Part 1 - Fashion School

One way to get a very good working knowledge of the industry is to attend a college that offers courses in fashion design. Here are a few that I know to have a pretty good reputation from my personal experience:

Fashion Institute of Technology
Parsons School of Design
Moore College
Philadelphia University (College of Textiles)
Rhode Island School of Design
Drexel University
The Art Institute

Working in New York, I mainly come across graduates from the above schools since they are all on the east coast. I don't know too much about mid-west and west coast schools.

When selecting a good fashion program you should consider:

teacher experience in the industry - most colleges require 5 + years of experience
4 year program or 2?
internship program
career center
placement rate
program size
class size
are different specializations offered? (knitwear, children's wear, tailoring, lingerie, etc)
culture - is the school in the middle of a city (tons of museums and stores) or in the middle of no where (nothing but a local mall around for miles!)

Many fashion programs are becoming more and more competitive, so having a good portfolio and SAT scores are usually required for most colleges. Depending on the school, the portfolio requirements will be different. Some require a more general portfolio (still life, figure drawing) and others require a strict fashion design portfolio (croquis, flats, inspiration boards). When building a portfolio - don't rush! This should be a collection of your best work from over a period of time.

Going to school full time isn't the only option, night classes and special seminars are also offered at some colleges. Want to learn how to use a knitting machine? FIT offers a weekend course that meet 2 or 3 times. Want to learn Illustrator for fashion? Take a night course 1 night a week for a couple of weeks.

In Part II, I'll discuss in more detail my experience at FIT - some courses I took and the type of assignments I was given. What was useful, what wasn't. How it helped me to prepare for the industry and what I wish they would have told us but didn't.

Little Fashion Series Coming Soon

Sorry for the boring, pictureless posts - but again only secret knitting and 7 more inches of boring jersey DB sweater knitting going on here!

I'm excited that some of you are interested in my experience as a designer in the industry and I'm sorry that I haven't quite gotten around to writing anything about it yet. I figured out that it takes a bit more research to write about something informational than just rambling about my current knitting project!

I hope to have something up before the end of the week. I'm going to start off with a short little bit how to get into the industry - and not all the signs point to going to fashion school. Then I'll move into the in's and out's of my experiences so far. After that maybe we'll talk a little bit of trend and color for Fall 06. If that seems a bit ahead, take into consideration that I'm working on Spring 07 already!

A short little knitting news tidbit - my two broken 5" Brittney DP have been replaced! Now I can finish my other chameleon sock - well, if I had time! I also bought some 2's and 3's this weekend. I just love these needles!

Secret Knitting

Haven't updated too frequently due to the secret knitting project for Magknits. I would have updated with the 7" of jersey I've completed on the DB Raglan, but I didn't want to bore everyone to death! Even after this batch of secret knitting is finished, there might be a whole new batch soon. I'm working on something with someone and that's all I can say for the moment! It's very exciting and I wish I could spill the beans, but you'll all find out soon enough!

Considering that I may not be getting too much personal knitting done in the near future, I've been trying to think of other things I can talk about. Here's a couple of suggestions that some of you may be interested in:

How to become a designer in the fashion industry
How the fashion industry works (real life - not project runway somewhat real life!)
Current trends/color direction for the season

I'm always asked a lot of questions about what really goes on and how you get here, so maybe you guys would be interested too? Drop me a line, let me know what you think! I would also love to do a little series on designing for handknits, but I just don't have the time right now to devote to something like that. Maybe in the future when things slow down a bit!

Knitty is up!

The new knitty is up - strange that I never got my usual email update. But I saw this and I thought it was funny. Sometimes the naming muse is just in the air!

Not too much knitting progress to report. I'm really kicking butt on the secret Magknits project, but can't show off quite yet! I'm really enjoying working on this project and I hope others will too!

Went down to Soho this weekend for a shopping excursion and finally got to visit purl patchwork. What an inspiring store! The fabrics and colors are absolutely beautiful and so inspiring. After leaving the store, DB and I couldn't help but feel happy! I did make one purchase for my sewiknit-along bag project. I decided on Amy Butler's Weekender Bag pattern. It will come in handy for all the weekend train trips to Philly. My black jansport backpack (from high school - graduated in 98') will be sad on being retired, but the new bag will be so much more fun (and updated)! I'm still deciding on what fabrics to use and I'll probably end up ordering something online. That said, I don't think my bag will be finished for the deadline - april 30th. I don't want to rush this project like the skirt and I have so much going on this month already!

It's Been a Strange Week

It's been such a strange week! I don't know if it's the time change, the snow, or the planets doing something funky - maybe even all three? Whatever it is, I hope it stops soon! Here's a small recap of what's been going down in the knitting universe.

Socks:


Here is a picture of my finished sock carelessly thrown on top of my junk. Why haven't I started a second sock? Well, I was a silly girl and thought I could carry around size 1 needles in my messenger bag for 3 days and not end up with broken needles. When I got to LIC SnB Tuesday night I surveyed the damage - 2 needles broken. So no sister for this sock until I replace the needles.

DB's sweater (formally known as the fiance sweater):

I'm tired of calling him "my fiance" so now he will be referred to as "DB" :) This sorry piece of knitting is what is left after I ripped out 10" of stockinette and went down a pattern size. Now it is the correct size and I can knit on in all it's boring jersey glory.

Magknits!


I've had another pattern selected for Magknits! This is my second pattern to be accepted and will be in either the June or July issue. I've been in math land for a few days and cast on (for the fourth time) tonight. It needs to be completed by May 15th, so I better get moving! This pushed back plans for another pattern, but they'll all get done eventually!

And finally for PS April I've decided to revisit an abandoned sweater from 2 years ago:


It's a wrap sweater from Phildar. My row gauge didn't quite match the pattern, but I apparently threw caution to the wind and ended up with a front that was much longer than the back. Not to mention I started to run out of yarn. So I will be frogging, re-drafting the pattern and re-knitting for April. Doubt I'll finish, but at least it has been pulled out to see the light of day once more!

Thank You! Plus a Sock

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments on grannie smith. Also a big thank you to all who have purchased the pattern so far. This has been such an exciting and uplifting experience, as I've been having a tough time with my job for the past few months or so. As a few of you already know, I am a sweater designer for a junior line at a mass market company. I've been so fed up with the whole system of copy, copy, copy some more! It's an ugly sad truth about the business and almost everyone does it. I'm rarely able to be creative (the customers always want knock-offs and the customer is always right?!) and when I am able to design my own sweaters, I'm rarely appreciated. Being able to publish my own designs is a way for me to keep the creative juices flowing and keep me sane! So thanks again for the support and I hope to continue to publish more patterns in the very near future.

And now socks!

I started a simple pair of socks last Saturday night and made pretty good progress this week considering how busy I was.



I'm knitting them on size 1's with Opal in the chameleon colorway. I've heard this is a special limited edition colorway and apparently some proceeds goes to some type of wildlife foundation (as loosely translated by my fiance). I like how the yarn is knitting up, but I wish the stripes were a little smaller. I can't help it that my feet are so darn small! I'm using the basic guidelines from Simple Socks and doing a short row heel and toe. I'm hoping these fit me a little better than my last two pairs! Custom socks are the way to go!

Update on the Fiance Sweater:

I've decided to rip back and start over. I only had knit about 10", so it's not too bad. Since it's measuring 23 1/2" across and it should be 21", I'm afraid that if I continue in this manner, I'll run out of yarn. In fact, I know I will. Better to rip now than cry later.

And one final note - in my comments seal wondered if anyone was up for a KAL for grannie smith? If so, let me know and I'll set everything up. Thanks!

It's Ready!

Finally! My green mohair sweater is ready for action! And it has a new, more creative name! Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing the Grannie Smith Cardigan.



Grannie Smith Cardigan by Melissa Wehrle

Difficulty:
Advanced

Finished Measurements:
Chest: 32 [34, 36, 38, 40, 44, 48]"
Length: 19 [19, 19.5, 19.5, 20, 20.5, 21]"

Materials:
Rowan Kidsilk Haze [70% super kid mohair/30% silk; 229 yds/210, per 25g ball]; color: Jelly 597; 4 [4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6] balls
1 pair US size 4 (3.50mm) straight needles, or size needed to obtain gauge
1 pair US size 3 (3.25mm) straight needles
1 US size 3 (3.25mm) double-pointed needle
Waist yarn
Stitch holder
Five 5/8" buttons

Gauge:
25 sts and 32 rows = 4" (10cm) in lace diamond pattern stitch using larger needles

Busy Bee

I've been pretty busy lately and when I'm not busy, I'm too tired to keep my eyes open. Hasn't been too much knitting going on, but I did manage to finish the turtleneck shrug on Sunday.



Turtleneck Shrug by Teva Durham (from Scarfstyle)
5 balls Queensland Collection: Kathmandu DK - 85 Merino Wool/10 Silk/5 Cashmere (Color: 422)
Size 7 needles

Surprisingly, I finished this much quicker than expected. I started this a little before the Knitting Olympics, so I guess it took about a month to do. The 3x3 ribbing got a bit boring after awhile, but overall it was pretty painless. It fits very nicely and I love it!

I love this yarn too! I wanted something a little different, something that I wouldn't use on a whole sweater. It's very soft and warm (and moderately priced at $6.95 a ball). I bought this yarn in upstate NY and I had never seen it sold around NYC, but I'm sure it would be easy enough to find on the internet. Or I could take a 4 hour field trip north!



And this boring wad of stockinette could only mean one thing, I have started my fiance's sweater. (Notice the tape measure very close at hand to measure progress) So far, so good - 10 inches in - well, except for the fact that my gauge changed from my swatch. So what should be a 21" back panel is now a 23" back panel. Before I rip it out, or proceed knitting more, I'm going to measure a few of his sweaters and see if the extra 4" is going to be a problem. It's only supposed to have 4" of ease, but as of now it has 8". Good news is if I rip it out and change to a smaller needle size, the size 7 needles will be free to use for Rogue! Oh the temptation is just way too much!

I've also been busy trying to wrap up the pattern for the green mohair sweater. I took some pictures this weekend, so it's just down to tying up some loose ends. Hopefully I'll have it up in another week or so.

Sew? I Knit!

Since the deadline for making the skirt for Sew? I knit! sew-along is on Monday, I figured I had better get cracking!



So I saved the sewing machine from its exile in the closet, laid out my fabric, and cut away (and made a mess). I used a free wrap skirt pattern from fitzpatterns.com (Dana). I'm not going to complain too much about it cause it was free and all, but if I would have submitted this for one of my patternmaking classes, I would have not gotten a good grade. Luckily, I had some previous experience behind me and I was able to make out OK in the end. If I had been a beginner, it would have been almost down right impossible to get something that looked well enough to wear out of the house.

And here is the finished product (I apologize for the dark picture):




(I ended up using a nice olive twill with a slight grey pinstripe)

It took me about 4 hours and a lot of cursing, but it's done! I love deadlines, that is the only way I get up off my butt and do stuff. I don't even know if I should tell you the silly mistakes I made. I'm a bit embarrassed by them actually! I haven't sewn in about 6 years, but I still think it is no excuse! First, I had forgotten to cut out both front panels, after all it's a wrap skirt, it needs two fronts. This would not have been a problem if I didn't sew both side seams together with one front panel! Doh!

So I ripped that out, cut out the second panel after looking at directions (which could have helped before I had sewn both side seams together) and fixed it up. Next came the waist band. Hmm, it was about 36" too short!

Now that wasn't my fault, and luckily nothing had to be ripped out this time. So I cut another 2 lengths of waistband out - problem solved.

Then came the hem, final step - I'm seeing the finish line - and I'm tired and cranky. I'm almost done, done, done..............noooooooooooooooooooo! The bobbin thread runs out 10" before the finish line. The hem looked like crap anyway, so I ripped it out and checked the bobbin. There was still a little bit of thread left, so I left it in and continued on the hem again. And guess what, it wasn't enough! I ran out again - damn my laziness! So I re-wound the bobbin and started where I left off, since it was an underpanel anyway, no one would ever notice.

And it was done. It was done and I like it, but it could use some good washing. The twill is a bit stiffer than I would like.

Now I remember why I stopped sewing. Nothing every goes smoothly, something that should take you 2 hours takes 4, and I get very cranky and start sewing things on wrong. I do like using the machine, but it's really only 1/4 of the project. Most of your time is spent cutting, pinning and ironing (did I mention I burnt myself with steam 3 times?)

I'm not sure what the next project will be, but whatever it is, I'm not waiting til the last minute to do it!

Quick Update

Just a quick little update on two projects:

#1: The turtle neck shrug is almost finished! I joined both sleeves together last night (finally!) and have about 2" of the 8" for the neck done. I can't wait to finish this project. The 3x3 rib is killing me! The funniest thing is, I am rushing to get this done because I need the needles for the "boyfriend sweater" which is going to be even more boring (plain stockinette). Or maybe I'm just rushing so I can cast on for Rogue, which also uses the same size needles. Stay tuned to see if I do the right thing or if I'm just a selfish brat! Or maybe I won't have to do the right thing because his sweater will magically need to use a different size needle............

#2: The pattern for the green sweater is almost done! It's taken me a bit longer than I thought! I had to recalculate some figures the other night, but it's looking pretty good now. Just a few more finishing touches, a photoshoot, and some more proof reading and she'll be up for your knitting pleasure.

Project Spectrum - March

So March is the start of Project Spectrum and I have had a tough time getting started. Tonight I ended up on Zeneedle, and she tagged all P.S. participants with a meme. The deal is to go around your home and find things that are red and pink - the colors for March. I didn't think I would come up with much, but I was surprised when I found more than 2 things:


I didn't know I had that many red shoes!

I'm not really much of a red/pink girl, and this could be the reason I'm having a hard time getting going. I better get used to it though, according to the Paris runways, red is going to be THE COLOR next fall!

Yarn Goodies

Last Tuesday I got the call - my yarn was in. Not just any yarn, but the yarn for my fiance's sweater. I'm a little apprehensive about doing a "boyfriend sweater", but he's not a boyfriend, so it's OK right? right? His take on the matter is to not finish it until we are married in November - which is fine. With all that stockinette, I don't think it will be finished by then anyway!


The color is a beautiful Loden green, but my camera wasn't taking the best pictures tonight. I needed 16 of these little suckers!

And of course I couldn't walk out of the store without buying something for myself:



This lovely light heather grey wool is going to be turned into the Rogue Hoodie. I have been dying to knit this sweater ever since I saw it about 1 1/2 years ago. I had actually picked up some yarn for this from Kpixie about 3 weeks ago, but when it came in, it was a bit too scratchy and the color was too yellow (it was supposed to be ivory). I was going to just return it and get the heather grey color instead, but I figure if I spend so much time knitting something, I want to be able to wear the sweater without scratching my skin off my body!

Oh! And what is this! How did that get in there!?



The color is very very very off! It's a very pretty dark blue, dark teal, purple combo. This is my very first purchase of Koigu PPPM and I'm very excited. These are slated to become Pomatomus from Knitty.

And I couldn't stop there. On the way home, I hit Barnes and Nobel and picked up Knitting Tips and Trade Secrets. It has some pretty good tips on just about everything under the knitting sun. I had seen a few of them before, but even if I get one new thing out of it, buying the book was worth it (but there are many!). I just saw on Amazon that they are putting out a new expanded version in October too.

And here's another crappy picture:



The Turtle neck shrug is coming along and is a lot less boring than I thought it would be. The first sleeve is about 2" away from completion - yay!

Last but not least, progress on the green sweater pattern is coming along well. I haven't done this much math since high school! I still think it is so amazing to use equations from Trig and Calculus to figure out a knitting pattern! I keep having flashbacks of students saying, "what are we ever going to use this for!" Well, writing knitting patterns of course! Someday I want to write an email to my math teachers and tell them what I have been applying my knowledge to in the real world. I think they'd get a kick out of it.

What's Going On?

There seems to be a decline in blog posts lately all around the blog-o-sphere. Could it be a little bit of Knitting Olympic overload?

I haven't been doing too much since the Olympics. I've made a bit more progress on the turtleneck shrug. I've also been slowly weaving in all the ends on my fairisle sweater. I hope to have that done in a week or two.


Fairisle bits

So it's now March and that means project spectrum and the Sew I knit along are both in full swing. Actually the sew along started on Feb 15th or 25th and the finished skirt is supposed to be done by March 15th. I think I better get sewing!

I picked a pretty simple wrap skirt pattern from fitz. Fitz has some really cool patterns and some of them are free. You just need to download them and print them out. Luckily, I have a really great printer at work that prints up to 13" x 19" so it made it a bit easier. I still haven't decided if I want to use some corduroy, which I'll have to buy, or use some fabric I printed up during college. It was a project for my screen printing class and I've been waiting for the right design to come along so I can sew it up. I think I just see it as a cute sundress instead of a wrap skirt. I'm not real big on colorful bottoms. I usually stick with denim or black - so creative!





I'm sure a lot of you out there in blog land have heard about knitting podcasts, but in case you haven't, you should really take a listen. So far I've listened to some episodes of Cast On, KnitCast, Craft Sanity, and Knitting News. I listen to most of them at work when I'm plugging away at boring specs. They are also great to listen to while knitting of course. You don't even need an ipod to listen, you can listen right on your computer, usually without even downloading a file.

And finally, I have began to write a pattern for the green mohair sweater from a couple of posts back. A few of you had shown some interest, so I figured I might as well write it up and get it out there. I actually have a few secret projects I will be writing up soon, so I need as much pattern math practice I can get! I hope to have it posted in the next week or two.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who left nice comments about First Aid and who cheered me on through the whole 16 days. You guys rock!

Victory is Mine!

Whew! Finished with about 30 minutes to spare! I cut it a bit closer than I wanted, but it's finished! I've got the gold!



First Aid by Kim Hargraves: Rowan 32
Rowan Polar: 60 wool/30 alpaca/10 acrylic - color 645
7 balls
Size 11 needles
Started Feb. 10th 2pm - Finished Feb 26th 10:33pm

This was a pretty fun sweater to knit. The cable pattern was conquered after looming over me for 3 years! I don't know why the pattern had given me such a problem before. I guess sometimes somethings takes awhile to click. Finishing is a bit tough when your racing against the clock, but I'm glad there was a deadline. Sewing on snaps is just not one of my favorite things to do. If there wasn't a deadline, the sweater probably would have sat in an unfinished heap for a month.

The fit is a lot better than I expected. This was another reason why I always hesitated on knitting this sweater. I was afraid that it would make me look like the pillsbury dough boy. Chunky knits are hard for just about anyone to wear, but it's a lot less bulky than I thought.

So at the closing of these Olympic games, I leave you now with a victory shot........

One Year Ago Today

It's hard to believe that it's my one year blogaversary already! Where does the time go? I've really enjoyed sharing my knitting and exciting news with all of you. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and have given me so much motivation. I've met so many wonderful bloggers over the past year also, I thank you for your kind words, and I hope to meet more of you over the next year!

And now on to Knitting Olympics progress:

Day 14



I managed to get within 2 rows of where I was before I had to rip the sleeve down to the cuff. I tried so hard to finish the sleeve last night, but I just couldn't stay awake! At least I was lucky enough to have my new stove scheduled for delivery today. I didn't have to have everything blocked and ready to travel to Jersey for the weekend.

Day 15



Sleeves are done and blocking. Yay!



I finished knitting the neck between waiting for the stove to arrive and doing the laundry. This is a double turnback neck, so I'll have to sew the inside jersey part down also.

So all that is left for tomorrow is seaming and sewing on the snaps. The finish is in site! I just wish I wasn't so tired! All this knitting has really taken it out of me.

Aerials

Last night, I was watching the women's aerials competition. The women fly down a steep slope, up a huge ramp, and do backflips in the air, and then have to land it perfectly.

Some of those women didn't land so perfectly and went tumbling down the slope like rag dolls. Luckily nothing was hurt but their pride. They got up, brushed themselves off and smiled.

I had one of those moments tonight.



My second sleeve was almost finished. I had about 30 rows to go. Then when I sat down to knit when I got home, I noticed something odd. Hmm, those extra needles in my bag look rather large. Well, they looked rather large because I had forgotten to change to my size 11's after my rib cuff!

I was wondering why this sleeve looked so tight and the rib was looking a bit nicer. Well, knitting on smaller needles will have that affect on ribbing.

So I thought about leaving it as is, but I was concerned about the fit. I stretched it out a bit, and it seemed to be the same size. But then I noticed that my row gauge was off and my sleeves would actually be two different lengths. I could have adjusted the rows, but then there would have been more cable repeats on one sleeves.

So I did what any Olympic athlete would have to do. I got up, brushed myself off and just smiled.

Day 11

Progress for Day 11:



Yay! First sleeve is finished. I wish I wasn't too tired to cast on number two tonight. It will just have to wait til tomorrow. Hopefully I get a seat on the subway in the morning!

Day 7 - 10

And here's a quick recap of Days 6 through 10:


Day 7


Day 8


Day 9


Day 10

I didn't exactly get to knit as much as I would have liked over the holiday, but I can't complain. Getting down to the wire, only 6 days left! The first sleeve is almost ready for the cap shaping. Then I have the second sleeve and neck to finish. I need to make sure I finish all the pieces by Thursday so I can block before I go home to Jersey. I also need to check if I have the correct size snaps for the front opening. Alright, recap over, back to knitting!

But before I go, I was so ready to see the USA women's hockey team play for the gold! But unfortunately they were beat by Sweden friday and took the bronze against Finland tonight. A face-off against Canada would have been so great! Maybe they'll have better luck in 2010.

Day 6

Here's my progress for day 6:



This will be the last progress shot until Monday night when I get back to the city. Hooray for long weekends! I hope to have the right front and most of sleeve one done by monday. We'll see.

And I also wanted to share this photo that I found this weekend.



This is my Aunt's bridal shower in August of 1984. Hmm, it seems that Stitch & Bitch now has some photographic proof that it was not created by that chic from SFSE. I still need to find out if my aunt still has the yard stick lying around. I'd love to see if the manufacturer trademarked or copyrighted the name at all. Oh, and don't you just LOVE the blue eyeshadow. There will be no doubt this picture was taken in the 80's for sure!

Knitting Olympics: Day 5

Here's my progress after day 5.



It is going so quickly that I think I may have to add another challenge to the mix - weaving in all those ends on my fairisle sweater. But I'm not going to jump to any conclusions yet, you never know what can happen between now and the end!

I am really happy with the pattern so far. I've made a few mistakes and have had to rip back, but it knits up so quickly it doesn't put me at too far of a disadvantage. My only concern is the size. Because of the rib, it is pulling the knitting in alot! I'm hoping that it won't be too small. I've pulled it out and measured, and it seems to be OK so far. I would have ripped out the back and started over in a larger size, but then I'm afraid it would be too big. The sweater should really fit pretty close to the body. I won't be wearing more than a tank under it, so hopefully it should be OK.

Alright, enough chatting - back to the knitting!

P.S. The USA women's hockey beat Finland 7-3 today! I feel so spoiled watching these women play. They have such grace and finesse that the men certainly lack. I wish I could see the women play more throughout the year. I don't know if I can watch the NHL in the same way again!