'AFTER ALISON' DRESS.....

Ode to Alison! During the Knitting and Stitching show I demonstrated the art of free-form crochet using yarn left overs. It resulted in this cute very wearable on -trend dress, which I have named after my lovely friend Alison Friday (knitsandpearls blogspot) This is because she is an expert at free-form and the colours I thought were very her. Funnily enough at the same time she has created a number of items in these said colours...go check her out.

Close up of some free-form style patterns within the skirt...question is can I ever be truly free-form? Since when working on this I used my dictionary of patterns I have collated over the years in my head! So can it only be free-form if it is random stitches and not pre-documented patterns even if this is from memory?

Making use of the patterns as a window to frame the other side of the skirt of the dress, where the photography focuses on the inside of the dress.

Side view showing how the thicker crochet pattern emphasizes the bust and waist.

The dress used mainly Acrylic and Mohair yarn left overs, which were put together to graduate in colour, the cross over between colours was formed by mixing more than one yarn strand at a time.

The dress is quite full at the hem, so it billows out and is longer at the back than front. It is ideal to wear over a top and leggings/jeans/coloured tights.

The front fastening made use of some of my pre-made brooches since I finished this dress on my stand at Alexandra Palace. (More brooch kits will be available at the Harrogate Knit and Stitch show) I was quite cold in the first few days but while sat making this dress I was much warmer.

The back has cross over strap detailing.

LIGHT BOX TABLE WITH CROCHET DETAIL

I was having a space issue and totally thinking I should invest in a light box instead of using the window to trace off my figurative silhouettes for my illustrations and came up with a combined solution. I designed this table to fit over existing furniture in my office/studio space, which laps over the window sill to allow the table top to be as big as possible.

...the shape was influenced by the sinuous curves of the Art Nouveau period (lol but actually I think it looks like bababeau! but without the fluff, see Swedish 70's cartoon)...I set the light box into the smaller area, emulating the offset rose from the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

...The light box is made up of 2 sheets of acrylic sandwiched together with a crochet jam! Thank goodness for my very clever dad who has made a multitude of furniture designed by myself and my mum over the years, and he never once looked at us as if we needed mental help! He even managed to make the light box lower layer removable so that when being used as a light box shadows from the crochet do not interfere with the tracing process.

...When the light box is switched on with the crochet intact, it makes a lovely mood light reflecting the pattern of the crochet around the room. (pictures to follow)

.... The whole table was made from off cuts and left overs from other projects including the paint, however the legs were new.

...so a big thank you to dad......more furniture ideas are in the process of being created.