Short courses in knitwear design are now available for you!
Each taster course comprises the first lesson, or material early on in each of the four modules of Knitwear Design Initiation:
- Visual Communication
- Design Development
- Pattern Drafting
- Pattern Grading
These short courses are available anytime. The content is evergreen and you can access the material from any device.
1-hour Taster Courses
You can also jump to the course preview videos to get an idea of what’s in store before committing to anything. There are four in total, each about 15-20 minutes long, previewing the content of the taster courses above.
The previews are there for you to watch anytime, too.
More details about the knitwear design taster courses
Visual Communication: Pencil control and the greyscale | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
An introductory drawing course or refresher for those who haven’t used their art materials for a long time. It’s accessible to anyone who wants to improve their drawing skills, but the techniques covered prepare you for the nuance of illustrating soft textures of knits.
This class on pencil control and the greyscale was designed especially for drawing out your latent sensitivity and artistry. The marks you make on the paper will range from the wispiest grey to the earthiest charcoal. This vocabulary will also improve your observational skills because you’ll have the means to draw what you see.
Design Development: Two techniques for idea generation | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
An introduction to idea generation techniques for knitwear design, taken from the Design Development module of the Knitwear Design Initiation course. This focuses on garment silhouette and tessellations (designing repeating patterns).
The two techniques in this taster course will shed light on how you can create several ideas out of one, or none at all if your starting point is a stitch library. You’ll feel brighter, more inspired and confident about developing your existing design ideas.
Pattern Drafting: Applied maths and the geometry of sleeves | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
This knitwear design short course is especially recommended if you want to design sweaters, cardigans, and other types of pullover.
This taster course on pattern drafting for knitwear covers two important principles: applied maths and sleeve lift. Understanding human anatomy and how the arm moves gives you the perfect foundation for designing all styles of sleeve.
Knowing how to use mathematical formulas to calculate the stitches and rows you need for a pattern is key – you won’t get far without it!
Grading, algorithms and visual maths | Knitwear Design Initiation taster course
You don’t need to be a maths whiz to be good at grading. The only mathematical principle you need to grasp is algorithms.
Algorithms are what you plug into Excel (if you’re using a spreadsheet), or use as a basis for visuals, if you prefer to draw.
All the information you need to grade your pattern is contained within the pattern itself, because algorithms = patterns. You just need to extract this information using the right processes.
Have fun getting started with knitwear design…
…and please leave any questions in the comments. I’ll reply to you as soon as I can.
Please share this post or the course pages if you know someone who’s interested in learning how to design knitting patterns.
Have a good week, and I’ll see you in November 🙂