Society Handmade

Long distance with Libby from iheartcharlie

Name a source/s of inspiration.

I get most of my inspiration from the fabric itself, it tells me what it
might like to be and I also get a lot of ideas from elements of clothing
design. I'm a bit of a flicker when it comes to magazines, I mainly look at
the pictures!, I have my regulars that I purchase and sometimes it can be an
element or one small part of a picture in one of these that sends me on a
journey with a new idea. I'm a bit of a doily fan of late so these are
included in a lot of my designs.

What is your creative process?

Inspiration often hits at awkward moments like when I'm at work, it's
usually inspired by a picture in my head of a fabric I have in
my stash. I always carry a moleskin and/or my iPad. I have an app on my ipad
called penultimate which is kind of like a digital moleskin. It allows me to
quickly document my ideas and as well as notes and drawings the app allows
me to import photos and write notes or draw beside them and even draw over
the top of them. All of my new ideas are recorded either in a moleskin or on
my iPad until I get time to physically play with them. From the ideas stage
I find the fabric and embellishments from my vast collection that works with
the idea and then my time is spent doing laps between the cutting table,
ironing board and sewing machine.

How does knowing your creative process help? 

It doesn't really make a lot of difference to me, I usually design
intuitively I've been creating textile items for over 20 years so any
knowledge of that kind of process really doesn't factor in. It's become
second nature

Do you have any trend forecasts for 2013?

I've never been much of a trend follower I tend to create what comes to mind
and I'm of the belief that whether it's on trend or not someone will love
it. I leave the trend spotting and forecasting to my sister, she's pretty
good at it.

Name five favourite non creative things you do.

- Walking and playing with my kelpie border collie x Charlie
- Drinking really good coffee
- Cooking, this year I spoilt myself with a thermomix but then I guess playing
        with that is creative too! I've been playing a lot with raw recipes and have
        been documenting ones that I invent. Maybe one day there'll be a cook book
        on the horizon!
- Gardening in my vege garden
- Shopping!


And there you have it!

Cheers

Libby