Trends: Crochet Garments
The times they are a changin'.
Trends are funny things. One minute its blankets the next its a granny poncho. Notoriously hard to predict, there is an entire industry set up just to forcast whats next in the world of colour, fashion, future, tech, you name it. Deramores, the online yarn retailer, has thrown its hat into the mixed and asked a number of us what we see as the next trend in the world of knitting and crochet. One of the biggest changes I have seen in the last year has been the move toward more people making garments. Sales of Pleated Cardigan and Arucaria have been incredible and more and more projects are popping up on the garments from Hook, Stitch & Give and Simply Crochet than I ever have seen previously.
While I can't point to an exact reason for this shift, my gut says its two fold. Over the last few years, crochet saw a massive resurgence, with large numbers of people learning to crochet and "How to Crochet" being one of the most searched phrases on Google. Crochet Camp on Facebook started as a group of about 500 and now has a whopping 5,700 members. As people have been hooked by crochet (har har), my suspicion is that they have moved through the stages of projects, from simple homewares and blankets to more complicated accessories, with many people wanting to take it to the next level of garments for themselves as well as kids in their lives. Garments are definitely a big commitment and can take more skill to get something wearable at the end.
I also think that the DIY and Make it Wear it trends in fashion have impacted on those of us whose main craft is crochet. We have seen in sewists and knitters make gorgeous clothing and we want the same.
Fortunately, many designers have recognised that trend and there has been an upsurge of beautiful and wearable crochet garments available, across magazines and independent releases. I think its a really exciting time for crochet with gorgeous thoughtful designs coming to the fore.
Patterns listed (or click through the images)
(photo credits on click through, though most belong to the fabulous Britt Spring, styled by Claire Montgomerie)
Garments are expensive to make, and Deramores is launching a competition to win £500 worth of yarn. You can find the full details and the other trends picked by some fantastic bloggers here.
