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Saturday 2 August 2014

Creative Process Blog Hop

I was recently tagged in a blog hop by Butterfly Sparkle Designs.  Actually, if we're being honest here, I stuck my hand up in the air and said "Pick Me" but the thing is, this particular blog hop was about the creative process.  I'm not sure what I was thinking because I'm not really a creator or designer.

But it's funny how things play out.  Before I explain that, let me answer the questions.

1. What are you working on right now?
Right now, I have three sweaters on the go. One is going to be a rather fitted pullover style with long sleeves in a wool/silk blend.


The second is a sleeveless top with a not-quite cable pattern growing out of the hem decoration in cotton


and the third is a heavy cardigan in a yarn of unknown fibre content that I bought in Asia.


Of these three, one actually has a pattern (that I'm sorta following). The others are out of my head.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, I've never published anything or even written out a pattern properly so I'm not entirely sure if I'm being totally unique or completely plagiarizing something I saw and liked. Sure I have my own notes on what I did but I'm not sure anyone would be able to make something out of those. For the patterns I'm developing now, they are more about texture and pattern rather than colour and colour blends. I have absolutely no eye for colour, colour matching or colour blending. Consequently I tend to stick to solids or tonal variations on colours.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?
I deviate from and edit the patterns I make because I have a vision in my head of what I want to wear, of how I want to present myself to the world, and how I want the world to perceive me. Most commercial patterns are written to fit a "Ms. Average" who is between 5'6" and 5'8" with a B cup bust.  I'm shorter than that with a larger chest so my body shape isn't being reflected in conventional fashion design. A straight 'adjustment' of many patterns to make them shorter and wider often end up looking very obviously like they've been changed for a short, kinda fat woman and I don't like that. I especially don't like when designers just add more stitches on the side and in doing so break an established pattern to make what I think of as "the fat girl expansion panel".  It's the same issue if you're very slender and fabric is just 'cut out' without any thought given to pattern matching. If I design it from the ground up to fit me and flatter me, it works better.

4. How does my writing/creative process work?
This is another question that I find difficult to answer. I will usually fiddle around with yarn while watching TV and play with a pattern and see how it will work in the yarn I have. Does it cause the fabric to bunch up and become too stiff or is it so loose that the finished item will have no shape to it. I've usually got a pattern in mind while I'm doing this but not always.  This is my 'fiddle piece' for the purple tank.


The point was to see how the pattern would look by itself as it grows from the hem and then to see if I could use the pattern to lead into the neck shaping.  It's gonna work just fine.

As for the patterns themselves, I look around at what other people are wearing, and what's in the shop windows.  The lady ahead of me at Tim Horton's the other day had a fabulous cardigan that was all eyelet and ladders in what I think was cotton.  It was amazing - and very easy to reproduce.

One last way the creative process works is when I'm looking for a design, I'll draw.  I never draw for anything else and curiously, not all that I draw is for knitting.


Now if only I could sew well enough to make what I can think of.

Do you design?  Wanna participate?  Send me your name and I'll put in a link to your site.