Mystery Project Revealed?

On the way home from the wedding yesterday I stopped by our local hospital to briefly attend our local monthly crochet meeting.  Prizes were awarded for the Flip Flop contest, details were discussed for our upcoming busy time (visit Priscilla's blog for more details) where we'll be traveling & offering free beginner crochet lessons, and where our member Margaret Hubert announced that her latest book, Hooked Throws: 20 Easy Crochet Projects, is hot off the press.  This means I can reveal the project I hinted about 310 days ago ... yep, check it out, that's my stitch work I did for Margaret featured on page 12.  Margaret presented me with an autographed copy and showed me where she mentioned my name in her Acknowledgements.  She is such a classy lady! ... and the book is awesome too!  It even includes a pattern for entrelac crochet that everyone went wild for when I mentioned the new attitude I took on back in February ... do check it out!  :)

Recently I was asked about how one can "get their name on the list" to do stitch work for designers, so I think, based upon my excitement in helping Margaret, that it is fitting that I discuss it briefly in today's entry.

If doing stitch work for designers is something you're interested in doing, I suggest that you put together an online portfolio of the crochet work you have done.  These are either works you created yourself, or by following a published pattern.  You do not want to feature pictures of works you've done for other designers as the work does not belong to you -- it belongs to the designer (thus the reason the work I did for Margaret was covered in the above image).

The images you have in your portfolio should be clear.  This means that the image is easy to see/focus on the project without interference of your surroundings.  Last year I wrote an entry on how to take better pictures ... click here to visit that entry and learn things like the "rule of thirds." 

Next, you'll want to practice your gauge skills.  Some designers will request you send them some gauge samples, so practice is always key.  And when you do send your samples in they'll be looking for other things too ... like how clean your work is (does it smell of animals or smoke?  Is it covered in pet hair?)  Keep these things in mind.

To get your name out there, join some crochet groups -- local if possible, and definitely online.  The larger groups, in my humble opinion, will get more "public announcements" of "stitchers wanted."  If memory serves me correctly such a call went out on Crochet Partners about a week or two ago. 

Once you see the call, respond professionally.  Let the designer know what type of work you like to do (thread vs yarn, and the technique(s) you like most).  If you have your portfolio online, provide the link, as well as how you'd like to be contacted.  If the designer is interested he/she will then let you know.  And keep in mind that you need to be able to commit the time to the project(s). 

You may not get rich doing stitch work for designers, but if you are interested in trying out new projects before everyone else does, then by all means, it's a lot of fun to do!  :)