Stray Kids. More specifically, Felix’s hat on stage at the Music Bank Paris performance in 2023 and Hyunjin’s striped crochet beanie during a video in 2023.
The Plan
It seemed simple at first glance but then again, new knitting patterns can be a bit confusing so I did research, to be safe. The cat ear is a corner and the point or drape, depending on the structure of your beanie is created by the length of the hat horizontally across. Once I understood that the shape would be determined by these top corners it was easy to jump in!
So I cast on 50 stitches on size 8 needles with worsted-weight acrylic yarn (I’m allergic to wool) and alternated between olive green and teal every three rows. After 55 rows, I cast off and sewed the two panels together to form this lovely cat-ear beanie. Honestly, such a fun and easy project once the ear structure clicked. 🙂 I’d say if you are an intermediate knitter you could make this over a weekend for sure, potentially in 24 hours if you were in a super rush. As a beginner, I’d say give yourself a week and take your time to keep the stitches even across. Sew up the sides and top with a tapestry needle.
I think the trickiest part was choosing what colors of yarn to use for the striped pattern. I didn’t want to make an exact copy this time, well I couldn’t anyway because I don’t currently crochet, but I wanted to use a unique color palette from my existing stash. These colors are some of my favorites in my stash. I’ve found the color story versatile to style with both cool and warm-toned accessories. I think the earth tones help keep it neutral. I love it and reach for it the most out of all the hats I’ve made in 2023.
When I put this jacket top on for the first time, the finished piece, I felt this sense of completeness. What I used to sketch, what I would aspire to be, the aesthetics I was drawn to during those formative years of finding my personal style in the late 2000s and early 2010s before life got a bit weird, this was the type of fashion I wanted to be a part of. It’s the kind of thing I’ve been waiting for my skills to develop to reach the imagination held inside. Waiting for the chance to express itself in more than paper and pen, in thread and fabric and form!
My early projects were a product of the times, a year spent online instead of in the world, historical fashion, cottage core, and dark academia, but not the personal style I had cultivated. Big projects were hard, blazers seemed impossible. But they are so iconic. I crave structured pieces like that in my wardrobe, I mean I wrote an entire essay on the jackets and structured fashion that is the Don’t Stop Music Video by Ateez. That is 4 minutes of glorious outerwear inspiration!
This project at times seemed borderline cursed. I cut this jacket out the day I screwed up my tweed coat and notched lapel pattern by forgetting to mirror the pieces. Not the best start to a day of design work, but perseverance and clear-headedness prevailed to keep this pattern on track. But then, it sat in my stash waiting for me to get started. I hid from it in case I failed it.
One day, I put the pieces on the form and began to pin. The lines of a jacket, structured shoulders, and excess fabric hang around the collar, waiting for the traditional form to take shape. I pinned it exactly how I thought I wanted it, and the sewing process made a few edits for me and my plan. My machine took the lead and created the happy accident, the darts around the neckline. The collar was inserted with more attitude than my intention but I prefer the edge, the little twist on the blazer that has become the Marguerite Jacket.
With the wide lapels, I pinned them back against the jacket to create these triangle shapes on the body of the jacket top. I decided to lean into the attitude of the silhouette to add an exposed zipper and black buttons for a bit of a British punk little spice. I anchored the collar down in the front, balancing the chaos and structure into a garment that walks the line between blouse and blazer. It’s comfy, it’s fun, it’s versatile. I’ve styled it with flare, baggy jeans as pictured. I’ve styled it as a blazer over a cocktail-style dress. I know it will be fun to try it out over cargo pants, skirts, shorts, etc. I look forward to it! I also look forward to wear my designs evolve from here as moving forward I plan to become more cohesive in my aesthetics and collections.
The sweater vest. It was on my radar but did not become an item I dreamed of until I saw a lookbook from Steal the Spotlight styling Friends-inspired outfits, inspired by Chandler, the sweater vest king. I continued down the rabbit hole and to Katie’s K-pop Comeback Fashion review and I was done for. K-pop fashion, Korean fashion, and the sweater vest were a layering piece I knew I was going to make. Maybe it is the color combinations or the accessories, but how these sweater vests are styled across different boyband concepts just got me. It felt fresh and fun, not preppy or stuffy.
A year later, I was ready to tackle this project. After making a few sweater projects, and learning how to pattern from garment construction, I felt like I had a good understanding of the shape needed to make the sweater. At Joann’s, I found a non-wool tweed yarn and I knew this was the yarn I wanted to start with. It looked like garments I love from Irish Aran Jumpers and was a way to bridge my heritage and this new world I was exploring through K-pop. I like the garments I design to have a story and intentionality behind them.
The New Technique
With US Size 8 needles in hand and one skein of Big Twist tweed yarn awaiting a new form, I began by casting on 65 stitches. Working my way up I did the basic knit-purl stitch and gradually binding off on either side when I reached my desired length for the armhole. I chose to make a cropped sweater vest to accentuate my waist and break up my long torso. The big moment though came when I did some research and made the decision to branch out and knit the shoulder and neckline on two sets of needles. This required knitting, casting off in the middle, and continuing to knit on a second set of needles. It worked!
Learning new techniques is always worth the time and the trial because eventually it clicks and you have something new, you didn’t think you could do, but you can!
Making two instead of four pieces on my straight needles was a time-saver! Honestly, I see why having a teachable spirit is important in all aspects of life because I thought I had a good technique before, but dang, two pieces are such a better experience. Four pieces was a mental game, and I got bored. Hence why my previous sweater projects have taken months and months, and months because I distract myself with palette cleanser projects and then avoid finishing the four-piece projects.
Afterward, I sewed the two pieces together and knit two 65-stitch pieces of ribbed trim for the bottom. I liked how rustic the sweater looked without the ribbing on the neckline and armholes. It looks like an old-fashioned piece, and a bit like armor. Which is cool.
Sweater Vest Fits of 2023
This is how I have styled the finished garment so far! I like it over my black flannel and charcoal jeans for a moody look. It styled surprisingly well over this DIY project where I added a flared skirt to a cropped graphic long-sleeve shirt. This is where I saw the armor aesthetic come through. In 2024 I look forward to playing around with it even more!
Some things I plan on either finding or making, are basic layers I can wear under this vest. Currently, I have my flannels, that random diy-tunic, and maybe some long-sleeve tees but I’m not certain if they are long enough to layer out the bottom of the vest. This is the struggle of adding a brand new item to your wardrobe – how do you integrate it and style it well without buying a bunch of new things? Yeah, I’m figuring that out and until I do it’s going to be some time before I think I can make a truly amazing outfit with this piece. But I’d rather do this responsibly and be a patient person instead of draining my bank account for instant gratification. (Age has done me well in that respect because I used to do the opposite!)
2024 Project Update:
Since finishing the garment, I have either lost weight or the vest has stretched a bit from wear and one wash. It was not sitting well on my waist anymore but ballooning out so I took it in. I took it in at the arm hole seams and gradually took in the waist at the back so the garment has a back center seam which is not the look I was going for but the fit is on point again. Lastly, I knit another section of ribbed trim to lengthen the garment to keep it from riding up, in doing so I made the ribbed trim addition of 60 or 55 stitches, I forgot to take note when I made it, to pull the waist in even more. I like the fit and plan to make another version of this garment with a smaller adjusted pattern.
People are ticked off regarding Selkie’s use of AI in their Valentine’s Day release, and I have to say, I can see their point! (Also, cupid, again? What is up with these dramatic “love-inspired” releases for 2024?)
Selkie made a creative, design choice. A big choice that may not have been the wisest decision for their brand reputation. As of three days after the announcement, the comment section is not pleased by the decision to use AI-developed patterns for their fabric instead of human artists to develop patterns for their newest crop of iconic dresses.
Now, right off the bat for me, I can see a contradiction in this decision just from an aesthetic standpoint. Selkie is a dress brand that took off in popularity in 2020, selling fantasy puff romantic dresses that evoke another time. They are fanciful, sometimes with corsetted bodices, other times they have high regency waistlines, but mostly they look like a dress to galavant around Versailles in with Marie Antoinette. They are not modern in the dream they sell, they have an intrinsic historical imagination.
They are princess dresses. Ladies of prestige in the modern time when none of them feel like princesses. Since the 1990s, we have seen a steep decline in formal fashion in our day-to-day life. Case in point, billionaire tech boys wear hoodies and t-shirts, not suits and hats like Carnegie and Vanderbilt. In 2020, this came to a head as remote work and social distancing created a new space of absolute nothingness when it came to fashion.
What was the point? You could wear pajamas and as long as you weren’t on a Zoom call, who would know? It was negligible. With face coverings, makeup became superfluous. Selkie, cottage-core, dark academia, etc. These movements in fashion revealed something deeper in our collective psyche. Although wearing pajamas and hanging out on our couches seemed like a dream, in reality, we were missing the fantasy of spectacle and splendor. Selkie is the typification of this.
AI pops the dream bubble. Suddenly the clouds of tulle and puff sleeves that carried us into a dream world of palaces, picnics, and girlhood, evaporate underneath us and the lifestyle falls back to reality. As much as AI sells a dream of fantasy, it is a tool of reality. The reality of cutting corners, fast fashion, and jobs being cut from creatives is to cut costs because AI is cheaper. But cheaper is not always cheerful. In the case of a lot of AI art and AI work, you are getting what you pay for. It’s not the real deal, something is just a bit off.
I’ve watched several videos in 2023 of creators I watch putting AI to the test, and in each case when it came to AI having to work in our space, in the humanities, it couldn’t hang. The results were surreal, not real. In these videos, AI was used to interpret history, recreate art in a historical style, create portraits in photography, show examples of historical dress, and give advice on how to give yourself a makeover. In each experiment, the AI was not able to replicate the human experience and seemed to get confused by things involving the story of humans.
With Selkie’s historical aesthetic being a key to its branding, it is not surprising to me that AI seems out of the aesthetic wheelhouse. This is an interesting reaction to me because it has appeared since the turn of the 20th century that we as humans have been lusting over technology as the ultimate fantasy until we have it and then the intoxication fades away like blood alcohol and late-night attraction.
It is an interesting time for fashion brands for sure because I think this may be the era that humanness and authenticity to the world the brand is selling may prove to be more valuable than gold. I appreciate the commitment to humanness and personal ethics that consumers are voicing. Especially when it comes to human artists. We can’t change the fact that AI is a thing and it is easy to replace humans with technology, all we can do is voice our opinion and make choices based on what we believe.
I’ve looked through the comments on Selkie’s newest release and there were echoes of disappointment and displeasure from consumers, a lot of them being artists themselves. There was a different tone in these comments than the commonplace cancel culture of our current age, there was genuine sadness. Like when a parent isn’t mad, just disappointed.
The criticism was delivered respectfully but firmly. This gave me hope that we can begin discussing things online with more frankness and kindness than in recent years. If you are a big proponent of AI, I ask dear reader that you don’t take my thoughts on the subject of AI personally. Maybe you can be the one to show us all what makes it great? 🙂
I smell snow. An iconic line from a one-of-a-kind character, in a show that successfully captured the magic of winter despite being filled in southern California. They have me fooled every time!
Gilmore Girls has some of the most inspiring winter fashion of any show I’ve watched! I get excited as the temperature drops each fall because I know it’s almost coat season, hat season, scarf season, etc. From season one onward, Lorelai’s love for winter is magnetic! She has a passion for the flakey white accumulation, wrapped up in the atmosphere of cozy nights, and of course her cold weather accessories. She shares this dynamic winter wardrobe with Rory who can rock a good scarf with the best of them.
These items are not just layers or bulk, they are a canvas upon which to paint and express who the characters are by what they wear. They are sentences without words. Personality in yarn. A conversation starter, or simply a colorful way to brighten the gloomy and the gray. A bright point in our day. When I was thinking about adding a new cold-weather accessory to my wardrobe this was my ethos. It had to be special, something I would treasure and wear until it fell apart.
The Plan
My goal for this winter season was to make a striped, colorful, skinny scarf in the early 2000s, aka prime Gilmore style. To accomplish this I thought I would need a myriad of colorful yarns. You can see from my inspiration photos above, there is a lot of color. In my extant garments from that time in my life, there was also a lot of color. My skinny scarves from Aeropostale in the early 2000s were blended with a myriad of shades, but to my surprise, when I began to work on this project, a small color palette of three produced the most impact.
The Pattern:
On US 8 needles with worsted weight yarn, knit for 40 stitches, purl 40 stitches, and swap colors every 2 rows. To a desired length, I believe my finished product is around 48 inches. If you make one, I wish you happy knitting!
In Business 101, we had to develop a product, write a business plan, marketing strategy, and ways to expand. My group developed plan for an innovative athleisure brand – Kanga Shoes.
Like Nike or Adidas, it started with the Kanga shoe. A sneaker with streamlined design for activity, like the mighty kangaroo, it also had a pocket – like a kangaroo. We developed bags and hoodies, because obviously the kangaroo details of the pouch. It was a fun project. One of my favorite memories of freshman year!
What I’ve wanted since I started my sewing journey was to be able to wear a head-to-toe outfit of my designs. Now have I technically done this before wearing a dress I made? Yes, but a higher level of skill is needed to wear an entire outfit of sportswear separates, crafted with my own self-drafted patterns. This was the level up in my sewing I wanted and in Fall 2023, I achieved it!
Lightweight Corduroy Trousers
In Trying Something New – Hot Pink Scuba Fabric I mentioned I was working on a trouser pattern, and although the pink scuba pants didn’t work I learned an important lesson about designing pants – fabric choice! I revised my trouser pattern, referencing the dimensions of one of my existing pants in my closet and chose a better fabric. This paisley pattern corduroy is lightweight and strong, with a bit of stretch. This fabric took the stitches far more effectively than the scuba. The weave is different and therefore the stitches did not have to cut through and pull through the fabric as it did with the scuba’s texture. Lightweight corduroy gave me the drape I wanted with the opacity and structure I was looking for. Hopefully, the longevity too!
I’ve worn these pants three times and they are going strong. I’ve even altered them to take the waist and add a zipper fly and they fit excellently. In addition to the trousers, I crafted a matching belt and belt loops to adjust the waist as needed.
Recreating a VS Cowl Neck Sweater
I had a favorite sweater in college from Victoria’s Secret. It was a black drapey knit sweater, boxy shaped, and featured an exaggerated cowl neck that could be worn off the shoulder. I wore it for a long time until I lost it and I haven’t quite found another one like it. I wanted to make a 2023 version of it that bridged the gap between sweater and sweatshirt.
Enter this cranberry stretch fabric that was warm but with a texture that looked like a sweatshirt. I went into the unknown and decided to make a cowl neck for the first time and I’d say it turned out just as I wished. I don’t like wearing things off the shoulder anymore therefore I made the cowl neck opening smaller than the inspiration piece. I added cuffs as a cuffed bottom to encourage the garment to hang in a boxy fit but not ride up as I move through out my day. It does as it is asked. I’ve worn this piece with jeans, leggings, and these corduroy pants and I have to say it’s pretty dang versatile.
The only thing I wish I could change is the few sections of seam where I was fighting with my sewing machine. I had a mishap with a stitch and had to stitch rip the seam. Unfortunately I caught a small piece of the fabric and caused damage to the cuff. Other than that unfortunate event, I’m properly chuffed. These two pieces moved my sewing skills and design portfolio in the direction I am aiming for – tailoring, construction, bigger projects, head-to-toe looks.
To develop a pattern I could rely on I’ve been studying mittens. Different shapes, proportions, and ribbed versus knit-purl have been tested to see what I like to wear and make. It’s been a fun journey! A journey where I’ve learned how pattern development involves skill refinement.
October 2022
The brown mitten was developed first. It was a project on a whim to make better hand-warming devices than I had before. In the Fall and Winter of 2021, I made mittens out of cheap, bulky weight yarn that while soft looked like whales breaching out of the water instead of hand-shaped mittens. They lacked dexterity, polish, and honestly, lacked taste. They were ill-fitting because they were a prototype and I tried wearing them but tossed them at the end of the season to try again. Enter the brown mitten.
The brown mitten had a good shape. It was created from a worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles compared to the previous bulky yarn on size 11. The brown had even stitches, warmth, and potential! I got so excited that I forgot to write my project notes and boldly decided to make the second one later. This never happened. This mitten floated in my cold-weather accessory bin until I let it go.
August 2023
Next, I worked on the black rib knit mitten. Instead of a knit-purl structure I made a crucial error and decided to make the entire mitten, not just the cuff, with a rib knit. Why was this an error? Well, the tension across the yarn was stiff and this made the mitten difficult to wear. It also looked messy because I had to reduce my stitches to achieve that curved shape at the top. When you are developing a pattern you are improvising and experimenting so as you can guess my reduction led to uneven ribbing and wonky texture.
It was not my best work and harkened back to that weird breaching whale shape. Not a fan!
September 2023
The Blue Sheep mittens were a wonderful delight! I picked up a blue tweed yarn at Joann’s on a sale and began making things that made me happy, like this recreation of my Blarney Woolen Mills gloves from the early 2000s. My mom and I bought matching sheep gloves in this color when we visited in 2001. As they wore out we repurchased them online until Blarney Woolen Mills stopped offering them.
I don’t currently have the understanding of how to make gloves so I tried recreating them in mitten form. They worked well except for the fact that I made them too wide at the top and too short at the bottom. I added a piece at the bottom to make the cuff longer. The little sheep brought me so much joy! Unfortunately, I forgot to take notes on this one too, and was unable to make a matching one. I recreated the blue tweed mittens in another batch that I scaled too big and passed them on to my husband because they were simply too big for my hands.
November 2023
The hot pink mittens are my gold standard. The fit is sublime. The shape is lovely and yes I took notes and changed my order of construction in order to make mittens that match in size and shape. I now knit the mitts first, so four in total, then the cuffs, and lastly the thumb pieces. Then I sew them together at the same time. This system works. The proportions are perfect for my hands and have truly saved this study of mittens from feeling like a multi-year flop!
Project Takeaways
Always take notes of your stitch count and needle size to make the project repeatable!
Never stop between mittens, trust me you will not go back to finish the second.
Cute details like sheep or other motifs are kind of awesome! I plan to experiment with this technique in the future.
Reduction speed will affect the shape and potential wonkiness of the mitten, proceed with caution.
Mittens are actually a great beginner project. They are quick and easy.
This post is inspired by videos created by Drew Joiner and Steal the Spotlight who offered their unique takes and got me thinking about where I could see fashion trends shifting as we move into a new year.
Cosmic-Cowboy or Sailor-Cowboy
In 2023, we had the Coastal Cowboy aesthetic and Copper Cowboy hair color for Autumn. Cowboy will keep going strong, but there will be a twist. I could see a sailor-cowboy mashup influenced by One Piece or a glitz, chromed cosmic-cowboy. I picture a Vegas-esque cowboy with space accessories. I can see Brandon Flowers rocking this.
Gameday Fits
No matter how much I don’t like TS I have to admit that Taylor Swift’s presence at Kansas City Chief games is drawing attention to the gameday outfit. Athletes have been doing this for a while but for fans, this has been a niche thing. It’s not really “fashionable” just functional and decked out in team gear. But Taylor’s outfits have drawn attention and sparked the creative juices of sports attendees to add a little extra. Team this with the importance of the jersey in Blokette core in 2023 and I see this going strong in 2024!
Bonnets
Steal the Spotlight brought my attention to this trend through her deep dives into K-fashion and J-fashion. The knit bonnet, which looks like a headband that covers the ears and ties around the chin is a fascinating idea that has been styled in Japanese street fashion all the way back in the 1990s. I’d love for this to be explored further in 2024.
The Resurrection of Parasols
Skincare and anti-aging have become billion-dollar industries, with baby botox becoming a normal idea for teenagers. I believe that the idea of sun umbrellas or parasols, like how they use umbrellas in Korea, could trend so that we can keep those wrinkles at bay, per the beauty standard. I would be in favor of this because the sun hurts my pale blue eyes and vampire-esque skin.
The Return of the Flip-Flop
We’ve had Tevas, Crocs, Birkenstocks, etc and I’d say it’s time for the 2000s rubber flip-flop to have its moment again. The ones that were hugely popular in the States during the 2000s due to Old Navy’s $1 or $2 flip-flop sales. I used to also get these for free from Victoria’s Secret if I spent $50. Because of the economy and the shift away from maximalism brewing, I think these coming back would make a lot of sense.
Patches and Visible Mending
This has grown in popularity since 2020 but I think the DIY element of this will become more of a focus in 2024. It would be a vehicle for self-expression while focusing on sustainability, helping with no-buy years, and in general looking cool, as the tik-tok aesthetics desire.
ARMY-core
As of December 2023, all seven members of BTS are enlisted and completing their military service. To get ready for their return I could see military styles with a K-pop and BTS flair becoming popular as fans globally miss their Bangtan Boys. I could see this in garment styles and accessories, with a distinct BTS flavor. Outfits could be inspired by music videos, performances, album concepts, and color stories.
Gilded Age Finery
I think we are sleeping on the Gilded Age aesthetic. The fashion plates of the 1870s-1880s and the costumes of the show are stunning. I don’t understand why this is not taking off like Downton Abbey’s 1920s fashion or Regency-era styles from Bridgerton. Historical fashion communities have been growing in popularity since the late 2010s. I’d love to see people experiment with the silhouettes, fabrics, tailoring, and accessories!
Colorful Knit Accessories
Kawaii and K-pop influences have definitely had an effect on knit accessories this year from animal ears to stripey hats and arm warmers coming back. The hat and scarf connected combo was iconic. I don’t see this going anywhere in 2024.
Exaggerated Tailoring
I think with the rise of quiet luxury and minimalism due to the economy I think exaggerated and surreal tailoring will break these styles out of the blah and bring something to the table that we maximalists will hang on to in 2024. Personal style is beginning to dwarf the larger trends and what is a better way to stand out than flipping the script on traditional cuts and proportions.
Jersey Shore nostalgia
I’ve seen too many reels about this time period to not believe this is coming back in some way. Club fashion in the early 2010s was something unique. Good or bad it has left a mark and I think youth culture will want to explore the studs, the bandage dresses, the leopard print, the Affliction tees, and True Religion jeans with sunglasses and a poof. Extra points for Gym Tan Laundry.
What do you think will be trending in 2024? I hope you enjoyed this just-for-fun list of things I think would be enjoyable to see. I wish you a wonderful new year full of peace and love. I’ll see you in the new year, friends. ❤
In mid-December and January, I tend to drop off into cozy land where all I want to wear are leggings, fuzzy socks, and hoodies. I feel unproductive and I don’t know what to wear. This is odd because, in terms of fashion, this is my favorite season for fabrics, garments, and occasions. I love layering coats, hats, scarves, boots, mittens, etc.
To fight the slump, I’m leaning into bright colors and bold prints.
I’m pushing myself this year to rediscover the love I used to have for dressing up when it got cold like I did in college. I still indulge a bit when I can pair cozy pieces with more polished items but they have to have more personality this year! I am setting a hard line with my clothing choices to break out of the athleisure slump.
To accomplish this goal, I’ve found myself reaching for my colorful knitwear! I’ve spent the time making the items, I need to wear them. This sweater dress is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It is just as comforting as a hoodie but looks like a dress and can be worn over jeans or leggings depending on the occasion.
Going into the fall, I knew I wanted more knitwear and accessories but I was dubious about my design choices. Would they work together to form cohesive outfits? Well yes and no, it depends on a matter of taste.
To someone who wears neutrals and classic accessories, this might be a bit ugly. But to a maximalist, like myself I enjoy the color palettes and pops of color these pieces bring to the brown and gray landscape of early winter.
I prefer having that neutral coat and having that punch of accessories to bring the look together. Hats and scarves can say a lot in an outfit yet are easy to mix and match, it’s a hit of creativity for minimal effort.
I’ve been reaching for my cat-ear beanie like a staple which I have to be honest I was not expecting. I get some stares, good and bad, but for every weird look, there are two expressions of joy at the sight of the cat beanie. If I can dress to bring people joy by the color and unusual design then that is a win for me.
Another style I am dabbling in is the academic style of a collared shirt and a vest. In this version, I styled a mini dress over a long flannel (from the men’s tall section) to create what I say is a Chandler Bing outfit. This was an insanely comfortable outfit yet mixed up my casual style for the winter. Because the colors are a bit unusual for the academic silhouette I felt playful and more like me.
I’m happy to say I’ve reached for some of my handmade pieces on those cozy days I may have opted for leggings or sweatpants like this laundry day outfit of a flannel “cardigan” over a thermal crewneck and the patterned corduroy pants that drafted myself. It was an odd combo but the colorful patterns truly brightened up a gray and dark snowy day.
That’s not to say that I haven’t reached for the cozy staples but with more polish, like this Aran Jumper style sweater that my mom knit for me. It’s a stunner!
How do you dress in December and January? Like me, in this dark winter do you struggle to find the joy in getting dressed?