i can never, ever keep still. always doing, dabbling with this, that. ***
for starters, i decorated the front and back cover of my sketchbook/croquisbook:
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i'm taking a sweater design class at downtown yarns, a local yarn shop. i kind of know what i'm doing in that arena, but my knitting and crochet design legs are still wobbly, so i figured i'd take a class. it gives me something to do in this limbo period i find myself in of late. i like taking classes. if i could, i'd be a perpetual student. okay, maybe not... :)
anyhow...here's my preliminary sketch:
the sweater i've designed, which i've nicknamed "the age of acid empires" sweater (due to it's acid-green color and shape), is the one on the far left in this sketch (with the front and back views). it's a tent-shaped, empire-waist affair, with a lace panel down center front. it's also got a loose low neck and small, short sleeves which shall also be a little on the loose side. i'm thinking floaty and comfortable. something worn over a brightly colored cotton camisole, whose printed fabric can peep out of the yarn-over lace holes in front and back.
i made some swatches, one with the leaf motif lace pattern i plan to put up the center front of the sweater:
i had originally intended for the sweater to be white. unfortunately, the white was sold out when i went back to get more, so i ended up with a quite lovely acid-green. the yarn is blue sky yarn's 100% cotton worsted.
i'm a little more than halfway through the back of the sweater. i had to make some increases on the back as i was approaching the armholes, and the class instructor suggested doing them in a different manner (with one increase in from the edge, and others 14 stitches in), but i thought paired yarn-over increases looked more interesting and achieved the same end, while sort of echoing all the lace and yarn-overs that i intend to have in the front of the sweater.
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and lastly:
i've decided to test my mettle as a newly-minted "designer" and have given myself the task of making a small capsule collection based on my own measurements, using almost all recycled (read: vintage, thrifted fabrics) from my own collection. in the end, each piece will be something that i can actually wear, and will be representative of what my design sense is all about. which is, in a nutshell, "cute". :P above are some of the fabrics i am intending to use.