Thursday, June 3, 2010

The hard part is getting it out of my brain.

Yesterday, while I was walking home, an extraordinarily vivid and crystal-clear idea for a sweater leaped fully formed out of the murky, roiling depths of my subconscious and into the front of my brain where I could see it. There were crossed fronts and draping and pleating with a high armscye, well-fitted shoulders, and narrow sleeves to keep the whole thing from sliding into schmatte territory. But even though I could see the finished garment as clearly as if it had materialized in front of me, I couldn’t quite figure out what the pieces would have to look like to get that effect.

So when I got home, I took out some scraps of jersey fabric and cut out little sweater pieces to play with.* I never quite achieved the shining grail-shaped beacon of knitwear as it exists in my mind, but I’ll get there. Or not. Definitely one of the two.

*I have a feeling that this is the kind of thing that seems totally normal and just plain sensible to me, like making scale models of my apartment and all of my furniture whenever I move so I know that everything will fit in the new place,** but not to other people.
**I told my mom about it the first time I thought to do this, and she told me that when she first moved into the house I grew up in, she made scale models of of all of her cabinets and everything that would go in the cabinets. I assume, though I didn’t ask, that she meant dishes and her mixer and that sort of thing, not, like, cans of soup. Regardless, in both our cases, we’re talking about 2D models. 3D models would be a completely different level of The Awesome.

2 comments:

edgertor said...

i like the mobius-strip-like twist you put in the last one. I wonder what this will all look like larger?

also, i think you need a barbie to put these tiny garments on!

Jenn and Adam said...

I have this crazy Japanese draping book you might want to see for ideas. I think it might give you a kick in the right direction. Lunch or knitting or something on Sunday?