Colour
How do you approach shopping for
knitting yarn or dressmaking fabrics? Planning which colours to
look for, to enhance clothes that you already have, is the best
thing to do. If you have visited a colour, style and image
consultant you will not only know which colours suit you but you
will know how to wear these colours. People who visit me for a
colour consultation often tell me that they have got in a rut
with their clothes and often when shopping or making things for
themselves they often go for similar colours. After a
consultation they feel they really do know how to use a greater
colour range more confidently.
Body shape
Being a knitter and spinner
myself I am a fairly frequent visitor to shows and exhibitions
and see many people wearing items they have made. An important
aspect of how good the item looks when worn is whether it
flatters body shape. All too frequently it seems that attention,
and many hours of labour, is concentrated on the item without
sufficient consideration to whether it suits the body lines of
the wearer. If you make a lot of items for yourself, do consider
the advice an image consultant can give you. Think of all those
items that you have lovingly made that you can't wear! This need
not happen again, once you know how to dress your body shape.
Style personality
You may use shop displays as a
source of inspiration for knitting or sewing items. You may be
tempted to rush home and make your own versions. However, do you
know which styles really suit you in terms of style personality?
You might know that you prefer smart clothes but what does this
mean to you and your colouring and body shape. An image
consultant can work with you in some depth to tease out your
style personality which will help you to develop the look that
you want to achieve. Without this knowledge you may end up with
a range of items in your 'made by me' wardrobe that don't work.
Proportions
Knowing one's body proportions
and how to dress to make the most of these is often one of the
most important aspects of a consultation for some of my clients.
Even changing the sleeve length can make such a difference to
the overall appearance of an item when worn. If you knit and sew
to standard patterns then knowing about your proportions of
could make such a difference to how the garments you make work
for you.
Scale
Whilst shopping, for example
for material to make a dress , skirt or top it is important to
consider your scale as this has a large influence on how the
garment looks on you, rather than on the model on the front of
the paper pattern envelope. Large scale patterns on fabrics can
be misleading and not look large at all in a store. However,
once you have assembled the item and eagerly tried it on you may
be very disappointed. Scale as a topic for you and your image
consultant is more than whether your size is grande or petite,
we will discuss with you the scale of your features for example
face, hands, feet and ankles and how this affects details in
clothes. Once you have experienced this you are likely to find
this more useful than you ever imagined.
Fabrics
Understanding the best fabrics
for your body is important for anyone who makes clothes for
themselves, be it by sewing, knitting, crochet or felt making.
You will need to know where you have curves, straight bits, bits
to hide and bits to draw attention to. Once you know about
fabric and your body, then you are much more likely to be able
to find (or make) fabric that will flatter the body. Your task
as a clothes maker is to make that decision when you are
planning the item and possibly when making the fabric itself.
Once you know about fabrics and your body then you will be able
to make a sample of sufficient size to see how the fabric
'hangs'.
Texture
If you knit, crochet or make
felt then do be aware of how different parts of your body react
to fine and thicker texture. For example a really beautifully
constructed thick aran jumper, that has taken hours of making
can swamp the wrong body shape and may end up in the drawer
unworn, whereas using the same pattern in a finer, thinner fibre
could have resulted in a much worn and appreciated item.
Making your own clothes can be
wonderful, we all know how pleasurable it is to receive
compliments about how good we look, when we have laboured over
an item for hours. Conversely we know how frustrating it is when
no one mentions what we are wearing and this just confirms what
we already know - that it doesn't work on us. By visiting an
image consultant you can know so much about personal aspects of
colour, style and image. This will enable you to be confident
that what you make will really suit you - no more time needs to
be wasted on things that don't work.
