Sarah Leonard and I met in the fall of 2009. Her son Jacob and my son Tripp quickly became best buds when they met each other in kindergarden. Over the years, Sarah and I have also become friends. We try and walk every weekend–which is a great way to grow a friendship AND be healthy.
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- Jacob and Tripp in kindergarden.
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- The Leonard family- Chris, Sarah, and Jacob.
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- Sarah and I walking while Tripp and Jacob take snowboarding lessons.
Jacob is an only child, and Tripp is the youngest of three boys so their home environments are very different. Sarah makes sure Jacob brushes his teeth and eats his vegetables. I let my kids eat all of their Halloween candy in one sitting and don’t care what my kids eat as long as they cook it themselves. I call this seat of the pants parenting.
Sarah, on the other hand, strives for perfection in all aspects of her life whether it is her work–she is the new president and COO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association–or raising Jacob.
This makes for some funny stories, and I think both of our boys like this aspect of their friendship. Tripp gets to feel special when he visits the Leonard’s, and Jacob gets to be one of the guys when he visits our place.
From the very beginning of our friendship Sarah has been a super supporter of my work. Sometimes I don’t understand this, but I am always grateful.
She may even have been the first people in my life to say–I want a sweater! And finally after waiting for way too long, I finished one just for her.
Here is that story.
Sarah is my third model, so I am starting to get the process down. First, I invite the model over to my studio to discuss what kind of sweater they would like. Sarah is a busy mom who frequently goes from work to Jacob related activities. We wanted to create a look for her that could easily be worn with a skirt or jeans and make sense at board meeting while also looking right at a swim meet.
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- We both like this neckline. Sarah and I had walked right before this photo shoot which was probably not the best plan.
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- This is a good look for Sarah.
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- It looks great from the back too.
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- I like the neck here, but think the shape does nothing to hi-light Sarah’s curves.
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- This is a sweater I picked up at a thrift store. I thought it would be a great sloper from which to make Sarah’s sweater. She agreed to give it a try. We both agreed it should be longer by about 2 inches.
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- This sleeve looks great and the over all shape is very flattering.
Next, I select the palette and start stitching.
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- This is the sweater I am using to create my pattern from.I should have taken a better picture before I cut it up!
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- This is the cut up back.
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- The construction of this sweater is not hard but it is unusual. To help me better visualize it, I pinned the pieces onto my design wall. the long piece at the top goes all the way around the front edge of the sweater. In my version it is in gray wool.
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- I love this palette.
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- As I am desigining the patchwork on the back, I lay the fabric out in the way it will be in the final composition.
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- This is the completed back. One black sliver is every so slightly smaller than the other black sliver. I debate for a long time about this and decided that I was okay with the difference. Human hands made this and human hands are by nature imperfect.
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- Here is the final sweater. I kind of wish the sweater did not fit Sarah as I like how it looks on me.
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- The back of the sweater.
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- The side view. See how the blue comes to a point. It is this strange construction that makes that happen.
And finally, a beautiful new sweater for Sarah. I love that it is a totally different look.
I’ve got four days left in April–who thinks I will get Ms. April’s sweater by then?
I’m sharing this post on Nina-Marie’s blog where you can check out what other artist’s have been doing this week.
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