published design | Doris Chan Crochet

>Every day I try to wear something I’ve crocheted, that is, on the rare days I get dressed and leave my abode. 99% of the time I am at home and only need to throw a favorite shawl over my pajamas in order to make a mailbox run or grab boxes of yarn left on the front porch by the delivery guys. So much for the glamorous, action-packed lifestyle of a crochet designer!

In my continuing crusade to offer T-shirt and jeans as an acceptable mode of dress, I gravitate toward any sort of attractive layer: vests, tanks, toppers and shrugs. Not only are these little pieces relatively quick to crochet, but if ingeniously crafted they can hide a multitude of sins.

For example, here is the prototype for the Cat’s Cradle topper, from the January 2007 issue of Crochet! Magazine. If you’re wearing something lacy made in a wonderful yarn in an eye-popping shade of electric blue, then nobody notices the coffee dribble that stubbornly refuses to wash out of your white T-shirt. Trust me.

See the cat? See the cradle? See the coffee stains?????? 😀

I own many design prototypes, but hardly any garment samples as published. Not satisfied with mere swatching, I often dive into a pile of yarn and crochet a whole garment. That way I can “test drive” pieces by wearing the prototypes around before I even consider submitting for publication. Eventually I have to go back, pattern the thing and remake it in the required sample yarn. This is not the same as “pattern testing”; remaking your own written pattern or hiring someone else to do it in order to check accuracy. In my experience designers are never allowed enough time, materials or compensation to make that happen. More important to me than writing a perfect pattern is making sure that the clothes fit and function for real.

For this reason many crocheters (and technical editors!) find my patterns are nightmares to follow. Sorry about the mess. But if you have the heart to persevere I think you’ll end up with something that you’ll want to wear proudly.

Inspired by traditional Chinese costume (“cheongsam” for both women and men in the Cantonese dialect, or more accurately “qipao” for just the woman’s dress) this design has been a pet project of mine since childhood. In her trousseau my mother had several dresses that had been custom-made for her at the time of her engagement to my dad, when she was a mere 90 pounds. Here’s my favorite. That’s Mom, standing, with her bridesmaids at her engagement party, 1953. The dress is apricot silk shot with gold thread.

There were few Asian women to serve as role models for me, growing up Chinese American in the 60’s. When the film “Flower Drum Song”, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, came out, I immediately knew I didn’t want to be like HER (Myoshi Umeki as Mei Li, the good daughter):

I wanted to be like HER (Nancy Kwan as Linda Low, the showgirl):

Hey, not so awful as stereotypes go. Those dresses were part of the package.

It was a romantic and impractical idea to have such a dress tailored for me. The more I thought about it over the years, the less I wanted to actually wear one. Although the original 17th century qipao was loose fitting and concealing, the modern Shanghai style is form fitting, with a high, tight, stiff collar. Trust me, you can’t breathe, walk, sit or (gasp) eat in it. And I was never going to have the figure for it.

The only way it was ever going to happen was if I designed a baby-boomer stretchy crocheted one. A couple of years ago I decided I had enough skills and experience to tackle the project; this early prototype in worsted weight cotton/acrylic was the result:

When Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet, and I were discussing a garment design to illustrate my take on crochet shaping, I think I squealed (I know I squealed) as I offered this one. I chose Filatura Di Crosa “Brillante”, an absolutely gorgeous sportweight blend of cotton/viscose with a subtle shimmer and crisp drape, a yarn that was WAY out of my league at the time of the above prototype. I was knocked off my butt thrilled when it made the cover:

This week I am crocheting my own China Doll to wear at TNNA in Columbus. With two weeks to go, there’s plenty of time to get it done. But, sigh, there will never be enough time to get myself to the point where it looks good on me. Aw hell, I’m wearing it anyway, belly fat be damned!