ColourRIOT Guest Post: Your Wardobe Colour Palette

For this ColourRIOT post, I get to welcome my very dear sister to my blog! Gillian has been a huge inspiration to me in my thinking about colour, ever since we were little – not that I ever really had the same tastes as her, but her love of vibrant colour has consistently pushed me beyond my own comfort zone of neutrals. She inspires me with her hand-sewn wardrobe – she’s only been sewing garments for a year or so, but she keeps challenging herself with new fabrics and new garment types (she’s just now starting to sew pants for herself). She’s very generous with her sewing, too, and my own wardrobe is expanding with custom-made garments, thanks to her!

Gillian is also a core part of a growing group of Sewcialists: “A sewcialist is a person who enjoys sewing and uses social media to engage with others who also enjoy sewing. Sewcialists are an online community. We sew, we love to talk about sewing on social media, we are sewcialists.” I love watching her engagement in that vibrant and expanding community!

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All my life, I’ve loved rainbows. The more colours, the merrier! Nowadays I blog at Crafting-A-Rainbow.tumblr.com. where I’m busy sewing my own wardrobe. I started sewing garments a year ago, and now I wear something handmade almost every day.

Like anyone with a crafty hobby, the profusion of choices can be a bit overwhelming some times: What should I make? How much should I buy? Do I shop and make with a plan, or splurge when I see something I love? That’s where is comes in handy to know your own personal wardrobe colour palette! 

What is your colour palette? No, it’s not that winter/fall/summer/summer Bridget Jones business… It’s the colours that you love, look good in, and want to wear! Once you really know ‘your’ colours, then you know what colours are worth stashing and what coloured projects you should work on next!

Here’s my own:

It’s modified version of a spring/summer colour palette challenge organised by Colette Patterns. I can safely say that I really do wear these colours almost every day. The inspiration photo is a length of vintage kimono fabric that hangs in our bedroom. I just *love* the colours. They make my heart sing!

Of course, the real fun is going from colour palette to real wardrobe! Here are some of the things I’ve made this year:

Having a colour palette is helpful in a lots of ways.

• Figure out which shades are flattering. I realised that navy or grey is more flattering on me than black, and I fell in love with coral red and dark blue. 
• Decide what to stash. When I see jersey or a cute print in any of these colours, I  know it’s worth buying! If it doesn’t fit my palette, then I usually walk away!
• Strategically fill in wardrobe gaps. If I see great coloured jeans or Value Village cardigans in one of “my” colours, I know they are worth buying.
• Easy to get dressed. When most things fit my colour scheme, it’s easy to mix and match!
• Also: You can ignore it any time you want! (Bring on the NEON!)

Now, knitting is a little different than sewing… but I think the same benefits hold true. If you know “your” colours, you’d know which colour was worth stashing… or what basic coloured garments to shop for that will really set off your handknits! You could plan knits that fill in colour-gaps in your wardrobe, or help you shift out of your comfort zone.

Wanna see? Let’s give it a try with our own dear Annie Bee!

Voila! I dug through Anne’s Pinterest boards, and found that she very consistently pinned this colour scheme. (My apologies for not citing the knitting patterns – I’m sure you can recognise many of them!) She looks great in these warm, saturated tones. I made sure to include some neutrals as well. Making the palette was really easy – I just dragged and dropped pictures into a word processing file, and used the colour picker to find the right tones.

I think many of us have a slight gap between what we DO wear, and what we WISH we wore. This is the chance to step back, find that gap, and fill it! I can think of lots of gorgeous handknits Anne has made in these colours… so what comes next?  Looking at her inspiration pics, maybe future projects should be a chunky red cardigan or some fun stripes?!

Of course, handknits are a part of all your wardrobes – but not the only part! It’s also useful to pay attention to how handknits are styled in the photographs you love. In Anne’s inspiration pictures,  I’m seeing lots of tweeds, denims, cream lace, and stripes. As a sewist, those are things I can make! My own wardrobe is full to bursting, so now I’m excited to contribute to Anne’s!

Wardrobe basics can be a little boring, yes… but it’s the beautiful knitwear that is supposed to shine! Now that I know her colours, I’m excited to make some more colourful things!

What do you think? Have you ever strategically planned your wardrobe, or figured out “your” colours? I’d love to hear how the process plays out for knitters!