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Table of Contents PART I: Getting Started 1 Introduction 4 Origins of the Katwi

Table of Contents PART I: Getting Started 1 Introduction 4 Origins of the Katwise Elf Coat 8 The Joy of Sweaters 10 Gathering Your T ools 13 Choosing Your Sweaters 22 Serging Tips 24 Anatomy of a Sweater PART II: Sewing The Coat 26 The Bodice 29 The Skirt 35 The W aistband 37 Assembling The Coat 39 The Bottom Rows 43 Sleeves! 47 The Front Panel 49 The Hood 55 Finishing Touches PART III: Adding Your Own Style 57 Pockets 60 Optional 60 V ariations 62 What Do I Do With All These Sweater Scraps? PART IV: In Conclusion 64 Caring For Y our Coat 65 Etsy Etiquette 68 Let’s Help Each Other 70 Acknowledgements Introduction Introduction Hiya! So… you want to make one of these crazy coats? Excellent! I will do my best to share with you what I have learned in my many years as a sweater cobbler. I am sure as you begin to play with recycling sweaters you will discover just how addictively fun and at times challenging they can be. So, fix yourself a cup of tea and settle in for quite a little read. I have never even seen a sewing tutorial before, much less written one. Therefore, I’ve taken one of the liberties afforded to me as an eccentric and created this “tutorial” thingy my own way. It is kind of like a long conversation rather than a normal how-to pattern. Hopefully by the end of it you will have an understanding of some of the magic involved in working with sweaters. *****(I am waiting for you to get tea)***** PART I: Getting Started 1 I should start by clarifying that I am from the punk rock school of perfectionism… which is to say, I thumb my nose at perfection. In the art of recycling sweaters, imperfection is your best friend. If you try to be perfect with sweaters, you are overlooking one of their finest attributes, which is their forgiveness. The more you are able to be spontaneous and thoughtful, the nicer the final product will be. There are no patterns nor exact measurements here. This is a step- by-step process which includes basic shapes and guidelines that will teach you how to use your own brain to bring it all to life. I am gonna assume both that you’ve got common sense and that you have sewn on a serger before. If either of these assumptions are untrue, then your coat is gonna be extra wonky. Don’t get me wrong, we love wonky – but if you have never sewn before, an elf coat is a challenging undertaking. Thankfully, to some degree, patchwork gets more charming the worse it is. I am not going to discuss basic sewing techniques in this tutorial. I am assuming that you are capable of simple things like attaching a skirt to a bodice. Feel free to exercise your own judgment any step of the way. Perhaps you have techniques you have learned in your own sewing journey that you can use to enhance your project. It’s sort of like cooking – you may want to add a little dash of seasoning here and there to suit your taste. 2 Just have fun with it, don’t be afraid of making mistakes, because that’s the best way to learn. I have made thousands of these, but I assure you that my first sweaters were god-awful, and it is a testament to the good nature of my friends that they were worn at all. So, if your first sweater sucks, don’t despair… give it to the dog and try again! In fact, sewing catastrophes are not only a terrific way to learn, but, if you push though them, they often turn out quite wonderful. To tell the truth, when I look back at all my creations, the ones I love the most invariably started out as huge disasters that demanded creative solutions. Due to the unique qualities of each sweater, pretty much everything each of us makes is gonna end up being one-of-a-kind. That is great! But it also poses some challenges in trying to make a pattern. I will probably confuse you somewhere along the line! That’s ok. The elf coat technique is actually pretty simple. You will find your way back! If you find yourself tangled up and crying in a pile of sweaters, just head over to my Facebook page. There is a discussion there called “Sweater Making Questions”… if you don’t see the answer you seek, ask and you shall receive! Yours with infinite absurdity, 3 Origins of the Katwise Elf Coat Origins of the Katwise Elf Coat I was born a freak, but it took a while before I figure out how to sew well enough to express that freakiness through clothing. I basically spent my childhood cutting holes in my clothes and drawing all over them with Sharpies. I finally learned how to sew as a teenager, following the Grateful Dead. I was one of those messy-haired girls selling patchwork gowns in the parking lot so I could get gas money to the next show. On Dead tour we would all try to outdo one another with fantastically spinny dervish dresses to dance in. This elf coat concept undeniably inherited many of its attributes from the style of the Grateful Dead parking lot. There is a certain “I am a crappy seamstress but I am gonna sew anyway” attitude in hippie fashion that never fails to charm me. It’s so punk rock! Grateful Dead T our 1993 Selling Pants on Phish T our 1998 4 After I left Dead tour and all its velvety, calico wonders, I discovered Burning Man in the mid 90s. I then had a big rebirth of sparkles and fur and funk and vinyl and feathers. I worked my way though many luxurious textiles over the years, experimenting with all sorts of theatrical elements in my clothes and developing a stronger voice of my own. For fifteen years I hitchhiked all over the world, visiting over a hundred countries and figuring out ways to survive on my art. I discovered so many amazing communities of indigenous folks, travelers, radical faeries, gypsies and punks, all of who left indelible marks on my personal style. Not to mention all the amazing textiles and costumes that I drank up during my wayward years. To this day I still look for ways to incorporate little patches of fabrics that I have picked up in my travels – it’s like telling a story with your clothes. Eventually I became a street vendor in New York City’s East Village, where I sold my sweaters out of my psychedelic rainbow My bus at Burning Man 1997 Hitchhiking to Timbuktu 2006 5 school bus. Those countless cold afternoons chatting with customers taught me so many valuable things about the qualities that people appreciate in clothing. By watching thousands of people try on my creations I got a feel for what fit people seem to like most, and what little details catch their eyes. All of the input from these wonderful customers influenced my designs in a wonderfully democratic process. It organically led to the evolution of my present day Katwise coat. When you look at my elf coat design, you might just see a coat… but I see all the little components that sprung forth from travels and friends and late night sewing accidents. This coat pattern is very autobiographical to me. It continues to morph and grow with each passing experience. For the last five years I have been blessed with an amazing following on Etsy. I really can’t believe people’s enthusiasm for these funny coats! I can only imagine that this conspiracy of little details somehow resonates with the sense Street Vending in NYC 2007 6 of adventure and exuberance we all have. Whatever it is, I feel very flattered that I could create something that so many people seemed to respond to. Along with meeting some golden-hearted new friends, all this good fortune has enabled me to fulfill a dream of buying a old farm in the Hudson Valley. Thanks to sweaters, I now have a very funny looking rainbow cottage surrounded by brilliant flowers. I call it “The House that Sweaters Built”. I can’t believe all the doors that sweaters have opened up for me! Since I have never been able to keep up with the demand, there have been several dozen new Etsy shops that have opened up to sell these designs. It was very strange to see at first, but over time I have grown to see it as very flattering. Rather that resist it, I wanted to write this to share the things that I have learned in all these years of sweater experimentation. It is kind of cool to see this creative child o’ mine grow up and take on a life of its own. The Katwise coat has served me well, and perhaps it will lead uploads/s3/ sweatercoat-guide.pdf