Meet Chloé Elizabeth Birch
This talented designer loves to play with stitches and shapes to create fresh, contemporary knitwear
AN EXCITING young designer with a growing portfolio of innovative, contemporary knits, Chloé Elizabeth Birch has created patterns for The Knitter and Simply Knitting, along with yarn companies West Yorkshire Spinners and Scheepjes. We caught up with Chloé to find out about her design career and knitting inspirations.
When did you learn to knit?
“My wonderful mum taught me when I was around 17. I was studying my Textiles A-Level at the time, and really wanted to add a knitted piece to my final piece - not that I had ever knitted anything before! I came home from school and asked her to teach me. That evening I learnt the knit stitch, cast-on and cast-off, and I was ready to go. The next day, I came home with a big bag full of bra elastics along with wire and decided these were going to be my yarn! As you can imagine, they were not the easiest to knit with, especially for a one-day-old knitter… But I managed it, somehow, and it worked with my final piece perfectly. Since then I have been hooked, although I do usually stick to knitting with yarn now!”
Can you remember the first original piece of knitwear you ever created?
“My first piece of knitwear I ever designed and made myself was at university. I studied Fashion Design and specialised in knitwear in my final year. For my final collection, I created six outfits inspired by the artworks of Vincent van Gogh. For this, I did a range of both hand- and machine-knitted pieces. I had learnt to spin during the previous summer, and created my own yarn in all the shades of van Gogh’s sunflower painting, which I made into a jacket.”
How did your career as a knitwear designer evolve?
“It was while studying at university that I realised my love for knitwear. I spent most of my beginning years mainly working with fabrics, but I always felt there was something missing; I felt like a fraud just going and buying a fabric to work with, and always felt like I needed to make my own, which is why knitting makes so much sense to me. You are literally building a garment from almost nothing and are able to personalise every section of the garment.
“Throughout my studies I also learnt a lot about how detrimental the fashion industry is to the environment. I found this very difficult as it was the industry I loved, but also, I couldn’t let myself work in a place that was having such a negative effect on our world. This is another reason I love hand knitwear so much; it is fashion at one of its slowest and ethical practices. I knew then that this was the career for me. I began to specialise in knitwear in my final years of university and I haven’t looked back since!
“My mum is an incredible knitting technical editor and pattern writer, starting her career with Hayfield in the 1980s, so as soon as I decided to take my first steps into the world of knitwear, she was right there with me being my teacher and mentor.
“Early on in my final university year I had reached out to West Yorkshire Spinners for yarn sponsorship for some of my designs, which they very kindly helped me with. After that, they began following me on Instagram and one day, when my collection was complete, I received an email asking if I would like to do some designing for them. It was my absolute dream to work for them, and as you can imagine, came as quite a shock! I created my first designs for them just before graduating, and it just went from there really. I have now produced four pattern books with them, and am grateful every day that they saw something in me, and gave me my first break!”
Do you have a favourite design from your portfolio?
“I always go through so many emotions when creating my garments. From excitement at the start, to hating it, to liking it again and repeat! Saying that, when the piece is all finished and blocked and I’ve popped it on the mannequin, it is such a wonderful feeling, and it is always so exciting to see how it has been styled when I see it in a magazine months later.
“If I had to choose a favourite, it would be my ‘Shieldaig’ tartan trench coat from Issue 171 of The Knitter. I had been wanting to make something like this for so long, and was so excited when Kirstie chose to commission it. It was quite the project, but I loved every second of it and was so happy with the result! The coat came back to me a little while back, and I am so excited for winter to come so I can wear it!”
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
“I lived in Cornwall for five years, and its beautiful landscapes were a natural inspiration to me. Saying that, I now live in London and am finding new inspirations every day - I love taking pictures of sections of architecture and imagining them used in stitch patterns. When I’m having a bit of design block, I always like to look at the work of some of my favourite artists such as van Gogh, Sonia Delaunay and Gustav Klimt. I also get a lot of inspiration from friends and family; I find myself designing garments for specific people a lot.”
Who are your design heroes?
“Oh gosh, so many! I, of course, love the royalty of the knitwear industry - Kaffe Fassett, Erika Knight and Debbie Bliss to name but a few. I also have to thank the wonderful Jacinta Bowie, who was an incredible mentor when I took my first tentative steps into this incredible industry and showed me what a knitwear designer can do. I must say though, my biggest design hero has to be my mum - she really is my everything! She has taught me everything I know and been my biggest supporter through everything. A part of her is ‘knitted’ into everything I do.”
What fibres do you like to work with?
“I love the natural softness and feeling of a 100% wool yarn, and I enjoy using any yarn with alpaca in - it just creates such a wonderful lightness. I am also loving all the new sustainable yarns coming out at the moment, such as Scheepjes Terrazzo; they have such a different feeling to them, a rustic-ness that I really love.”
How did you find working with Scheepjes Terrazzo for ‘Simone’ jacket?
“I really enjoyed working with it! There is such a wide variety of colours in the collection that is so inspiring. Due to its sustainable element, there are flecks of other colours within the yarn, which really adds to it as well. I think it’s a yarn that will work with a variety of techniques - it certainly worked beautifully for the colourwork in my bomber jacket, but I’m also really excited to experiment sampling cables and other textures in it.”
Are there any techniques or styles of knitting you’d like to explore further?
“I would really like to bring more colourwork into my future designs;
it’s a technique I’ve learnt to really enjoy and it has endless options.
“Within my designing as a whole, I want to concentrate on creating more unisex and gender-neutral designs in future, too. I really want to try and make my designs accessible to everyone.”
Do you have any plans for 2022 and beyond that you can share with us?
“Well… I do actually! At the end of last year, I was approached by the wonderful publishers CICO Books, asking if I would like to write a book for them focusing on the mindfulness of knitting. Of course, I said yes! I completed the book earlier this year; it is going to be out in November and is available for pre-order now.
“This has always been such a dream of mine! I have a little notebook where I pop in all my ideas of things I’d like to do in the future, and at the top of the list was the idea of a knitting book focusing on the mindful practice of knitting and how it can help with mental health and well-being. So, this collaboration could not have been more perfect! The book provides 35 mindful projects using calming stitches and rhythmic patterns. I designed the projects so that there will be something for everyone - small and big projects for both beginners and experts. I am so excited about it; I really hope everyone likes it!
“I’ve struggled a lot with my own mental health over the years; I battle a lot with anxiety and depression and have had struggles with bulimia in the past. My knitting has always been a positive force behind my recovery, though. It gives me that escapism and something else to focus on when I’m at my lowest point. I think that’s also why I like to use a variety of colours in my knitting - it gives me something bright and fun to immerse myself within.
“This is also why this book means so much to me; I really feel like I am putting a part of myself out into the world. I have always struggled to talk about my mental health in the past, but writing this book has really been a therapy for me and given me the strength to talk about it more. I really hope it can help other people the way it has helped me.”
Do you have the chance to knit much for yourself?
“Not often, as you can imagine! I’m usually always knitting up my designs for magazines or companies like West Yorkshire Spinners and Scheepjes. However, once in a blue moon, when I do get a bit of my own time, I love to knit Sincerely Louise’s taxidermy-inspired kits! They are so fun and just something completely different for me. I made Louise’s lion head a little while back, and have a few more of her kits ready to go when I get the chance again.” - www.ravelry.com/designers/ chloe-elizabeth-birch – Find Chloé’s pattern collections for West Yorkshire Spinners at
www.wyspinners.com