it allows you to explore its collection in a variety of ways–by season, by theme, color value, etc. Oh. And it’s free. Pantone, the professional color palette service, costs A LOT of money for their color cards/access to their web features. If I become a professional designer, I’ll sign on to Pantone. In the meantime, Design Seeds will work just fine.
From now on, I intend to take my color palettes with me when I go to the fabric store. Some people may view limiting my choices to a few colors as restricting. Not me. I find it liberating. It makes my decision making soooo much easier!
Have you worked with color palettes with your sewing?
I have loved Design Seeds since I first saw it on Pinterest. The combinations and photographs are so beautiful and inspiring. But good luck trying to find the colors you love. Either I am not shopping in the right places or my budget is more limiting than I thought. I absolutely agree that shopping with your colors and styles makes shopping an easier experience. But having something very specific in mind is often an exercise in frustration for me. The Thistled Blues is my pick too so I’m going to make a real effort in the next few weeks and let’s see what we find!
Unfortunately, color palettes go in and out of style. There are forecasters who tell the designers what the color trends will be. So it may be that you and I are out of style right now, with our color palette choice.
So, our next option is to see what the color trends are and then choose a palette using a dominant in style color.
It wouldn’t be the first time my color choice is out of style–Royal blues look the best on me but for 4-5 years I couldn’t find a THING in that color! I wore a lot of black…
Oh… that’s why my closet doesn’t work
So do you suggest that all your clothes fit into the same palette, or is it more reasonable to have several mini-wardrobe collections? Thanks for the post!
Rachel Wesson recently posted..Holsters for Springfield XD Subcompact Now Being Sold Nationwide by Ready Holster
I think it is more reasonable to have several mini collections (and, that way, you don’t get bored, either). You get bonus points if an item to can work with several collections