This week my main focus has been designing and perfecting my own pattern for an A6 notebook cover.
I did say I wasn’t going to sew any new items until I’d uploaded everything else to Etsy, sometimes you need to step back and do something different so one task doesn’t become boring and monotonous. Plus, although it is something that I think many will like, I think it would be an ideal End of School Year Teacher gift, so will need to get them listed soon.
A lot of fabrics I have in my stash are Fat Quarters (FQ’s); they are often sold in bundles of 5 or 6 different fabrics from the same line, each piece measuring around 18×20 inches.
Due to the size, and layout of some prints, I can’t quite get one notebook from a single FQ, so decided to cut the lining from different colours.
When it comes to colours, I’m pretty hopeless at choosing what goes well together, this is both when I’m sewing and making my stickers (did you know I also have a sticker store though it needs a bit of TLC)
There are tools on the internet that can help, the one that I use is Coolors (affiliate link). It was recommended to me a few years ago, but I only recently started using it to its full potential.
It’s great for creating your own palette, or if you don’t know where to start, then you can view palettes others have created. You can also upload a photo and it can create a palette from the colours included. If you then want to use the same colours in a design you are creating, it gives you the codes for RGB/HEX/CYMK etc.
There are lots of other tools to play around with too and it’s free, you don’t even have to create an account if you don’t want to, though if you do there are extra benefits like saving up to 10 palettes each with a max. of 5 colours.
You do have the option to upgrade to a Pro account, which works out at just under £30 a year, you can see the difference between the free and the paid plan here.
There are so many uses for these sorts of tools, not just for work, but for home too. For example, if you are looking to redecorate your house and you’re not sure if the colour scheme you have in mind will work, you can play around with different colours even before you go to the DIY store and pick up paint colour cards and tester pots.
Looking at colours others are using and seeing what’s trending is also handy, and a great reminder, especially when you are someone like me who makes items to sell. I may not particularly like a colour combination, but I’m not making the items for me, I’m making them for a variety of people, many of whom, I am sure, will have completely different tastes than I do.
Penguin and the Bee 