The acessory that took the winter 2021 season by storm-
I noticed a shift from how accessories became more than just mere details but also provided substantial wear. Enter, the balaclava.
It took me a minute to correct my pronunciation from baklava, a sweet Turkish pastry to balaclava, a scarf-like head mask.
There is so much room to allow a balaclava to dominate as a statement piece. Its visibility can really serve as an eye-catching item. As well as the seasonal need for a balaclava allows for it to be easily styled with the colorful to neutral tones of winter outerwear.
I started sewing balaclavas because I found that they were easiest to create from materials I already have. (The bags of unsold knits and sweaters I never styled started to feel slightly appreciated).
I did use a pattern for this but one that was poorly constructed. I attempted to make my own by following instructions from a blog I found online. I got confused and frustrated when I felt the measurements were off. In reality, I just did not like the way this pattern was manifesting itself. I then just took a huge sheet of paper and held it against the side of my head as a loosely traced it. I went back over the scribble to solidify and create a solid line.
The pattern I drew up looks more like a helmet. One time my sister came into my room while I had this pattern out and asked me why I was doing among us cosplay…
My impatience while drawing up the pattern did cost me later as I found that the measurements from the slope of the back of the head feeding into the neck, were more difficult for me to obtain.
I started by cutting a baby blue knit sweater that I had already played around with.
It was a fairly worn-out sweater. One that I had already upcycled. The lightweight crochet pattern of this knit made it the perfect candidate, being that the threads were already prone to unraveling.
My inspiration was the fact that I had never seen any long-eared bunny balaclavas and I honestly just wanted one for myself.
I cut off the sleeves to use as ears.
I then folded the body part of the sweater in half and cut out my helmet pattern.
I looked over at some baby blanket yarn that I bought because it was on sale and pleasantly found that the color of the yarn matched the sweater almost perfectly.
Iām not sure what drove me to act upon this idea, but I remember feeling as though the base was plain and needed just a little extra something.
I tediously hand-stitched the scrunched yarn around the edges of the ears and eye-opening to create a border. This was challenging work and way time-consuming being that I was threading my tiny polyester thread into a just slightly wider thread that withstood as a base for the plush baby blanket yarn.
Roughly 9 hours later, you see how the texture of the fuzzy yarn against the cable knit pattern of the cotton certainly gave this accessory a fun whimsical look. I sewed in yellow pearls to contrast the icy dyes of blue.
I have a styrofoam head that I used to make sure that my seams were tight and straight. I frequently would take the hat off and pin it to the styrofoam head. I was trying to apply this “sew on the body” technique I developed to how I was developing this accessory.
I started to experiment and see what other concerts I could add to the foundational balaclava blueprint. I drew up sketches for a ton of different ideas. One is a sheer balaclava.
I loosely created a balaclava from a sheer floral printed fabric. Although I am sure this used to be a curtain.
The balaclava may be termed a winter accessory, although I’ve found that the same design (made with lighter materials) could potentially make its way over to spring/summer wear.
I continued to hand sew, seeing what else I could do with this concept. Here I sewed a Versace tag from a button-down (that was so ugly) onto a balaclava I made from a white cable knit sweater that I wore once for a thanksgiving dinner.
I tend to add pearl beads to many of my designs. In this case, I find that the colorful shimmer of a pearl gives a luxurious detail against the ripped ragged threads of an old knit.
I feel as though the way New York fashion is evolving portrays this theme of old and new. Two eras of fashion, exist independently of each other although. Shiny luxurious wealthy lifestyles flaunted around, borne of an older New York ambiance, filters a nostalgic eye to a time unlived, the glamor and glitz of old new york fashion transcends into a newer era of revolution.
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