Usually I wear black.  Charcoal, light grey, and white are all good too, but black is my go to "color".  And then there are the days when I venture into neutral color territory, navy blue, camel, off white, cream, ivory, maybe a little more navy blue.  I'm not sure why, these are just my comfort zone colors to wear.  I find it really weird, because when I'm selecting fabrics for interiors I am always drawn to colors, patterns and unusual combinations of both color and pattern.  

When I started to source fabrics to use for my shirts, I really wanted to find a textured fabric which could be custom dyed.  I figured I would go for an interesting color palette, colors I would like to wear, but had a hard time finding.  As the sourcing progressed and ideas were tossed about, I learned about the sublimation dying process and was a little bit hooked.  I could use any repeatable pattern, adjust it to any color combination I wanted and print on demand.  I had found my base fabric, with the tech properties I liked (breathable, wicking, 50% recycled, cooling) and could have any design printed onto it without changing the properties or feel of the fabric.

During this search and learning process, I had selected a few patterns that I would want to wear.  I also loved the pattern that my brand designer came up with as she was designing the Her Riding Habit logo.  I had sent her some inspiration pictures, one happened to be a very cute appaloosa whose back end had a white blanket with spots.  She incorporated the idea of the spots into the branding as a background pattern.  One of the logos she developed had a horse with the blanket and spots.  As we were talking it over, it became clear that it wasn't about the horse (well, isn't it always about horses?!) but more about the woman riding and what she was wearing.  The shirt should be fun and an example of what I was developing for Her Riding Habit.  And that's how the lady in the logo came to wear the spotted shirt!  

I also had the spots developed into a repeatable pattern that I could have printed onto the fabric.  These patterns are not what I had in mind at the beginning of my materials search, but it's so exciting how ideas come about during the creative process.  So... come spring, there will be some spotted shirts in the branded colors for Her Riding Habit!

 ***This is the first time I have ever ventured into the land of youtube, and I did it just to figure out how to get this video snippet on the blog.  Hopefully it will be easier next time, and hopefully the video will be more exciting!  This one was provided by Oddball Workshop, the printers I am working with, and they sent this to me while my fabric was being printed.  Thank you Oddball!