COL0RS

I am first drawn to a fabric by its color.  The colors speak to me as I walk down the racks of fabrics in the fabric stores.  As a child a box of 48 crayons was the perfect gift for me.  I could color my world, I could sit for hours with the box making rainbows that nature never though of.   Having lived through the 60's 70's and 80's as a youthful idealistic woman, colors had something to say to me, and there were the philosophies out there that I avidly clung to.

As a less idealistic woman, I began college late, and in  psychology class I studied the effect that colors have on the moods and attitudes of people and in particularly children, I had six, and was single, and if I could calm them down, then you bet  I would try anything and everything.  I am not sure that it worked, but it I sure learned a lot about the psychology of colors and found most of it to be useful, or at the least entertaining.

Today my tendency is to buy fabric colors because I like them, and because they paint a picture in my mind of the character they will become.  Most of my ideas come from my trips to the fabric department for a spool of thread or a set of sewing machine needles.  No matter how hard I try not to listen, there is always the fabric's voice calling out to me from the racks one is always louder than the others, or maybe two or maybe three.

Exercise One

Sit with a paper and pen, make yourself a list of colors right off the top of your head.  Write beside the name of the color, what it means to you.  For example here are a few of mine.

Red.........passion, heat, flamboyance, celebration, survival

Orange....sensation, playfulness, the orient, boldness

Yellow.....power, importance, radiance, joy

Green......love of nature, the sea, grass, nurturing, kindness

Blue........the abundance of the sky, the depth of the ocean, calm, royalty

Purple.....royalty, wisdom, importance, riches

and the list goes on and on this way, until you have exhausted your immediate list....don't labor over this.  This is supposed to be fun.

Exercise Two

Go into your stash.  Grab the first printed fabric that catches you eye.  Lay it down, quickly look up and take the second piece of fabric that you think will go with it.  Keep on going, and listen for the response inside of you.  Again don't labor over this.  Just play with it and see what you come up with.  You might just be surprised at the combinations you get, and the doll that could emerge from such a simple task.  I often don't have a clue what the doll will be until I do this.  And often, the process continues with my stash of embellishments as well.  My husband  usually thinks I have finally gone over the edge when he ventures into my doll room to see what all the hustle and bustle is about.  Inevitably he asks "  What are you doing in here? "    And sometimes he doesn't know when to leave well enough alone when I say looking for a piece of ribbon, a button, a trim, or a prop that I know I have, and asks " Can't you use something else? "  Then I look up.  I must have THE LOOK down to a fine art.  He just sheepishly leaves the room and mutters to himself....something about crazy.

I guarantee that if you use this process enough, you will find that certain colors, prints, designs and trims just shout out to compliment one another, and set the theme for your doll.

Exercise Three

Use words to build a doll.  For instance think of  the word Sea or Rain or Princess...etc.

Go into your doll room or a fabric store, that is often more fun, and you get to buy more fabric.  Keep that one word in your mind and insist that you will not go off on tangent, (and then see how well you listen to yourself).  This is not an easy exercise in a fabric store.  Soon you will find that the colors, the patterns and the textures that you are drawn to will begin to stand out in the fabrics that you are viewing.  Don't worry about whether other people will see the same word that you see in fabric.  I found a polished cotton once that was decidedly  feathers.  Peacock Feathers to be exact, but I did not see that I saw the scales of a mermaid tail.  I brought it home, and you know even your home is full of well meaning critics if you have children or a husband, was immediately corrected about the design.  I still saw scales, and so did they when I finished the doll, and embellished the eye of the feather with large sequins and the scallops of the feather with smaller sequins and beads.  I gave her blue hair, and used tiny sea shells to cover her bosom.  Her name was Oceania, and she resides now in Austrailia, bought at a bazaar by a lady who wanted a gift to send to a fellow teacher and pen pal.

Ask yourself often what fabric looks like.  Does this piece look like a ......?

What if I used this with this to get this....?  What color would a......be?  What design will convey the message as I see it, not what will other people see if....?  People will see what you want them to see.  Just like the Emperor and his New Clothes.

There are a lot more ways I arrive at my designs.  And you will discover that there are ways you think of , or that you already practice, that work just as well for you.  These exercises may give you another way of seeing.  And believe me, at times, we all need another way of seeing.

This page was last updated on: April 2, 2010