Knitwear

Smoking Jacket and Skirt – Utilizing an art photograph of a Moroccan man smoking for inspiration, a motif was designed on a black and white grid and put into repeat with DesignaKnit software.  Using humor and two-color patterning I made fabric while simultaneously making the garment. A full width of two-color patterned fabric was then […]

Houndstooth Hound Dress – Using a photograph of my dog, Dia, and a black and white grid, a motif was designed and put into repeat with DesignaKnit software. Experimenting with humor and two-color patterning, this fabric was created while simultaneously making a dress. A maximum width of patterned fabric was then knitted to the dress

Maryam Dress – After seeing the Graphic Design Monogram Project results on the walls of VCUQatar, I realized the motifs, which represent a stylized version of each designer’s name in Arabic, were perfect for textile designs. With permission from the students, I decided to recreate them as knitted fabric designs.  The student who contributed to

Felicity Dress – The fabric in this dress was inspired by the monogram of Felicity Ulmer, and the dress design was inspired by draping the fabric.  Black and white monograms on the walls of VCUQatar caught my attention as being perfect motifs for textile designs, and provided inspiration for my Arabic Calligraphy Collection of machine

Nada Dress – Nada Hammada designed the monogram that inspired this dress.  In Qatar, where I made this dress, pattern is everywhere.  I learned that horoufiya is an Arabic word that refers to art using abstract alphabet forms.  Arabic monograms, abstract intertwining letters of a name, inspired me to make knitted dresses with two-color letter

Nancy Tabard, Bustier and Skirt – The motif in the top of this dress is my mother’s name spelled in Arabic, knitted in mohair and a shiny rayon yarn for textural contrast. The patterned top is in the shape of an historical garment called a tabard. The skirt is machine-knitted, hand-crocheted and hand-sewn.  The bustier

Eyelash Dress – The exciting part of machine knitting is that it greatly expands design possibilities.  Instead of being limited by fabrics that can be purchased, one can create an original fabric while concurrently building a garment.  The purpose of the Eyelash Dress was to explore color mixing, color relationships, layering and texture in this

Solar Plexus Dress – While in graduate school at RISD studying Textiles, I learned how to go with ”the process”, and see where it took me.  This dress was started using gold wool crepe yarn and thrum, the throwaway multicolored cut-off end strips from a jacquard loom.  While crocheting a large circle, I incorporated the

Meandering Path Dress – While in graduate school at RISD studying Textiles, I was motivated by a newly-learned technique of using “short rows” on a hand-manipulated knitting machine, which created a pattern of bumps and holes in the fabric.  While attempting to knit a scarf, an error in the process created a long curved piece

Red Mohair Dress – The exciting part of machine knitting is that it greatly expands design possibilities.  Instead of being limited by fabrics that can be purchased, one can create an original fabric while concurrently building a garment. Motivated by the texture and color of the red kid mohair yarn, a single mohair rectangle was