process leading to progress

In keeping with my look at process in creativity I wanted to share a project I have been working on lately.  When I opened the January issue of the J.Crew catalog I was instantly drawn to the colors and styling of both the clothes and the photos.  Within the first few pages I knew I was looking at the inspiration for the direction i was going to take my house this year.  One of the biggest lessons I have learned about process is to allow ideas to come from even the most unlikely locations.  For me, this catalog encompassed all of the things I love; a mix of comfort and luxury, unusual combination of color and fabrics, and the idea of going in a direction I haven't tried before now. 

To achieve the first look, I new I had to use this paprika color as the background since it is such a prominent color in her outfit.  I then used two strips of the pink linen to translate her shirt.  The hot pink silk is to represent the flowers and finally a green/teal floral pattern to hint at that beautiful jade vase.  I decided on the pink/brown animal print for the back as my interpretation of the Persian rug primarily because I already had the fabric and it seemed to achieve the same feeling.

The second look had such a wonderful sense of vibrancy and light.  I knew I wanted a pattern that would convey the same sense of unity that the photo gives me.  I decided on the patchwork ring because it translated the colors evenly and added texture to the living room.  I think you can easily pick out where all of the colors came from.  They are a mix of linen, broadcloth, canvas, and silk dupioni.  The fron is pieced and quilted.  The back is a brown velour herringbone fabric to roughly translate as the floor from the photo.  The edge of the front represents the lovely giraffe pattern blouse the model is wearing- again, another fabric I already owned.

This third look is one that I was extremely excited to work with.  I loved the idea of adding these layers of texture to the pillow.  The ruffles, or pintucks if you will, were done in silk dupioni with accents in pink and jade to represent her belt and necklaces.  Obvioulsy the entire front of the pillow is an interpretation of her sweater.  The chair is used in color on the back of the pillow in a guava broadcloth. 

I have been staring at this catalog for a few weeks now, trying to nail down which photos I liked and why.  I wrote down lists of colors by page.  I looked through pattern books for design ideas.  Then, I would try to match up a page of the magazine with the proper design scheme.  Sketches were made of several pillows. Another big aspect of how I work is to begin cutting the large pieces first.  As I am doing that I am often struck with an idea.  In the case of the third pillow it was to include the small bits of color directly in the pintucks rather than trying to add them in somewhere else on the design.