Don't mix and match!

 

I was never keen on having "outfits" – blouses that perfectly matched skirts or trousers were not my thing. To me, it seemed like cheating to purchase a complete set – way too easy! Much more challenging to find a skirt you really liked and then hunt for a blouse that worked. However, right from a very early age, I was taught never to mix one pattern with another and to be very careful about color choice: avoid a clash at all costs! Admiring looks from passers-by was fine – whereas their direct staring with an expression "what was she thinking?!" was to absolutely be avoided.

These are important lessons that stay with you for a lifetime 😉 And I could see that I was passing on those lessons to my WickiDoodles, victims without a choice. I realized that I tend to stay within a certain palette and be overly discreet when putting patterns together. 

Some time ago, a friend gave  (me the red floral fabric, together with scraps of material she had purchased in South Africa to make a skirt for herself.  I had never dreamed that I would end up putting the two together. That combination never occurred to me. Until one day, it just seemed so obvious. So perfect.

When I sent my friend this photo, she admitted that it was not a combination that would have occurred to her either. She is from the same school of "don't mix patterns" and found the combination "daring". She also informed me that her mother had made her a dress from the red floral pattern when she was a teenager (some decades ago), and she has kept the remnants ever since – definitely surpasses me!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wilma and Wimmer

Image
  Close friends invited us to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary – obviously, a BIG occasion. They emphasized in the invitation that they didn't want any gifts. After all, most of us in that age group are trying to get rid of stuff. However, it felt strange to arrive empty-handed. Which is why some of the guests brought "a little something": an invitation for a night out at a special restaurant, an outing over the Sound, lingerie. Other guests also figured out alternative ways to show their appreciation for all the years of friendship. We had nothing – as per the instructions we received... After the event it hit me – they are a colorful couple, of course they would be happy to receive a pair of colorful WickiDoodles. Not really a gift, just a gesture. Plus, WickiDoodles don't take up much room. A bed, a book shelf, a chair – WickiDoodles are not fussy about where they are situated, as long as they can perch.  The bride had worn a pink dress at her town hall w...
Read more

A treasure chest

Image
  Just some of my newly acquired treasures... So, like I said earlier, I had little faith in my ability to do any type of handicraft. After my first few attempts at "dolls", I got up the courage to send photos to my sister-in-law, who is extremely creative and has been artistically active all her life. She sent a very positive response, which gave me the courage to continue. Even called my creations fabric art! Emboldened, I made a few more and a few more and continued to receive encouragement – clearly, just what I needed! One day, a postperson arrived at our door with a package from the States, a very unusual occurrence these days. Not Christmas, no birthdays. What could it be? I impatiently removed the packing tape and opened the box to find all sorts of weird and wonderful items inside that my sister-in-law had been saving and thought would be fun for me to use in my project. Fantastic!!! A true treasure chest: vintage buttons, metal buttons, "ordinary" buttons ...
Read more

Not enough yellow in my life

Image
  I once had a really really bright yellow blouse - sun yellow. I wore it with a really really bright red jacket. That was back in the 80s – I don't do that anymore 😉 For one thing, yellow is not and was probably never "my color". I tend (or rather tended) towards greens, blues, fuchsia, purples - now browns and grays 😊  Colors have a whole vocabulary that I am not versant in. I realized recently, though, that yellow of any shade was absent from the collection of fabric I built up over the years. So when I spied a summer outfit in yellow and pink (to use the generic terms!) at a local flea market, I just had to purchase it as a potential WickiDoodle. What was really great was hearing about the outfit's owner: the five-year-old daughter of someone we knew who had volunteered to be responsible for a booth - all proceeds were going to the community school. He and his wife took it as an opportunity for their three children to shed some of the stuff they had accumulated...
Read more