Twist Collective Blog

Sunny Day: And it was called yellow...

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Published on Tuesday, 12 October 2010 00:00

Pam Powers' first design with Twist, is a festive and retro inspired, Sunny Day. This cross post from Pam's own blog discusses the inspiration behind this lovely piece. 

I am so fortunate to have been included amongst the many talented designers in the Fall issue of Twist Collective. The Sunny Day cardi is a retro-inspired, asymmetrical cardigan with a fair isle portrait collar done in Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend which has in its contents merino wool for body that can retain a structured collar and silk for drape, all in a DK weight yarn.   I want to address the use of bright color in my design.

Last February my friends at Shibui Knits had been kind enough to send me some samples of their new sock yarn Staccato, and I had been having fun swatching with all of the bright colors when I received a Call for Submissions from Twist Collective.  When I saw the mood board for what turned out to be WWMHD, I was immediately drawn to the collection of pictures in wonderfully bright and cheery yellows, oranges, greens and reds.  I don’t know Mary-Heather personally, but she seems so bright and cheery and who can resist a strawberry blonde in yellow?  So I was off to the races.  Picking a color palette was easy -- I knew the base color had to be yellow and I wanted the contrasting colors to really pop, so I chose an ocean blue and watermelon to set it off.

Inspiration colors, Shibui Knits Staccato    Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend

I love all of the bright colors Kate Spade uses in her collections and the sort of retro feel to the styles.  She uses unbelievably bright hues but the styles look cool and kitschy without a matronly,  resort-wear feel (I’m a big fan of Project Runway).

From the Kate Spade Fall 2009 Collection

So I selected a silhouette that was more cropped and boxy, and what is more retro than a portrait collar?  I chose to do an asymmetrical front for a bit of modernization.

From the Kate Spade Fall 2010 Collection

The colors are very bold, so I opted to put the contrast only on the collar with the exception of the thin watermelon edging on the front, hem and cuffs.I think a lot of people feel like they can’t pull off wearing yellow, but I say “Wear what makes you feel good!” I know that yellow makes me happy--it makes me feel brighter, less tired and more optimistic, so even with my Asian skin tone, I still go for the yellow especially when feeling a little down. So now you know how to recognize me...I’m the sallow-looking Asian woman in yellow with a big smile on her face!