the colette sewing handbook blog tour

I am posting as part of the Colette Patterns Handbook blog tour. I had the chance to style the sets for this book last fall. When I work on styling projects for clients, I am responsible for executing their vision. I actually really love this because I enjoy a lot of different styles and it's fun to be immersed in someone else's brand. In this case, the art direction came from Sarai, author and the owner of Colette Patterns. She has a very distinct brand that is a little bit retro without being costumey. She wanted black and white with pops of bright colors, particularly corals and aquas. Before shooting the book, we went over inspiration images, a very long shot list, and a few meetings to go through props in her studio that might work. I spent a couple of weeks sourcing furniture, props and planning the sets.

The main shoot with models took place on one day and the still lives on one more day at Sarai's studio. Lisa, the photographer, encouraged us to create a very simple set for the cover, so that the title would easily pop from the background. For the cover of the book, I used a wallpaper from Sherwinn Williams that I had seen on Jordan's blog. We used some furniture from IKEA mixed in with vintage pieces. The photo in the collage top left is actually a photo of Sarai's grandmother. When I work on these projects, I love mixing in the business owner or author's personal props and photos. We had a list of shots that needed to be in the book and the day shooting with models was pretty intense as we tried to get all the shots in one day. I had a few assistants helping me put together furniture, paste up wallpaper, and put up and take down sets. These shoots are such a collaborative process. It's really fun to be creative with a group of people. A few behind the scenes photos (taken by Sarai and her team):

Something fun: Sarai is having a party for the launch of the book, this Thursday! If you live in Portland, feel free to attend! Details here.

Photos: Lisa Warninger. Styling: Chelsea Fuss. Styling assistants: Rich Wipf, Carlie Armstrong, Samantha Shorey, and Amber Furqueron Cover model: Jade Sheldon. Behind the scenes photos by Colette Patterns.