My colour story / Moja priča o boji

I like colour. I love colour. Not sure which is more true. I do love it, but when I really look at my wardrobe maybe that is not really the right choice of words. I do like them and I have some colourful garments in there, but it does not really seam to be a wardrobe from a person that loves colour. But it does look like a wardrobe from little old me and it is getting brighter with time.

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Sviđa mi se boja. Volim boju. Nisam sigurna koja rečenica je točnija. Volim boju, ali kada pogledam u svoj ormar možda to nije najprikladniji odabir riječi. Sviđaju mi se boje i imam neke šarene komade u ormaru, ali to baš i nije garderoba osobe koja voli boje. Ali izgleda kao moja garderoba i s vremenom postaje sve šarenija.

In my teenage years I used to hide behind black, grey and brown. Beige was my „happy“ colour as it was brighter than my other clothes, but over time it was just one of the uninteresting shades in my anything-but-colourful wardrobe. I liked colours on others, but never felt I could pull it off, or to be really honest, felt comfortable or confident enough to wear them. Now I see how silly that is and how expressing through clothes can be fun and make you feel great, but tell that to teenage shy me and you will get a sarcastic laugh at best.

But now I am older, smarter and care way less about what others think and whether I will be noticeable on the street. And sewing has a lot to do with that. When I first started sewing I made only dresses and occasional tops. I am not really a big dress wearer, but that is how it usually starts. It is in parts the easiest garment to sew and most fun to make. This had nothing to do with my style, as I did not wear dresses everyday and although they did get worn on occasions or over the weekends they mostly sat in my wardrobe. With time (and mostly after joining the awesome Instagram sewing community) I started exploring with sewing other garments and by now I made coats, trousers, shirts, cardigans, t-shirts, skirts and of course, more dresses. I diversified in my garment making which gave me more opportunity to diversify in colour. This was a new way to introduce colour into my everyday garments because trousers and t-shirts/shirts are what I wear daily. Colour was there in traces in the beginning, but now I feel I can pull off a bright colour in any of these garments. Not because I think it suits me all of a sudden, but I no longer have that block in my head thinking I should keep away from it.

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U tinejdžerskim godinama sam se uglavnom skrivala iza crne, sive i smeđe. Bež je bila moja „vesela“ boja jer je bila svjetlija od drugih, ali s vremenom je i to postala jedna od dosadnijih nijansi u mojem sve samo ne šarenom ormaru. Boje su mi se sviđale na drugima, ali nisam mislila da meni pristaju ili da budem potpuno iskrena, nisam se osijećala ugodno u njima kao upadljivijim bojama. Sad znam koliko je to blesavo i koliko izražavanje kroz boje može biti zabavno i utjecati na pozitivno raspoloženje. Ali reći to tinejdžerskoj meni i u najboljem slučaju dobili bi sarkastičan osmjeh kao odgovor.

Sada sam starija, pametnija i puno manje brinem o tuđem mišljenju i hoću li biti primjetna na ulici. I šivanje ima velike veze sa tim. Kada sam počela šivati izrađivala sam samo haljine i povremeno neku majicu. Inače nisam baš tip za svakodnevno nošenje haljina, ali tako se uglavnom počinje. Dijelom je to najjednostavniji i najzabavniji komad za sašiti. To nije odražavalo moj stil, pošto nisam baš tip za svakodnevne haljine i iako sam ih nosila za prigode ili vikende uglavnom su visile u ormaru. S vremenom (i dobrim dijelom nakon otkrivanja odlične zajednice na Instagramu) sam počela širiti spektar šivanja i napravila kapute, hlače, košulje, veste, majice, šoseve i naravno, još haljina. Proširila sam raspon odjevnih predmeta koje sam šivala što mi je dalo više prilike za uvođenje boja u garderobu, pošto hlače i majice/košulje nosim svakodnevno. U početku su to bili tragovi boja, ali sada su to komadi u bilo kojoj boji duge. Ne zato što mislim da mi sada odjednom pristaju, već zato što više nemam tu glupu ideju u glavi da ih ne nosim.

And now I want all of them. Rainbow of fabrics. Red, yellow, orange, blue, green. I want them all. Recently, as some of you may know, I made a new coat in a beautiful rust colour. Before I had a rtw black coat (which I still love and wear occasionally) and a beige coat I made last winter. I would say this new rust coat is a step up in the colour game. I love this colour at the moment and can not get enough of it. I already have culottes and one turtleneck in that colour and another twill fabric waiting to be made into trousers. This is probably a faze I am going through, but what I love about it is that I embraced it this time around and I’m taking advantage of it. And by having a coat in that colour I do it daily. It really makes me happy and I really believe it is partly because of the colour, although the fact it was made by my own hands is another big reason for it.

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I sad ih želim sve. Duga svih boja. Crvena, žuta, narančasta, plava, zelena. Želim ih sve. Nedavno sam, kao što neki od vas možda već znaju, sašila divan narančasti (hrđavi) kaput. Prije toga sam imala kupovni crni kaput (koji i dalje volim i ponekad nosim) i bež kaput koji sam napravila prošle zime. Rekla bi da je novi tamno narančasti kaput definitivno stepenicu iznad toga u igri bojama. Trenutno jako volim ovu boju i ne mogu je se zasititi. Već imam jedne hlače i dolčevitu u toj boji i još jednu keper tkaninu koja čeka da postane hlače. To je vjerojatno faza kroz koju prolazim, ali volim da sam ju u potpunosti prihvatila i iskoristila. A pošto imam kaput u toj boji iskorištavam ju svakodnevno. Baš me uveseljava i vjerujem da je to dobrim dijelom zbog boje, iako naravno činjenica da sam kaput izradila svojim vlastitim rukama ima veliki utjecaj u tome.

I still have black and grey pieces in my wardrobe and I wear them regularly. But I have the option to go on the colour route if I feel like it and that feels sort of liberating. Might sound silly, heck, might sound stupid to some, but it makes me feel great and that is all I care about.  So here I am putting my rust wool coat on and heading out for another day of colouring the dull grey winter.

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Još uvijek imam crne i sive komade u garderobi i redovno ih nosim. Ali ako poželim imam opciju otići na obojenu stranu i to je nekako oslobađajuće. Možda zvuči smiješno, možda nekome i bedasto, ali mene uveseljava i to je sve što me zanima. I eto me tu, s narančastim kaputom preko ramena, spremna da izađem van obojiti još jedan dosadan sivi zimski dan.

Do you have a favourite colour? Does colour affect you and your mood? I find this interesting and there are articles and books written on that subject – the sociology and meaning of colour. It is funny how what colours represent changed throughout history as well. This subject is way bigger than this single post, but if you are interested in it I encourage you to explore it.

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Imate vi najdražu boju? Utječe li boja na vas i vaše raspoloženje? Meni je to jako zanimljivo i o tome su već napisani brojni članci i knjige – sociologija i značenje boja. Zanimljivo je i kao se značenje boja mijenjalo kroz povijest. Ta tema je puno veća od ovog posta, ali ako vas ta tema interesira savjetujem da ju istražite.

 

I  pulled some fabrics out from my stash to use them for upcoming spring and summer makes that fit into a rainbow. Have a virtual stroll through the rainbow with me.

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Izvukla sam neke tkanine s polica koje ću iskoristiti za nadolazeće planove šivanja za proljeće i ljeto. Dođite u virtualnu šetnju samnom kroz tu dugu.

 

Thank you for reading!

Hvala na čitanju!

Ana