Twist Collective Blog

Twist Style Friday: Zenith

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Published on Friday, 08 March 2013 12:25

Every Friday we feature one of the garments from the magazine in a post about styling. We suggest different ways to wear the garment in question using mock-ups from Polyvore. We encourage readers to tell us what they think about these outfits via our Facebook page or Twitter, and if folks want to make their own outfits, please tweet them at us with the hashtag #twiststyle. You can find all of the Style Friday posts here.

Hello and happy Friday folks!

I have been sucked into some kind of weird fashion wormhole. I've been trying for a few years now to buy slightly more reasonable clothing sometimes; if I see a dress in a cut I love, and it comes in hot pink with yellow spots, or solid navy, I try to buy the navy (if it's on sale, I buy both). See, if everything I own is patterned and bright, then I end up looking a little clowny. I don't mind looking a little ridiculous a lot of the time- in fact I sort of relish it- but it's starting to be more important for me to be able to dress in a way that allows people to take me a little bit seriously, even though I have a silly haircut and facial piercings and could truly pass for a high school student although I'm working on my third post-secondary degree.

So I bought the plainest fitted black tank dress, and also a loose black tunic shirt/dress thing and have literally worn one or both of them almost every day for the last two weeks. Sure, sometimes I wore my absurd wooden platform cheetah boots, and sometimes I wore floral tights, but still. Solid black as my go-to? Am I okay?

Enough about me. Want to see this week's gorgeous sweater? Of course you do. Meet Zenith.

This sweater is cozy and comfortable, but also polished and elegant. It wears a bit like a blazer, with the delicate patterning and petite collar. Feel free to wear it sometimes with a wide leather belt  or a skinny metallic one in place of the lovely knitted sash. Here are some of my other ideas about how to wear this lovely wrap cardigan:

How would you wear Zenith?

Design Process: Uji

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Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 13:24

Today's post is brought to you by Ann-Marie Jackson, designer of the wonderful textured coat, Uji, from our Winter issue (she is also the designer of this gorgeous pullover). You can learn more about her and her designs on her website. One of the things you'll find there is a post about the Briggs and Little yarn she used for this project.

Like many knitters, I'm fascinated by cables. I particularly like traditional aran sweater cables; the overall honeycomb cable that's often worked into a wide centre panel on the front or back of the garment was my inspiration here. I wanted an oversized cardigan or coat, and thought that overall cables in a bulky yarn would be perfect for a heavy, textured, sink-your-fingers-in fabric.

Inspiration. Clockwise from top left: undyed yarns, even Steve McQueen liked Aran sweaters, INHABIT baby camel cocoon cardigan, Anthropologie cardigan, 1960s Bear Brand & Fleischer Yarn pattern.

Uji is worked flat in pieces that are seamed together after blocking. I know seamless garments are very popular right now, but seams are more necessity than preference for this sweater. Although the cables give plenty of structure and strength to the fabric, Uji is heavy and needs seams to prevent pulling, stretching, and shapelessness. It's finished off with generous buttonbands and a big cozy collar. At the last minute, I decided to add pockets, because no coat can do without pockets.

Did you notice that the two cables used on Uji are essentially the same cable? The chevron cable is the bottom half of the honeycomb cable. It seems an obvious design move now, but it didn't start out that way: I swatched several different cable combinations (some of them nearly impossible to fit together) before I decided on these two. They're the simplest and, I think, the prettiest of all my swatches. Occam's razor strikes again!

Quick Dispatch: Lending a helping paw

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Published on Monday, 04 March 2013 11:53

Marnie's pup Panda helps prepare her Fall submission.

Twist Style Friday: Simsbury

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Published on Friday, 01 March 2013 02:57

Every Friday we feature one of the garments from the magazine in a post about styling. We suggest different ways to wear the garment in question using mock-ups from Polyvore. We encourage readers to tell us what they think about these outfits via our Facebook page or Twitter, and if folks want to make their own outfits, please tweet them at us with the hashtag #twiststyle. You can find all of the Style Friday posts here.

When I logged into Polyvore last night to look at shoes for today's styling post, do you know what I saw?? Sandals. Tons and tons of sandals. Working for a quarterly magazine as I do, I am somewhat familiar with working a season (or sometimes two) ahead, but somehow this still caught me off guard. Between that and my leaky roof, I guess we can say that spring is coming. Happy March!

I know that fall and winter are really prime knitter times, but handknits are dreamy to have around on cool spring mornings and summer sunsets by the water. This week's featured garment is perfect for layering, which makes it great for just about any season. The pockets make it extra practical, and the dipping neckline is just a teeny bit saucy. The color of our sample is pretty stunning, and though you could obviously make it in whatever color you like, something saturated really makes the simple shape and unfussy lace sing. Hello Simsbury.

Want to take a close look at some of those details? Goody, me too.

Here are just a few of the zillions of things you could pair this fantastic sweater with:

How would you wear Simsbury?