I love designing knitwear and the endless possibilities for texture, colour and shape that knitting allows. Over the last 35-plus (!) years I’ve had loads of experience designing fashion knitwear; first creating both machine- and hand-knitted garments which have sold in boutiques and department stores in the UK and around the world, and during the 1990s in my own shop in London. Then, since 2004, designing for the home-knit market, with my designs featuring regularly in the Rowan magazines, and in The Knitter and Vogue Knitting magazines, as well as Knit Now and Knitting Magazines.
My training in fashion design and pattern-cutting on a fashion/textile degree course, as well as the experience of dealing directly with customers in my London shop (I often made bespoke garments) have helped to give me a good understanding of how to design knit garments that not only look interesting, but are also wearable; designed to fit and flatter women of different shapes, sizes and ages.
In 2006 Rowan published a book of my designs, Beads, Buttons and Lace and in 2007 I contributed to Sharon Brant’s book Knitting Goes Large.
I have also had a long-standing interest in fashion history, and in 2005 embarked an MA at the Royal College of Art. My research for a dissertation on the history of the knitting pattern, along with my love of fashions from the late 19th and early 20th century, inspired the designs in my book A Handknit Romance published in 2012.
After publication of the book I exhibited at many of the growing number of knitting shows around the UK where I met many delightful and enthusiastic knitters, proving that I am not alone in my love of the possibilities of knit. I also devised kits, sold in small hand-decorated, vintage-inspired boxes, with yarn and beads for making some of the beaded items from the book.
My interest in beaded knitwear lead me to research it’s history, which culminated in my presenting a paper at the In the Loop conference in Glasgow in 2015
In 2014 Rowan approached me to design 2 collections for their collaboration with Swarovski – Create Your Style – creating handknits embellished with Swarovski crystals.
Since 2014 I have been designing regularly for The Knitter and Simply Knitting magazines, as well as Yarn Stories, Love Crafts, Rooster Yarns and Erika Knight.
In 2021 I studied grading and started tech editing patterns for publication.
More recently I have designed a small collection of summery designs for long-established US yarn company Quince & Co, with the patterns published in June 2023.
For a more detailed description of all my knit design experience, see my Design Services page.
