Wardrobe Colour Palette & Planning

While I haven't been actually sewing as much lately I have been trying to nail down my wardrobe plans for the next season. That includes the colour palette I want to use. I don't have a lot of love for the trendy colours being predicted for the spring/summer (I don't really like a lot of pale colour) so I've been looking at my previous wardrobe plans and trying to recreate something current. 

I'm using the Design Your Wardrobe process from Seamwork which I used the first time I looked into this topic. I've found that much of what I did then still applies -- the silhouettes and fabrics and colours I identified in my original Bold, Playful Power Suit wardrobe are still appealing to me. But I am going to update it to my current season and desires, and come up with some Spring/Summer plans soon. 

I'm still a fan of jewel tones and black and white as neutrals. I've been trying to narrow things down a bit, and have concluded that cobalt, yellow, hot pink and a slightly subdued green are my key colours. With a deeper magenta and sometimes a red or purple thrown in as occasional additions.

On the weekend I popped out to the fabric store to take advantage of a thread sale, and when I got home I realized I'd unconsciously purchased threads in my colour palette. Quite a few blacks and whites and greys (useful for anything!) but the colours were all these ones. I wasn't even thinking about the plan, only about which fabrics I might be using soon. So I guess this planning is sinking in! 

It made me realize that I'm beginning to narrow my preferences a bit, which makes it easier to keep a wardrobe in which things can be combined. And it also means a stash cleanout should be next, to winnow out the colours and substrates I'm no longer likely to use. But that's a good thing -- and I hope it will make my sewing practice more regular, once I have less to sort through to get to a project. 

Spring 2022 Sewing Plans

I've reset my sewing from Fall plans to my Spring/Summer plans, using the latest round of the Seamwork Design Your Wardrobe process. This time the focus is on Silhouettes. 

I added my Fall planning to the mix and have just slightly updated it for summer sewing. Last Fall I chose the words Bold Playful Power Suit for my sewing theme, using bright jewel tones and geometric prints mixed with classic workwear looks. I'm shifting that in just a small way for the next few months, since I'm still feeling it. For Spring/Summer, I'd like to focus on dresses in bright colours or geometric prints as well -- the silhouettes being ones with clean lines and no fuss. 

My theme is Tailored Comfort & Colour, with a hint of the 80s. I'm still really feeling the lure of 80s colour and print so will be using some of my 80s sewing patterns for parts of my summer wardrobe. Not exactly sure which ones yet, but I have many to choose from! I am especially drawn to straight shift dresses and am hoping to use some of the linens and silk noil in my stash. 

I still have a couple of blazers to finish from my Fall sewing plans, after which I'll be prioritizing some dress patterns (including a couple from my Make Nine 2022 as well!) I think I'll be keeping busy. No problems there. 

Weekend Review: Showing Your Colors

 

Showing Your Colors / Jeanne Allen
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, c1986
128 p/

This simple, small book was fun to look through -- not much reading here but what there was reflected the 80s in which it was written. I found it entertaining! 

The book lays out five 'bands' of colour -- monochrome, vivid & bright, deep, pastel and earthy & natural. Then it goes on to illustrate how these colours coordinate, and the different effects placing two colours together can have. It shows how a green can pop or recede depending on what it's paired with, for example. 

The cover shows the style of the book. Each page is made up of rows of fashion sketches (all so 80s style) and compares differing combos. The text explains some of the effects of the different types of colour families together, but it is mainly looking at images. 

I loved the 80s vibe of this one! I first heard it mentioned by someone on IG and was able to find a library copy to peruse. It might not be completely useful for fashion these days, but the use of colour is fascinating in many different artistic areas, and this could be helpful for illustration or art purposes as well. I saw a few combos that I might not have thought about otherwise and might try out, like golden yellow and deep magenta. But overall this is just a fun, quick browsable book about colour, with lots of fun 80s style sketches to enjoy. 

Weekend Review: A Red Like No Other

 

A Red Like No Other: How Cochineal Colored the World /
ed. by Carmella Padilla & Barbara Anderson
NY: Skira Rizzoli, c2015.
319 p.

Since I'm on the subject of colour this month, I finally brought this book home from the library to read -- I've been meaning to for years! But it's quite large and heavy, a classic art book, so I had put it off again and again ;)

But I'm glad I finally dug in, because it's fascinating, though the content is almost as heavy as the actual physical weight of it. It's a look at Cochineal through the ages, as the sub-subtitle says: an epic story of art, culture, science, and trade. 

It's an exhibition catalogue from an exhibit on the history of cochineal put on by the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. And as such, it is packed full of amazing images from the exhibit, ranging over centuries, from prehistoric to modern uses, and examples of natural dyes used to create red tones revealing why cochineal was so prized for its stable reds and variety of shades it could produce. 

Of course, because it's a set of essays by over 40 scholars, there is no real narrative, just a loose arrangement of themes and timelines that combine to give a vast picture of the reach of cochineal in global history. The exhibit was inspired by the museum director reading a book called "A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and a Quest for the Color of Desire" by Amy Butler Greenfield. And if you're looking for more of an exciting narrative about cochineal, this is probably the one to reach for (I have my eye out for it now).

But this art book is full of fascinating historical information, and has exemplary illustrations -- I learned a lot about things I didn't even know I was interested in! One of the first essays was called "Three Reds: Cochineal, Hematite and Cinnabar in the Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican World" and I found it so intriguing. 

The book is broken up into 7 sections, and each is really a book in its own right. The 7 topics are all centred on cochineal -- the colour and the insect that creates it -- in varied time frames. Starting with Pre-Columbian & Early Contact Americas (since the source of cochineal is Mexico and South America), it moves to Global Trade, then Science, Textiles, European Art, the Colonial Hispanic Americas, and finally brings us to the Modern World. There are 4 - 6 essays in each section and the number of pieces contributed really gives a wide view of the topic. 

This is not a book that you're likely to read cover to cover, or in a weekend. But as a beautiful book to look through, dipping into different essays over a couple of weeks and picking up varied facts and enjoying the illustrations in particular, it's a good one. If it wasn't so expensive I'd say it would be a great coffee table book. As it is, I recommend that if you think this sounds good, you give your local library a go. Much more affordable that way! 

Weekend Review: The Wild Dyer

The Wild Dyer / Abigail Booth

NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019, c2017.

159 p.

After recently reading about indigo farming and then the history of chemical dyes, I turned to this book from my local library to learn a bit about non-toxic plant dyes. 

It's a really good one for beginners; unlike some others I've flipped through in the past, this one is accessible and not at all intimidating. Also, it has gorgeous photographs of plants laid out four to a page with samples of cloth showing the various colours that plant can create, whether on its own or turned a darker brown/grey tone with a mordant (she mentions alum and iron mordants). She does note that some brighter colours can be found in the plant world but that she prefers the more common earthier tones herself. 

Another thing she says is that she likes to work by feel -- there are no precise recipes in the book for specific amounts of this or that, partly due to her process and partly due to the variability of plant matter. Personally I work this way in much of my creative life so this really appealed to me also; it felt like a natural way to approach this and not as terrifying as some more detailed books on the topic! 

The book has good illustrations of supplies and plant matter as well as clear explanations and lists of plants. It's written with an encouraging and low key tone -- the author suggests that an easy route to starting to dye naturally is to use kitchen waste like avocado skins & stones, onion skins or red cabbage. Then if you like it, you can try foraging or growing other plants specifically for dyeing. 

She does suggests working outside when possible, despite the natural sources, to alleviate any fumes (ie: rhubarb leaf gives a nice dye but also gives off toxic fumes -- the leaf is poisonous, so do not ingest) However, the difference between these dye batches and ones made with chemical powders is that these nontoxic dyes can just have their leftovers poured onto the garden when cooled off.

This book also include simple projects that readers can make with all their newly dyed fabrics. They are pretty basic and straightforward projects -- placemats, coasters, bags, apron, pillows -- all simple and using the muted earthy tones she prefers. It's really simple sewing for people who are more into the dyed fabric part than the sewing part. But again, a low threshold for beginners! 

I liked the feel of this book a lot, and it even made me think that dyeing doesn't seem so difficult, that maybe I'll actually try it someday. There is even a bonus recipe at the end for Oak Gall Ink -- made in much the same process as the dye batches in the rest of the book, but with a few additions to create a deep black ink, one that's been used for centuries. A nice addition to the rest of this thoughtful and calming book.  

I haven't really gotten into the dye side of fabric arts but this book might just be the thing that convinces me to give it a go. Really enjoyable and informative read!

Weekend Review: Mauve

 

Mauve / Simon Garfield
London: Faber & Faber, c2000.
224 p.

I first read this book a decade ago, but while reading Fibershed recently, I starting thinking about dyes and natural vs aniline options, local vs. corporate and so on. And that reminded me of this fascinating book all about the origins of aniline dyes, so I picked it up and skimmed through it again. Enjoyable once more! 

It tells the story of William Perkin and his discovery in 1856 of the first successful aniline dye (made from coal tar derivatives) -- the colour 'mauve'. He made this discovery accidentally; what he was really trying to do was to create a synthetic form of quinine to treat the malaria that was still rampant across the British Empire. His willingness to experiment with the actual results lead to mauve.

I always enjoy science history, and this was a good example of a popular science read. But additionally, a large part of Perkin's success was due to the fashion world taking up this colour, leading to competition from French textile makers and fashion designers. I thought that this was an entertaining and thorough book, both times! It focuses on William Perkin, but goes beyond simply his life, his discoveries and his business to show how the new colours (and the new industry) shaped fashion, economies, and even wartime innovations, including explosives.

The writing is clear and relatable, making the life of this young chemist fascinating and the world of academic vs. commercial chemistry actually quite intriguing. Garfield covers the specific science of the dyes, but also the relevance to society as a whole, in so many areas. He also shows how it was both Perkin's actual discovery and his willingness to risk a scientific career on making a commercial success of his colour that changed the way chemistry was perceived, making it a more obvious choice for students who wanted to make money at their work. (Perkin was 18 when he discovered mauve, and his father staked everything to create a factory in which William, his brother Thomas and their father all worked -- and they made a LOT of money.)

Garfield even talks about the environmental effects of this surge in dye-making. He records that the stream outside Perkin's factory would change colour every week, and that a factory in France was convicted of poisoning villagers downstream with arsenic. He follows the industry from the moment that mauve became a fashionable mania (shortly followed by another chemical dye from France called magenta) to our present day experience of taking multiple colours for granted. Influences such as war (the desire to dye uniforms surprised me), or fashion, or hard chemistry all have a place in this story, and keep it from being too narrow or dull.

I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone curious about how such aniline dyes came about, or how our need to colour our world in a multitude of hues has shaped so many areas of our societies. There is one section, in which Garfield is sharing a list of registered colours via the National Bureau of Standards, Washington DC, that sounds like poetry. A gorgeous and evocative list of names and sources of colour!

Well-written, not complicating the story with overly scientific explanations and yet not minimizing the importance of the science, this is a great general read. Lots of great "dinner party tidbits" in this one -- I always love a science book that makes you sound smart in general conversation ;) I know that I am looking at all the colours in my environment a little differently now.

(parts of this review come from my thoughts over at The Indextrious Reader the first time I read this book)