The creative assignment: within arm’s reach is due today. Most people–including me!–completely forgot, because Thanksgiving. But I do better with time constraints, so having absolutely no time left to dream about “maybe I’ll do this, or maybe I’ll do that,” I whipped up this little pattern. 

It’s time for another creative assignment! Are you ready? No? That’s okay neither am I, but that is the point of these creative assignments.

It might seem counterintuitive, but the easiest way access your boundless creativity is to limit yourself. When I was in middle school, I was part of the academic triathlon team (nerd alert!). My favorite event was called Party in a Box (this is a sample and wow! it’s kind of amazing) . We were given a problem to solve and a box of random prop/craft things.  We had to write and star in a play that solved the problem–and do it all in 30 minutes. We had a time limit, a limited theme, and a limited amount of supplies. The creative rush was absolutely exhilarating! and the plays were not half bad either.

A few weeks ago, with kid’s clothes week looming, I did not want to sew.  I really did not want to sew any clothes for my kids, though they did in fact need them (and still do!). Begrudingly I got out my sketchbook to figure out something to sew. The theme of KCW was storybook, so I got some of my favorites off the shelf.

One of which is by a friend of ours, Ida Pearle. Her book, A Child’s Day (affiliate link) is full of gorgeous cut paper collages depicting children acting, dancing, hiding, jumping, and playing their way through every letter of the alphabet. The clothes Ida created for the children in the book are stunning. Both the styles and the prints translate easily into handmade clothes–and they have! Mary Frances from this is marzipan made many outfits for her boys all based on pages from this book.

Halloween is not my jam. I think I’ve said this before . Somehow it’s made worse because I sew. I could just go to the thrift store and let them pick out whatever they want, but then a cloud of guilt follows me around until November. So I ask them what they want to be, and after all the “I want to be this! No I want to be that!” I put off the costume making. I know I am not alone on this.

This KCW has been all about making gifts for babies. I thought it would be super quick and I could crank em out. Not so. As I’ve gotten better at sewing, I’ve gotten slower. Seems counterintuitive, I know. Yes, I can sew faster, but now when I make things I want to make them better not faster. That means slowing down and ironing a hem before I sew it–pinning it even! [just as an aside: I listened to a podcast where the interviewee, Soyna Phillip, said the same thing. It’s a good one, go listen! ]