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By Paige Smith, November 13, 2011 12:00 pm

(Bring Your Old Fabric or
Old Favorites)

Perhaps you are a person who collects ill-fitting garments that you never get around to altering or you have a closet full of “I’m sure I will wear it agains”. Maybe you are a designer looking to join the “green” brigade but not quite sure how. Or possibly you just want to know exactly what sustainable is and how you go about starting the journey.

Come join us for the SMARTER workshop where fun meets facts. This workshop will show you just what to do with that sweater you don’t want to get rid of but will never wear, or show you what you can make from that scrap of fabric that you just can’t bear to throw out all the while learning what makes sustainable design sustainable.

On Sunday, December 11, 2011
from 12 – 3pm learn how to fashionably reduce waste with the SMARTER* Clothing Project team; Bridgett Artise, Iliana Quander and Trudy Miller. Bring your choice of Old Fabric or Old Favorites for the first of many BYO Workshops —  come with something old and leave with something new!

Materials needed: Old fabric or Old Favorites (sweaters, hand me downs, vintage finds, can’t throw outs, etc)

Location: FIT’s Seminar Room 9 (SR9)

Fee: $20 CLICK TO REGISTER

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By Arnetta Kenney, May 29, 2011 8:32 am

KNIT INSPIRATIONS

Design inspirations for knits can be found everywhere. A beautiful flower, architecture, motifs on woven fabrics, carpet designs and more. The possibilities are endless at this stage of the design process. Find you theme, then the fun begins.

The yarn selections today are numerous from cottons, to silks, to bamboo.The color choices of yarns are more than adequate to accommodate your design ideas. If you have already purchased your yarn for your project, wrap lengths of the  yarns around cardboard and take them along  with you on your inspiration journey. You will not need to duplicate the colors exactly, and you will find a lot of colors that will compliment your yarn colors.  Deciding on your color story is as close as your nearest Botanical Gardens where you can take lots of pictures , and a visit to the paint store for color chips that may also compliment the colors of yarn in your yarn choice. Don’t forget  the fabric store. Many  woven fabrics and trims posses just the right color combination’s within the fabric. Cut a small square of your fabric, to place alongside of your photos, yarns, color chips, trims to get the full effect of the color, pattern and texture you may decide to use.

Perhaps you will use a stripe combination or a fair-isle (jacquard) design, lace, or a knit and purl textural stitch combination, if you have not already thought about where you will place all of your wonderful  collected inspiration elements or how you will lay it out in  your project. Now is the time to decide what will best suit your colors, etc.  A sweater, shawl, scarf, or perhaps a beautiful throw for your bed or sofa. The decision on project type should be compatible with the type of stitch pattern, color pattern, lace pattern  that you choose to enable you to produce a desirable overall knit fabric.

Development is a necessary part of designing and every novice or seasoned knitter should spend time making several or many swatches to see how the colors, patterns and stitches will look  together before beginning the project. With color, yarn, style, and stitch decisions made.

LET THE KNITTING BEGIN !

Arnetta Kenney teaches SXW 200: Knitting for Pleasure and SXW 201: Knitting for Novices.