When I  used question sticker in my Instagram Stories, telling you to ask me whatever you wanted about me or about my work, a lot of you asked me where do I find inspiration for my designs.

I couldn’t answer in one or even more stories, but here I am with this post and another Designer’s Corner Material about Inspiration.

If you want to start designing crochet or knit garments, or you are already a crochet or knit designer, but you are looking for new inspiration sources,  this post is for you!

I really hope this will help you find your own inspiration and if you find this material useful, I put everything in a PDF format that can be purchased from My Shop. Click here

 

In this material I will talk about inspiration, where you can find inspiration for crochet and knit garments and which sources I am using mostly in my designing process.

Crochet and knit designing is not only about garments and you can design a lot of other things as a crochet or knit designer like accessories or  things for the home.

But, in this material we are talking about garment section because this tends to be the direction in which every crochet or knit designer want to go.

 In this material you will find:

  • About crochet and knit design as a part of fashion design
  • A few sources of inspiration that can be mostly used
  • About inspiration from other crochet or knit designers

Crochet or knit design as part of fashion design

 Are we, crochet or knit designers, fashion designers? What is a fashion designer and what is he doing?

Well, after all designing process every fashion designer attempts to design clothes which are functional as well as aesthetically pleasant.

A crochet or knit designer’s goal is the same. So, a crochet or knit designer can be called a fashion designer? What do you think?

If a fashion designer has to do a lot of research and interpret fashion trends for their audience, the same a crochet or knit designer. Only that after the designing process, the making process is also part of a crochet or knit designer’s job.

If a fashion designer is doing research to decide which fabric he will use for a certain design, a crochet or knit designer has to make his research about the yarn, stitch pattern to actually make the fabric he will want to use for a certain design.

So, a crochet or knit designer’s job is more than just designing. He has to deal with the entire process to make sure that his design is makeable and then of course wearable.

In the end, you are a fashion designer, because the goal is the same: functional and aesthetically pleasant clothes.

Sources of inspiration that can be mostly used

 In this section I will talk only from my experience. I am sure that there are a lot of other sources that you can use for your inspiration, but these are the ones that I am using most all of the time and believe me, I wish I could have more time to bring all the ideas I have to life.

Let’s see which those sources I am using are:

  • Find Inspiration in your own wardrobe

 Using my own clothes as inspiration for my crochet designs (and lately my knitting designs) was the first thing I did when I started to design crocheted clothes.

I am sure that all of you have some favorite clothes there, which you will love to see in crochet or knit.

The advantage is that you have the garment to measure and to make notes about shapes and proportions.

One disadvantage is that sometimes it might be difficult to find the perfect yarn and stitch pattern to recreate the characteristics of the original fabric.

Another advantage is that if is something that you don’t like, you can easily undo and try one more time. Can be frustrating, but you have to think positive and see this as a learning process. You will learn a lot from failing, so don’t be afraid to try anything you have in mind.

Here are 2 of my favorite designs using my own clothes and I think the result is more than a pleasant one.

Mossy Jacket

 

Summer Crocheted Top

 

So, go check your wardrobe and see which of your beloved clothes will be your next crochet or knitting design.

  • Sewing Patterns

Another source that you can use with success if you just decided to design crochet or knit garments is sewing patterns.

Thanks to this amazing never ending source of inspiration for everything, called Internet you can find almost anything you want, just need to know what you are looking for.

I found sewing patterns very useful in the designing process, because you have measurements, you can see all the garment pieces and how everything will have to look before assembling the garment.

Having all the measurement the only thing you have to do is to find the proper yarn and stitch pattern. A few swatches will help you out to know how many stitches, rows you will need to get to the measurements.

Here, in the second photo, you don’t have the measurements, but you can see what you can do from 3 simple shapes.

So, using sewing pattern as an inspiration for your crochet or knit designs will help you a lot and is a good source if you just decided to step into the garments designing area.

One disadvantage is the same as with using your own clothes, not each sewing pattern can be used because it will be difficult to find a yarn and a stitch pattern that will give the same drape to the final piece. But, thanks God there are a lot of yarn types and stitch pattern to experiment with and I am sure that you will find something to get you closer to your inspiration.

And if not, you never know which masterpiece you will create even if is not even close with the original source. Just try it!

Here is one of my designs using a sewing pattern.

Be Glam Blouse

 

 

  • Street fashion

Street fashion is an important source of inspiration even for fashion designers and luckily you don’t have to be on streets to observe what people like to wear. You can use again Internet as a source of inspiration for street fashion.

Lately you can find a lot of knitwear on the streets and if you are not a knitter you have to know that many knit garments can be also made in crochet. Again, you will have to find a proper yarn and stitch pattern to recreate the characteristics of the original knitted fabric, but is not impossible.

To use street fashion as a source of your crochet or knit designs, you need a bit of experience and to have a few designs in your portfolio, because you need to be able to use just a photo as a source of inspiration.

You can also use shops as a source of inspiration either physical or online ones.

 I am usually using online shops as a design inspiration or as color inspiration for my designs. It’s easier to see which colors are in trend and to use them for your designs.

This helps also in color combination. If you are not that good to find a perfect color combo for your design, you can always look which colors are mostly used and find the perfect match that works with your idea.

Rainy Cloud Jumper

  • Vintage crocheted or knitted clothes

You already know that knitting and crochet are there for centuries and is an oldest way to make your own clothes.

You can find a lot of old photos with crochet clothes in which you can find inspiration.

If you are thinking that they might be too old to be in fashion you are wrong. Fashion trends are coming back and even the most known fashion designers are using old trends to recreate a contemporary one.

 

I love so much this jacket and I can’t wait to have some time to make a crocheted one.

  • Fashion Designers

Luckily for us, knitting and crochet is in trend now. There are a lot of Fashion designers that are using crochet or knit garments in their collections.

This can be a valuable source of inspiration for your designs because “a real fashion designer” was the source of your inspiration.

You can follow on Pinterest some fashion magazines and you will see a lot of inspirational photos there.

The only thing is that you don’t have to design something using a fashion designer inspiration in the same period, because your design can be easily labeled as a copy and you don’t want this to happen.  I will suggest to use a certain fashion designer’s idea for the next season or even years after. If you want to use this source now, try to find photos from older fashion shows.

  • Your own designs

And last, but not least, use your own designs as inspiration. After you have made quite a few you will see that you can find a good inspiration in your own older designs. The experience will help you to add different techniques and elements to an older design that will make a better new one.

  • Other crochet or knit designers

You know that you are not alone and there are many other crochet and knit designers are doing the same thing as you are.

I decided to talk a bit of other crochet and knit designers as a source of inspiration even if I am trying to not use it at all. Why? Because is very easy to copy even if you don’t want to, or without even think that you are doing it.

This can happen especially with simple designs. A top down sweater in double crochet is a top down sweater in double crochet and it will look almost the same, even if you are using different yarn weight or color. Even if your stitch count is different, so you didn’t copy the pattern and did your own math, in the end, the sweater is looking almost the same.

I will use other crochet and knit designers work as a source of learning technical things, like how to write a pattern, how to better join pieces of a garment or what techniques they are using for that professional look of the final design.

There are a lot of other sources of inspiration out there that you can use to create original designs and I will try avoid as much as possible other crochet and knit designer.

Let everyone have their place and their own original touch.

In the end, if you saw something and you really want to design your own garment, I will proceed the same as with the fashion designers inspiration: use that design for your future designs, even years after, meanwhile you might find some other idea.

I really hope this will help you find your own inspiration and if you find this material useful, I put everything in a PDF format that can be purchased from My Shop. click here

 

Author

8 Comments

  1. I love all of your designs… thanks for all of your inspiration and all of your time that you take to make your patterns.. I know it’s not easy to write and make patterns and all of yours are so lovely… I’m making the Glam top currently for a friend… I’ll post photos I do hope. I usually make your designs with different yarn and hooks because my eyes just can’t take the super small ones…

    • Bykaterina

      I am so happy to hear that I can inspire you :). If you have any questions about some of my patterns and how we can make them work for a particular yarn and hook size, just let me know. I will be happy to help 🙂

  2. Thanks for your designs & free patterns. I’m currently making the Raw Green Tee In size medium & wanted to know if R 20 should be dc instead of sc & whether R 21 should be worked as written resulting in extra baubles?

    • Bykaterina

      hi! you are right. R20 id in dc and on R21 there will be more bobbles indeed. You can divide the total number of sts to a different number and make between bobbles more sc if you want.

    • Bykaterina

      I am really happy to hear this!!

  3. I love all your designs. I have several…my daughter loved the summer top I made her. Recently I thought I saw a “Rainbow Hope” word rectangle posted but now I can’t find it…if it wasn’t you I apologize but if it was can you please repost this free pattern…I’d love to make a pillow for a friend with it…thank you!

    • Bykaterina

      Thank you for loving my work. The post you are talking about is not mine. Sorry that I can’t help you with this