I’m back from South by Southwest! Austin is a pretty cool city, full of neon signs, tons of music clubs, very weird weather, and dirt-cheap thrift stores. I came home with much more than I left with, thanks to my beautiful and super-hospitable cousin Danielle, who really showed me around. I will definitely be back to Austin, though perhaps at a less crazy time of year.

The conference was pretty good too, with some super inspiring panels that really got me thinking and itching to create. The panel on High Tech Craft was somewhat interesting, though I would have been much more interested in hearing about how crafters are connecting and innovating online than about crafting with high-tech components. Or why there is this crossover between tech and craft/making. Perhaps that means I need to do my own panel next time.

Check out this rainbow of vintage dresses, all $5 or less! I picked up a handmade bright emerald green silk number from this rack.

{the rest of my photos of Austin on Flickr}

It’s been about five months since I first signed up for the Wardrobe Refashion challenge. As someone who loves clothes and takes great pleasure in finding the right clothes, I thought this would be really challenging for me. I honestly wasn’t sure if I could commit to four months, but hey, aggressive goals are a good thing.

It’s now five months later and I am not ready to call it quits. Changing my behavioral patterns has altered my perspective on clothing and the way I dress to a degree that I certainly had not anticipated, and I am even more deeply interested in fashion and dressing than before.

First, it’s given me the motivation to spend much more time sewing and creating. That itself is a great thing, and always welcome in my life.

It’s given me a new set of criteria with which to judge potential additions to my closet. When I see something pretty, instead of just asking myself, “Do I like this enough to spend X dollars on it?”, I have to think, “Do I love this enough to invest the time and energy to make it?”

With that has come a better understanding of my own tastes. There are a whole lot of beautiful clothes in the world. When you can’t actually buy any of them, you have to ask yourself, “What is it I love about this? What are the design elements I am drawn to? How can I incorporate those elements into the things that I make?”

I also feel a deeper connection to the clothing I wear. I recently listened to an interview with
Amy Karol in which she was talking about the way people just feel different and move differently in clothing they’ve made, and that couldn’t be more true for me. Each piece I’ve made feels so special, and I don’t get bored with it the way I do purchased clothing. Maybe that’s because I’ve thought harder about it and have more of an understanding of what attracted me to it enough to make it in the first place.

From all of this, I find myself being much happier with the way I dress and express myself through clothing. I no longer feel guilty or discouraged by the “filler” in my wardrobe, because there is no filler. Everything feels chosen with care. I actually feel satisfied going through my closet and getting dressed in the morning.

This experience has inspired me to such an extent that I am in the planning phase of a big project I’m hoping to launch this coming year, to build on this feeling, spend more of my time on creative work, and hopefully inspire other people.

Oh, and I’ve also signed up for another 4 month challenge!

I just finished reading Craft, Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business, and I must recommend it to anyone who is even vaguely considering a craft-related business.

This book is a short and sweet guide to everything it takes to strike out on your own. It’s full of practical, straightforward advice on everything from writing a business plan, to wholesaling, to hiring employees. It really struck me how comprehensive this book was, while remaining concise and to the point. You can read through the whole thing in a day or two, then keep it on your shelf as a reference as you plan out each stage of your business.

One of the things I enjoyed most about Craft, Inc, aside from the beautiful layout, was the series of interviews with successful crafters. I’d read interviews with some of these folks before, but having them all presented together like this really showed the huge range in approaches to small business ownership. It drove home that there is no one way to run a business, and your goals don’t necessarily have to be the same goals as someone else. Like other creative pursuits, it’s all about what you get out of it in the end.

Some related reads:

Interview with author Meg Mateo Ilasco on Whip Up
Victoria E interviews the Meg Mateo Ilasco.

I was at a party the other night and started telling a few people about Wardrobe Refashion. One of them asked me if it had been hard so far. It’s been a month now since I signed up for the 4-month pledge, and I have to say, it’s been much much easier than I expected!

I told him that one of the most interesting things about the experience so far is that, while I haven’t stopped looking at pretty things, I’ve almost entirely stopped coveting them. Before, I would look at a fantastic dress and wonder, can I afford it? Can I justify it? Will I regret not getting it? Have I spent any money recently on clothes? These days, I find myself looking at it and thinking, What is it I love about this dress? What are the design elements? How can I use those elements to make something I’ll love even more?

I feel such a shift in perspective, and a surprisingly strong jolt of creativity. I really think this will continue to affect my purchasing habits long after my pledge is done.

Speaking of inspiration, sketches, and learning from the best… that last post brought to mind one of my favorite sources of fashion inspiration, The Mode in Costume by R Wilcox.

I suppose this book is of most use to historical costumers, but as someone who draws a lot of inspiration from the past when it comes to clothes, this book is a real treasure. It is full of hundreds of simple, clearly drawn illustrations of every fashion period from 3000 BC up until the 1950s.

What I love best about it is seeing the evolution of fashion, from one look to the next. You can just flip through it and watch the lines change from stiff to sleek to poufy. I also love all the careful notations on fabric, color, and trim. Each illustration is so simple, but so rich in detail.

I would like to dress like one of these 1920s pirate ladies. Perhaps when I am an old eccentric.

Yesterday, we somehow ended up at Neiman Marcus. I was looking for a foundation garment to go under the wedding dress, since it’s quite slinky. I was hoping to find something simple and slip-like, but after scouring Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s and even a brief poke around at the magical but unaffordableAgent Provacateur, I realized that these things come in two flavors: frothy little silk numbers that provide no support, or grandma girdles that only come in L and XL.

So anyway, that’s how I ended up at Neiman Marcus (where I did find something not-too-bad, by Spanx, for the curious). Now, there’s not much within my means at Neiman Marcus, other than makeup and apparently, the occasional girdle. And I’m perfectly fine with that, because I have no desire to spend $1200 on a dress, ever.

But oh! The clothes. I got to examine gorgeous Temperley dresses, check out the cut on a Chanel jacket, and pick up on details from a Galliano coat. It was so delightful and inspiring, and since it’s a department store, it was much less intimidating than walking into a designer boutique.

I had so many ideas from looking at these clothes, and realized that I really wished I’d had a little notebook with me to sketch or jot down all the little interesting couture details. So the next stop was to get a new Moleskine.

And before bed, I jotted down a few ideas I’d had on my sketchpad.

Lately, I’ve been trying to foster my creativity by making sure that I get ideas out of my head. Even if they’re a little crazy and I don’t see them going anywhere right now, you never know where an idea will lead. I’ve been sketching more, keeping lists, and writing things down. The amazing thing is, the more I synthesize everything I see and recognize these creative opportunities, the more inspiration I get from the world around me.

I can’t wait to fill up my new notebook.

(Neiman Marcus ceiling photo by Akkarael on Flickr)