Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Peanut Dresses - knitting has commenced!

It's hard to believe that I actually wanted to be a fashion designer at one point in time. In no way had (have) I the creativity needed for this profession, but fashion interested me, and I was into it for a while there in my early teens. Judging from my very simple, rudimentary sketch for my Create Along project, it's clear to all why it's just as well I let that dream die. (If I had any sense at all, I would have turned to shoe designing, but that's another lost dream for another day.)

Peanut Dresses on paper

I've improvised, tweaked, and winged several projects before, but this is by far the biggest designing project I've undertaken- on purpose. Somehow, I need to not only come up with an idea (or ideas, as the case may be), find yarn I like, and then turn that into dresses for a certain pair of twin peanuts.

Peanuts, in dresses

What's that, you say? Good luck? Thank you, I will need it! Because although I at least had the foresight to chose a very simple shape and line for the dresses, there's a lot that goes into designing! (Duh) Translating the picture and idea in your head to paper and then to an actual piece, is far more involved and labor intensive than you might think. I've always respected designers for their talent and ability, and this process has only intensified my admiration.

It took a while for me to settle on a design, but I've got it now, and after swatching and profuse mathematical planning (and readjusting), I'm finally on my way! I played around a little and came up with this little design-whatever (highly technical design term) for the non-hemline. I think it adds some visual interest, as well as (hopefully) some stability, so we might avoid the whole rolling up thing. Here's a glimpse of the bottom of PD1.

No, it's not a watermelon dress. You'll see.

"Do you think Aunty knows what the heck she's doing? Hmm..."

15 comments:

knitzalot said...

The dress looks adorable so far!

ellipsisknits said...

Agreed! I love the zig-zag border. Just different enough.
-C

Sheri said...

Those are my two favorite colors together. I think they'll be adorable, and those twins are adorable too. What a lucky Auntie you are.
Sheri in GA (new commenter, long time blog reader)

Anonymous said...

i can just tell those are going to be ridiculously cute already...
can't wait to see them up close!

Anonymous said...

Well, if the rest of the design is half as inspired as your color selection, you're in good shape! Everything is looking wonderful so far as far as I'm concerned!

Jennifer said...

Those dresses are going to be adorable!

Lolly said...

Ohh!! cute overload! the babies, the yarn! love it! :)

Julia (MindofWinter) said...

Don't underestimate your talents, Missy! I can't draw for poo, and it doesn't really matter. With practice and patience, you improve. I love your design concepts, and the peanuts kill me. (I especially love the last caption, where they are discussing your designing skills!) The colors and texture are wonderful. You're going to end up with some adorable pieces.

Theresa said...

Ooh, fun. Will you, perchance, be bringing these tonight? Yay!

Shelley said...

Talk about inspiration!! Those little girls are adorable! I love the colors you chose. Can't wait to see the finished designs. Je

Madge said...

I'm overcome with the cuteness. Already I love the Peanut dress, and can't wait to see what happens next.

Go, Shannon, gogogo!

Anonymous said...

PD1 is looking good so far! Your one smart cookie

Anonymous said...

Hello from Nuremberg! Funny, all the Blogger info comes out in German.

Peanuts twins are fricking adorable, I'd squeeze their cheeks if I had a chance. Now I'm curious about your motif. Good going so far!

- MJ

Shelley said...

You've been tagged! Rules on my blog. Hope you have a great week.

Tusa said...

That looks lovely. I cant wait to see the rest.