How to Be Creative

As someone who loves artistic things, I often find myself wondering how to be creative.

Sure, I come up with ideas for what to sew and what to write. But .. sometimes I get a creative block.

I know I’m not the only one- I’m constantly seeing people on Instagram complaining about losing their “sew-jo”.

But here’s the thing: generally speaking, the more creativity you use, the more you have. It’s something we all have an infinite supply of.

So.. how do we get ourselves into creative blocks??

Most likely, a lack of self care! Read below to see what I mean (if you are pretty sure you aren’t stressed and just want to skip to the other tips- scroll down to part 2).

How to Be Creative: Reduce Creative Blocks

A creative block can be caused by a lot of things but I think they all boil down to stress.

And I can hear some of you saying– well there’s not a lot I can do about it if I’m stressed!

But, I disagree. If you’re stressed, you are probably busy and are probably neglecting things you love. Ironically, one of those things could be sewing! And then you wind up feeling like you just can’t get back into again.

But, if sewing seems too daunting because you’re just that unmotivated, even simple things like reading the latest vogue magazine or going out for coffee with a friend can make a big difference.

Another way stress can ruin your creativity is when you’re not alleviating that stress effectively. While doing things you love certainly will help, you also need time to do nothing- guilt free. (meaning- accept that while you do nothing, nothing will get done. No thinking “I should be washing the dishes”. Or “I should be FILL IN THE BLANK”).

Socializing may not exactly help in this case because, while it is important to foster relationships which does help with our well-being, it can also add to your stress. In my personal life, I’m often the one people go to when they want to vent or to talk about everything that’s negative in their lives. While I don’t mind being a sounding board.. this does little to reduce my stress.

(P.S I made this turtle neck sweater using the Stretch book by Tilly and the Buttons and the fabric is from BlackBird Fabrics.)

So, I recommend that you also make time for you (alone). This will give your brain a break (if done properly). This can be done by going for a walk or meditating or doing anything you love doing along that also requires little to no thinking (when I say do nothing- I do NOT mean scrolling on social media!!)

And for those extroverts who insist they don’t need alone time ever– I challenge you to give it a try!

Tips on How to Be Creative

Now that you’re on your way to reducing stress, read below to see my tips on how to be creative or how to increase your creativity.

Commit to Being Creative

What I mean by this is, schedule time in to engage in creative activities. If you love sewing, schedule in a specific time that you will sew each week and stick to it. Even if you only cut out your pattern pieces this week. Next week, you will be able to start sewing!

Improve Your Expertise

It can be hard to think of what to sew if you’re not entirely sure what you can sew. Once you improve your craft, it becomes so much more fun!

The more skills you develop, the more freedom you have to create whatever you can think up!

And we live in a world with google! Meaning, it’s so easy for us to learn anything we want. But you could also buy more sewing books or take some courses.

You could even just sew things that require a skill you want to improve (I recommend finding patterns with sew alongs for this). I’ve sewn a lot of things I won’t actually wear just to challenge myself.So, now I feel a lot more comfortable sewing what I will wear because I’m less afraid of messing it up.

(P.S if you’d like to improve on sewing knits- check out my tips for sewing with knits).

Take Risks

Speaking about being afraid- being creative comes with a fact that you will have to accept: sometimes you will mess up.

There’s no avoiding it. You can’t separate mistakes from creativity- it’s part of the process. So, might as well take risks. Sew something you think is too hard. Make something you feel a little unsure about.

If it turns out, great! If not, you learned something!

Appreciate Your Progress

Every win deserves your recognition- regardless of how small it may seem.

Every once in a while, remember to look back at how much you’ve learned and accomplished. Even if you only sewed one t-shirt and it was a train wreck- at lease you did it! And you now know more about what not to do!

Try to Be Positive

This is probably a very hard one for some people. Being overly negative and hard on yourself will not help creativity.

Self-criticism has been proven to hinder creativity. Imagine you seen someone else trying to paint (for example) and their teacher was scolding them the entire time- telling them how dumb and useless they are. Do you think that would improve the painting? Probably not.

So, it’s the same when we are the ones scolding ourselves!

Look for Inspiration

If you’re low on ideas, stop trying to think of an idea. Instead, take a look at what others are doing. Check out some sewing blogs, sewing IG pages, or ask friends what they’re working on.

OR even take a look at fashion magazines and blogs. This can give your a lot of ideas about skills and techniques you want to learn!

I hope these tips help and happy sewing!