A design journey
Designer Susan Crawford shares the personal story behind her latest knitting pattern book, Evolution
SUSAN CRAWFORD
is admired for her vintage-inspired knitwear patterns and her painstaking research into Shetland knitting traditions, which inspired her wonderful book The Vintage Shetland Project.
For her latest book, Evolution,
Susan has taken details and ideas from these vintage pieces and reimagined them as contemporary, wearable knits. Each design was modelled by Susan, as she explored her own personal evolution after undergoing a double mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. We spoke with Susan about her work to produce Evolution.
The Vintage Shetland Project involved accurate, highly detailed reconstructions of original knitwear pieces. Was it fun to be much more creative with Evolution?
“It really was great fun to be able to unleash my creativity, and not be constrained by the need to reconstruct a historical piece. It was wonderful to be able to merge the traditional motifs, stitch patterns, even colour palettes with a more modern aesthetic and construction techniques. It was very liberating and joyous to design things without any constraints other than those I placed on myself. I hope you can see that pleasure in the finished designs.”
We love how the designs in Evolution have a recognisable Shetland ‘vibe’, yet are suitable for everyday wear. Do you wear any of the pieces yourself?
“I absolutely do. I wear ‘Orchid’ and ‘Orchidaceae’ on a regular basis; ‘Floribunda’, ‘Rosa’ or ‘Umbel’ when on a Zoom!; ‘Tavis’ and ‘Annemor’ when wanting to feel special, and
I wear my ‘Denby’ and ‘Cloudin’ socks all the time.
“Very early on in the process of designing the pieces for Evolution , I realised that I wanted to be able to wear all the designs. Particularly since my double mastectomy after my breast cancer diagnosis, I have found I have to be more careful about what styles and shapes I wear, and I didn’t want to feel that the things I was designing for the collection weren’t for me.
“I really felt it was important for the designs to be easy to wear again, almost as a counterpoint to the heavily stylised vintage pieces from where the inspiration for each design came. I wanted to show how a single motif or stitch or detail can be used as the starting point for an entire design. The ‘Umbel’ shawl, for example, takes a lace motif used on a 1950s cardigan and it becomes the main feature of this beautiful, dramatic yet very wearable shawl.”
Do you have a favourite pattern from the book?
“I have to say I love each and every pattern in the book, and I have loved seeing the many projects being
knitted from them and how people are also making them their own. It’s been wonderful to receive so many messages from people telling me they plan to knit the entire collection! Added to that, the connections I have with each design really does make it very hard to choose favourites, and
I’m very proud of them all.
“From a design point of view, I was really satisfied with ‘Steek’ and ‘Tavis’, as they were inspired by simple steek charts from The Vintage Shetland
Project - so, no motifs, just vertical columns of colour. These little charts are usually completely overlooked, so using them as the focal point of a design was really pleasing. Additionally I used the highly original construction methods of ‘Helen’ and ‘Tait’ from The Vintage Shetland
Project within the two designs. It was so pleasing to see the designs work so effectively.”
Tell us about your experiences of putting together the book.
“I unwittingly chose to begin this project at the beginning of what quickly became a memorable year for us all, for the wrong reasons. One of the first things that happened as we entered lockdown due to the pandemic in March of last year, was that it quickly dawned on me that not only would I like to be able to wear all the pieces – I would also have to model all the pieces, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to photograph them for the book! This was something I had become extremely uncomfortable about since my mastectomy. Living as we do on a farm in the countryside - and being advised to shield - we were unable to mix with anyone else, so it was me as the model or no one. And so, I became the model for the entire book. What at first felt like a problem ultimately became the main focus of the project: to see my own evolution over the nine months the collection took to create.
“At the beginning of 2020 I had been anticipating a stay in hospital for breast reconstruction after a threeyear wait; however, the pandemic meant all such operations were cancelled, and I was later advised of at least a further two- to three-year wait before any likelihood of my having the operation. This was a real blow. However, I was able to immerse myself in the creation of the book, and as you move through the book, you also travel with me through the year and hopefully see my confidence grow and my acceptance of myself build.