How to take the ideas you just scribbled down and turn them into a pattern to share, sell, or make real items just for you. How do you make a quilt pattern? How to make a patchwork craft pattern? How do you make a plushie or Plus pattern? How do you make a Tutorial from your own Pattern?
Proposing new ideas is not a problem for me. I have a plethora of ideas constantly flowing from my mind onto whatever scratch paper I can get my hands on. I have a dedicated book that handles most of the doodling, but sometimes it’s just what I can get my hands on. The problem is making it happen. Take it from the paper to the real deal and then what?
Let’s start at the beginning with–
SKETCHES AND INSPIRATION
I have some sketchbooks + whatever paper I find… then I copy them into these.
Check out this previous post on how to find inspiration, if you’re working on creating your sketchbooks and ideas. Everything around us is inspiring girls. Children’s books: fantastic images, shapes and drawings, usually in simplified, even perfect form. Magazines, craft books. Look at what’s popular: animals, sewing, etc.
So, first of all, you need to pass the paper flat. They are big girls. It’s intimidating. But if it’s in our sketchbook, it’s ours. Until we actually share it with someone else, it’s private, like a diary. It is our personal zone. Don’t share it unless you are really open to others’ ideas and criticism. I share with the children, hehehe. They have great simple thoughts about how they like things to look and often give me ideas that I had never thought of. They are FULL of great ideas. Sometimes you need to adjust them, but that’s fine.
I do sketches during reading time, sometimes computer time, I am guilty of thinking of new things during church. I can’t tell you how many of my patterns are from this era. hehehe It’s quiet, I can hear my own thoughts. shh don’t say. If I don’t have time to draw it, I quickly add some notes on ideas and then when I have time I can start drawing. Drawing is fun.
Not everything will work, but more than likely it will draw you to something else that will. Keep something near your bed or reading areas. You never know when a thought will hit you. I often find that even watching TV I see something that I would love to enlarge…so I grab it and take notes. If there isn’t one, I get out of bed and write it on the whiteboard in the kitchen. One night the idea occurred to me. I got out of bed like 5 times. How painful!!! But it worked.
Bringing your ideas to life
So you have this big book of ideas, sketches, papers hanging everywhere… now it’s time to bring it to life. Sit down and begin to look with an open mind at your drawings and ideas. What is it that most attracts you? What makes your little heart jump when you see it? If you’re not interested or excited, it’s not finished! Don’t take the time to work on something that just isn’t ‘doing for you’. Save it for later, when you get the interest.
For a while I made dolls, then I jumped to animals, then I jumped to quilts… don’t be surprised at the variety of sketches and ideas you can come up with.
When you’re reviewing ideas and drawings, keep track of those pages, stick them with sticky tabs, bookmark them…etc. Then remove them to one or two ends:
Warning: **NEVER cross things out in your idea book. NEVER think an idea is too small or not good enough. ** You never know when these ideas will become real or useful or the best thing you’ve ever come up with!
*Take those one or two ideas you’ve drawn and start making some additional notes. You need to narrow down all your ideas to have a clear vision of what your final product will look like, in your mind. This will keep you on track when you need to make some decisions later. Check this notes page often to remind yourself of your vision during build time.
To help you with these decisions ask yourself a few questions:
how wide? Get some quick measurements. What size do you imagine? Large? Is it something that needs adjustment?
Does it have to be kid friendly? Are there small parts?
What are your ideas for decorations? Headband? Ric Rac? He felt? Buttons? Pompons? Thread?
What kind of supplies are needed? elastic? woolen texture? polyfill? buttons? snaps? velcro?
What kind of materials are you envisioning using? Cotton, wool, recycled sweaters, felt, fuzzy animal prints, silk?
What is the purpose? Do you need any reinforcement? Double it seems? Lined? stabilizer material? weight bearing?
Are there templates that are needed? or just measurements?
After filling out another page with all the additional information, you are ready to begin the process of getting the correct size and making your templates and perfecting the measurements.
If you decide something won’t work, write it down on this paper. Keep it all together and somewhat organized. It will make the later steps much easier and less frustrating too. Lately I’ve learned that keeping things in their own file is very helpful! When I need to do something, I can pull out that folder and everything is there. You’d be surprised how many times I have to go to the computer and print out a new pattern myself!