Finding Design Inspiration; from concept to product

One of my favourite parts of the creation process is research. I love being inspired, curating images and resources, developing a story and curating this into mood boards. Spending time developing a design concept and gathering strong images to back up your work helps you to create better, more thoughtful garments with a clear, rich design story tying your collection together.

Working on a design story, even for smaller sewing projects can be fun and rewarding. The staring point could be anything; a piece of fabric, a pattern you have seen or a trend you want to recreate. Taking some time to expand on this idea before you dive in is not only enjoyable, but will give you better results.

Here is an example of a quick mood board story. This idea started with a swatch of velvet snake print fabric and grew from there. I have made a few of the ideas from this story and am still working on some others as I am slightly obsessed with this fabric!

Future Projects

I have just been on a sourcing trip; this is always something that sparks ideas for me and I have the start of two new design stories. Watch this space!

Do you make mood boards for your sewing projects? Where do you get your inspiration from?