A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my good friend Amy of Mindfully Made Studios. She is a person who works hard on focus and keeping her priorities clear while still trying to nurture her creativity. A visit with Amy always helps me to focus too, and after a long hard winter like we have had here, I am ready for some spring clean up in my cluttered creative mind and business.
The questions I ask myself are "why am I doing this business?" and "what do I hope to accomplish?" Gingercake is a business. And, it helps to support my family and keeps me home with my kids. I want to create fun sewing patterns and stay true to myself and what makes me happy. I am just a one woman show working on her sewing machine and computer in a basement studio. The hardest thing about my job is not getting caught up in comparisons and popularity contests contributed to my required presence on social media. You know, when you see something someone else designed and instead of saying "Wow, that is so cute. Good for her!" you say "Darn! Why didn't I design that?? Maybe I shouldn't even be doing this!".
So it always helps to get back to basics. One thing that makes me happy is sewing with really bright fabrics. I admire all you ladies who can sew a handbag with linen and a dash of neon in the shape of a triangle and look really chic, but that is simply not my style.
My style is PINK and GREEN and TURQUOISE and all the rest of the colors! Knowing your own style and staying true to that style is the foundation of creating successfully, don't you think?
I sewed up this notebook slipcover for myself to help remind me of my own creative voice. It is not for anyone but me (although both of my daughters have now begged me for it and acted shocked when I didn't just hand it over) and I didn't think at all about anyone else liking it as I put together all the colors. Not thinking about likes on facebook and pinterest and instagram felt great!
The cover is made using my scraps and a HST mixture that plays around with small textured fabrics and large textured fabrics. Nothing too fancy but still fun. I also used piping around the edge and a bright solid green at the spine.
I hope to use this journal to focus on my own voice and what seems fun to create for me. I have just finished 2 really big projects (yes- books!) that have gotten my mind all mixed up on where to go with Gingercake Patterns and my sewing. But now I am ready to slow down and find my own creative business voice again.
How do you find focus? Do you ever find yourself sewing in style that is not your own and feeling dissatisfied with the result? How do you deal with the gnawing voice of comparison? Deep, I know! But I would love to hear your perspective too.
