2011 Fall Palette Challenge

I follow an amazing blog that is published by Colette Patterns called The Coletterie. They have issued a "sewing challenge" for their readers to create a fall color palette and use that color inspiration to sew a collection of garments for the season. I haven't done much garment sewing since I was in high school, and I figured if I wanted to get back into it, this would be the perfect opportunity!

I drew most of my inspiration from Sessun's fall/winter collection for 2011. I just love the bold jewel tones they used together. The collection reminds me of the color block trend from this spring/summer, only in fall colors!

Now, the next step will be to select the fabrics and patterns I want to use to make my clothes!

Blood, Sweat and T-shirts

I recently discovered a TV series produced by the BBC called "Blood, Sweat and T-shirts". The premise of the show is kind of like "Survivor", only it involves a group of fashionable Brits who are sent to work in India to see firsthand how the clothes they love so much are made.

The show really touches on a lot of issues created by the culture of consumption that is so prevalent in "developed" nations. How we seek out "deals" and quantity over quality which perpetuates the cycle of cheap clothing imports. Our desires support low wages abroad and are a big reason why garment manufacturing was outsourced to other countries from the start. Anyway, it is a very interesting look at a side of fashion that most of us would never have the chance to see otherwise. While researching the show I found one website that stated some of the factories shown were for Zara, H&M, French Connection and Gap. Whether that is true or not is debatable, but it's food for thought.

If you'd like to watch the show, I have linked to segments of one the episodes that have been uploaded to YouTube below. Consider yourself warned: a couple of the participants are incredibly whiny and downright offensive in some instances. Still, I think "Blood, Sweat and T-shirts" does get it's point across in the end.

1/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5

Fashion on the Ration

This week I stumbled upon a new-to-me blog: Cargo Cult Craft. The author of the blog, Susannah, is involved in a sort of experiment this year that she is calling Fashion on the Ration. She is taking the rationing guidelines that were put on the British people during WWII in 1941, and is living by them herself to see how one would dress themselves only being allowed a certain number of clothing and fabric purchases in a year.

One of her posts entitled "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap" really resonated with me. In it she chronicles the hidden high costs associated with our fascination with cheap, instant fashion. Retailers have managed to sell the idea of "saving money" to consumers all the while providing an inferior product that has to be replaced often. These cheap goods eventually end up costing a consumer more than a higher quality, longer lasting, more expensive alternative.

Susannah makes a compelling arguement, and she has motivated me to think more about how I spend my money on and care for the clothes I wear.