Yarnwear design is more and more becoming not your grandmother's sport. Crochet and knit wear is on the runway and in publications such as Vogue ~ which I think is just tops; no guys, you just don't understand how super amazingly cool this moving trend is ~ think back to 1985 and receiving a crochet sweater for your birthday ~ that sweater is immediately in your ugly Christmas sweater pile, right?! But, now, no way, that hand knit/crochet sweater is something you are proud to wear (especially so if you made it YOURSELF) so cool!
So what do you do and how can you get into yarnwear design? All I can do is share what I do:
My sketchbook travels with me everywhere I go. I never know when I will be inspired. So this is how it starts for me, I'm dreaming it up and sometimes scaling it back - but yes, it starts with pencil and paper for me. Once I have determined what it is I want to make, I think about fiber - this step is very important -you really gotta develop an understanding of the different types of yarn fibers and weights - crucial. You are not necessarily going to make a summery garment out of worsted weight (4) acrylic - instead you should be thinking cotton or linen and lace to dk weight fibers. Once the design and the yarn is sorted out, then you need to figure out in which sizes you would like your design to be available (XS to 5X) then grading (this part is primarily for those who design for other makers to be able to replicate) is crucial. You'll need to work out how your garment will be constructed in the different sizes and write up the pattern. Once your pattern is written and your sample made then you share it with the world ~ social media.
This is a very rough outline of the steps needed to start designing yarnwear, I'm interested in see how many of you want to learn more about this topic thus spurring me on to crave out time to blog more on the topic. So let me know in the comments, wanna learn more?