Although everyone has their own way of doing it, most of us work within a similar process: first, we find our inspiration and design direction. After we do that, we usually work on our color story and, depending on what we are actually creating, we choose the yarn and/or fabric we will be working with. In knitwear, it is after we source our yarn that we start working on tension swatches and stitch development. I promise, all of this is more complicated and time-consuming than it sounds. Add to that how easily distracted we get when we are designing..we start in one place, then we see something else that inspires us, and end up with a completely different direction! (Not everyone is like this, of course, but I have been guilty of this once or twice ;) )
Actually creating the garment with all of its technical specifications is another process entirely, and I'll talk about later on. However, here are some pictures of my stitch/design development swatches for one of my senior collection looks. This is just the beginning!
