Originals are the only way

It has officially been 3 months since the regeneration of Tremor Textiles, which also marks 3 months of me really chasing my dream. Whilst I have to admit finding the time and the motivation to write and create after the 9 to 5 has been tough, what has been the hardest is keeping my creativity alive. Although I have set myself the goal of creating some products that I love, I have come to realise that my true passion is creating original, abstract pieces of art, inspired by the ever changing world around me, and the fabric that jumps out at me from my stash.

The realisation first came to me when I began work on my ‘seasons’ pieces. I wanted to create 4 coherent pieces of art, based around the dictionary pages citing each season. To give you an idea of how long my creativity sticks around, I made it through the ‘summer’ and ‘autumn’ pieces before my brain began to feel caged by the page and text that I had to form my creativity around. I quickly moved on, and experimented with creating art around words that I wrote in my thread. I found that I loved the look of the text incorporated into my art, but to base my art solely around a word on a page was too constrained.

With this original-base realisation came its own set of challenges. As many of you will know, my main platform for promoting this little community that I am trying to create is Instagram, a place where small businesses go to make a name for themselves. The majority of the other crafters that I see on my feed make their living from a high value product, such as patterns or repeated products. Those who don’t have such a grand following that they sell their beautiful originals for hundreds of pounds, and in an instant. Neither appeal to me, or are realistic goals in my mind, but I know I can find a way to turn my love for creating originals into products. For example, I only need to create one excellent piece that can then be made into prints. The other, and arguably more important issue is my own confidence. We are 3 months in, and even though many originals lay piled up on my sewing desk, I am still to pluck up the courage to list anything on Etsy. I know I need to just take the leap, and see what happens.

So, after a brief creative hiatus, I am looking to creating originals, stitched from the heart, that hopefully speak to someone out there enough to want to buy them. I find half of my battle is sitting at the machine in the first place, much like a writer with a blank page, and just starting to stitch. I am hoping to push myself to create what feels right, and what flows from a calm and creative mindset, and hopefully stitch pieces from the heart to make something beautiful. I am also looking to create the base artwork for some lovely products such a notebooks and bookmarks. I am so excited for this next part of my journey, and I can’t wait for you to join me for the ride.

So, watch this space. Etsy store, coming soon.