My sister

LOVED the refashioned sweater. I mailed it Friday, and it arrived today. She loved the color. Loved the ruffle. I love making people happy.

This Eileen Fisher silk sweater began life as an aggressively happy geranium pink wide v-necked sweater. The pink would have worked in a county club. It did not work for my sister.

The shape of the sweater and the neck was hugely unflattering. My sister and I are built fairly similarly. It looked awful on me. It made me look super-wide.

First I dyed the sweater using a purple dye. It calmed that chipper pink right down. I can pretend that I knew exactly the color that would result. I didn't but, I had the feeling that anything would be an improvement. I was right. This mauve is lovely and will look good on my sister.

My sister didn't give me any instructions about what she wanted. On the one hand, freedom is a nice thing. On the other hand, I actually like having lots of parameters in my work. All those limitations are actually really helpful in my design process. Lots of rules really sparks my imagination and gets me thinking really creatively. I know, it's counter intuitive but it's how I work best, ideally with a couple of sets of needs that on the surface entirely contradict each other. ( But then my bent brain comes to the rescue and I can make two contradictory things co exist in peace.)

The hardest part was figuring out just the right edging for the sweater. I think I made five different attempts until I stumbled onto the brown chiffon. The brown and the mauve looked like friends. They played well together.

Love making my sister happy.