What No One is Saying About Taylor Swift's Crochet Dress - With Littlejohn's Yarn
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ส.ค. 2024
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If you are a genuine Swiftie, or if you're seeing it against your will, the viral Taylor Swift crochet dress is everywhere. Let's talk with Alysha from Littlejohn's Yarn about fast fashion's impact on the crochet community (spoiler: it's not good). But I won't stop there! I'm going to add some much-needed nuance to this conversation because...it's complicated.
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I'm going to add some much-needed nuance to this conversation because it's complicated. I'd love to read your thoughts too! Remember to use JillianEve20 and get 20% off your first box from Hooks and Needles🎉
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I love my hook and needles mystery box! Thank you
I am allergic to wool, actually ai am told it is the lanolin in the wool, can you pick which yarns you get in the boxes?
ngl ive never seen knitted crocheted anything like that, but i went on that site and got me a box with your code 😂 i like creative things so i hope it’s easy enough i can do the easy one.
I taught my (ex)husband to knit, and then to purl, and then 2,2 ribbing. He looked up in frustration at one point during the ribbing and said “it’s a humbling experience to realize you can’t reliably count to 2.”
😂 I feel this deeply!
Insightful dude!🎉
Ha ha and true
Seeing that article say the dress would only cost $11 in yarn took 11 years off my life.
Maybe if you got your yarn from an extremely generous thrift shop? 😅
@VultureSkins i have gotten skeins for 50 cents before from thrift shops, and some stores sell acryllic yarn for a buck or two... so it's not impossible as such. just very improbable given just how much yarn you'd need 🥹
i did track down the article so i know the swiftie who made the dress for $11 made it herself, and so the price is entirely self-reported. there could be many reasons it cost her so little money but that's not discussed as far as I've seen. She could have been gifted half of the yarn for all we know.
Agreed. A Taylor Swift sized body could probably wear a dress made from something like 2-3 of those Caron cakes, which could be found on sale in the vicinity of $11. But.... Most people are not Taylor Swift sized bodies 😅😅and most yarn is not on sale to that degree
That Verge Girl size range is absolutely tiny, compared to many Australian companies. Many go up to at least a size 18.
A business could possibly get yarn that cheap by buying it in bulk, but that's still then not paying the value of the labor to make the yarn. I think people don't realize that even materials that are made by machine have people working to operate those machines and perform steps that can't be automated. Most people are surprised when I tell them that their clothes are NOT made by machines - there is a person who has to sew them together - so how many don't realize there are also people making all the materials?
"if you think you can count, try crochet because no you can't" i can't describe how deeply i felt that
"Of course I will be able to see the first stich of this round, I don't need to bother with futzing with a stich marker..." rarely do I watch my past self sabotage my future self in real time, and yet I don't step in to rescue myself. Haha!
bruh i’m an engineering major and generally enjoy calculus … and yet u want me to count to 20 for this round? forget it it’s over honestly
I thought I could count, and then I was thoroughly humbled by the phrase "chain 197".
The answer to "well natural fibers have a production impact too" is that we shouldn't replace overconsumption of plastic with overconsumption of natural fibers but instead make and purchase lasting items and end the culture of buying for a few wears... but in reality that also requires political action to make sure fabrics that don't disintegrate in a month even get *produced*. When I see how the clothes and fabrics I can buy now compare to my clothes from even fifteen years ago (that still hold up fine), much less those that I inherited from my parents and grandparents, the difference is just mindblowing. I can't really blame kids who've only ever *had* that level of quality for disposing of things that *are* broken. And it's hard to make a lot of your own clothes when getting garment fabric, much less *good* garment fabric, has become so difficult.
Also I'd put forward the argument that overconsumption if natural fibres is still far less damaging to the planet then overconsumption of plastic. The impact of natural fibres is only in the manufacturing while there is not one part of a plastic garments lifecycle which isn't damaging.
Basically, the argument is a disingenuous strawman aimed at attempting to discredit people who actually do make an effort for the environment.
That's even disregarding the fact that natural fibres can be grown sustainably (even if sometimes they are not) while plastic is universally awful.
Agreed.
This 🙌
You can make clothes out of shredded plastic made into fiber.
"Oh no, I just worked the tail" - name me ONE PERSON who hasn't done that! Knitting or crochet!
I've never done it! Except maybe on Tuesdays.....
I haven't. Yet at least. There's always the future
I’ve started doing it more accidentally 😂, grabbing the tail
@@sydneyweaver2702 just a matter of time lol
I tie up my tails - double it and then in a bow or figure 8 knot. The weight of the knot and it being shorter means its impossible to mistake for working yarn. Changed my knitting for the better, especially for my ADHD or post-viral brain fog bretheren.
I really need people to understand if they don’t look like Taylor Swift before wearing the dress, they will NEVER look like her in the dress. Sadly, it’s a bulky, boxy dress that is not going to flatter many bodies. It’s just not a body friendly dress. It’s just not.
Thank you! EDIT: Also, realistically, that dress strikes me as an odd sort of beach throw-over. I normally only swim at the beach if it's hot, so, when I'm out of the water I'm going to want sun protection, not something that is going to be quite hot. As Evie pointed out, neither wool nor cotton is necessarily ideal for that sort of garment, so I feel that the garment itself is not particularly practical and therefore not going to get a great deal of wear.
Honestly, I don't think it looked that good on Swift, either.
I truly believe this was a gift she was given and she decided to wear it. And how nice of her was that. I’ll never make because I despise granny stitch anything. And yea, you CAN sell it for $16, but S&H costs $45….
I was going to say, this CAN be true but doesn't have to be. By changing yarn weight and hook size down and adjusting length etc it can be far more versatile
Please do not forget about the health hazard you face wearing products from SHEIN, TEMU… materials and dye turn out to potentially cause cancer!
I've been crocheting for 50 years. I make clothes for myself. Every time I wear a crochet piece, people approach me to give me compliments. I know that crocheting is not easy. May yeas ago, I tried selling baby cardigan sets and blankets. People wanted the items at a very low price. Unless you are a crocheter, you wouldn't understand the time, the skill, and the talent that it takes to crochet. ❤ your channel.
I simply tell people they can't afford it.
I crochet, it takes me months to make stuff, but I would not charge people ridiculous prices for something I made
I just want to cry anytime I see crochet on the rack, knowing how much people were taken advantage of to create it ON TOP of the normal slave conditions fast fashion creates... :(
Thank you for this video, Evie
As a fiber artist, these viral crochet moments have been painful. I’m definitely very skeptical of a brand selling a $119 crochet dress, but kudos to VRG girl for their willingness to have a conversation. Thanks for your investigation!
I think this is really frustrating too because the conception that people have of knitting machines is that they just spit out the item. Although industrial machines vary, hobby machine knitters will tell you that there’s an immense amount of human interaction with a knitting machine as it produces the garment. It’s still handmade, just in a different way.
agreed! it takes a lot of interaction and experience
I've never tried machine knitting myself, but it looks quite complicated. It's definitely faster than hand knitting once you know what you're doing, but it still takes a lot of skill. I prefer to hand knit and crochet, but I think machine knitting is a unique and wonderful craft of it's own.
My paternal grandfather bought a knitting machine for my grandmother (I suspect at her insistence). She made about one garment on it and then decided it was way too much like hard work. After that my grandfather used it.
My mother eventually ended up with one of the less successful knitting machine creations, she ripped it out and reknitted it. I remember that as her dog -walking cardigan for many years.
True true true
I liken the snobbery against domestic knitting machines to folk saying spinning on a wheel and not a spindle is "cheating" or whatever. Then the whole thing appears just is as ridiculous as it sounds, because I've found plenty of knitting snobs, but never heard of any anti spinning wheel snobs 😂
When you dig into the history of knitting machines and find out that the English Queen Elizabeth was on the throne when the first one was invented, and that's the first Queen Elizabeth not the recently deceased one, it really puts a different slant on it.
$11 of yarn... I hadn't seen that magazine article yet. I'm baffled. Ok, I've got my torch, where's this angry mob I can join? ;)
I have a crochet bedsheet that was made by my great grandmother, I didn’t get to know her, but I was named after her, and a few years ago my grandmother gave me this bedsheet. Now, my grandmother has also passed, but every time I look at this bedsheet I’m reminded of the amazing line of great women who created things for over 100 years and how wonderful it is to to be able to look and touch something a person I didn’t even get to know spent so much time on
❤
That's so lovely 💜
A whole dress for $11 in yarn?? on WHAT planet??? I so appreciate you talking about this, it's such an important thing for people to know. I've crocheted for almost 20 years now and I still didn't know until last year that crochet couldn't be replicated by machine. I never buy it now and always make it myself.
People like you and Littlejohn Yarns sharing this stuff changes minds and hearts.
they priced the $11 from a barbie dress lol not even the itchiest acrylic yarn is that inexpensive
People seem to forget you also have to pay yourself for those 12 hours that you worked! The yarn may have cost $11 plus dollars but what about the labor?
I have to cast on in the bathroom because no one around here is going to give me the head space to count to twenty.
^ THIS! ^
Counting is hard, okay?
Yeah, my kids thought it was funny to intentionally talk to me, or say random numbers while I try to count stitches. They have since taken up crochet, and get why I would get frustrated 😂
It's this crap that makes me not want to sell my crocheted items, because I have Zero Chill with people who say "I can get it cheaper at..." That absolutely WILL end up having me in their face telling them why that's not in the same galaxy as correct and if they really believed the quality at where ever was equally as good They Wouldn't Be Talking To Me In The First Place. I don't know WHY these people say these things believe it's okay to try to use that as leverage to get something out of an indie creator. Not to mention, this causes all creators to undersell themselves, and I absolutely am not having that. Artists and craftspeople are being thrown under the bus while places for "handmade" like Etsy are now lousy with corporate groups selling sweatshopped items and stolen patterns. It's heartbreaking and maddening. But, hey making your own stuff is Punk! Living unabashedly hopeful is punk! Be Punk!
I've told people to buy at the cheaper place before. It's no skin off my nose and the people who say these things generally want to manipulate you into giving them a discount. They want the item, but at slave labour prices.
I refuse to sell what I make for several reasons, but the primary one is because selling my handcrafts is turning my FUN thing into a WORK thing. I knitted a dress for a friend's daughter. The friend's mom was astounded that it wasn't purchased from a store ("It's so perfect! She could sell these!"). My response -- "If I don't love you enough to make it for free, I don't love you enough to make it." If they're expensive, I'll let you buy the materials, but that's it.
The best answer to "I can get it cheaper at __", albeit a bit petty, would be "then get it from there? 🤨" they're saying that to insult you and say that your art doesn't matter or isn't worth it. And they're so wrong for that. Your art matters! Never forget that ❤
I decided to add my two cents. I used to have a sewing craft business, selling my items at craft shows. I loved it, but I hardly made any money doing so. Myself and the other sewers in the same business as me would laugh at ourselves. We figured, we made about 3 cents an hour when everything was said and done, but we still had to do it. It was like a calling to us. I decided way back when that I wouldn't even try selling my stitchery, knit or crochet items, because I wouldn't even make 3 cents an hour not including my wrecked fingers and hands. I spin, crochet, knit and other yarn items for myself or as gifts to those who I hope appreciate them. I used to make crocheted doilies using the thin crochet thread and the tiniest crochet hook. (I was told to crochet tightly.) The hook sometimes would go into my skin like pricking myself with needles. (I learned later that I didn't need to.) (Note: I think just about everything I made from quilts to whatever has at least one drop of my blood.) Anyway, I made lots of nice doilies until I got tired of doing so. One day, I went to a faire and saw that doilies (similar to mine) from another country were selling for less than a $1. I was literally shocked that anyone would sell them for that cheap. It's probably one of the most painfully delicate crochet items to make. (At least it was for me. My hands hurt so much by the time I was finished.) So now, at 68 years old, I would rather give an item away than receive an insulting small amount for my work. My hands hurt probably all the time, but I can deal with it. I won't stop crafting until I have no choice.
I totally agree. People who don't know better will tell me, you should sell that! I tell them I would rather give things to people I love rather than sell for cheap to people I don't know and don't care about.
@@sonyasiedschlag3916 I can’t even count the number of times I went to move to the next bit of hand stitched hem only to find I’d sewn the hem into my finger!
Oh, the sacrifices to Arachne, Goddess of stitches! 😂☝🏼🤷🏻♀️
I'm glad to see someone in the crochet community pointing out there's more too it than just "Crochet can't be done by machine." At lot of the fast fashion and stuff you find at large retailers is actually just "crochet look," stuff that at first glance looks like crochet but if you get up close and have knowledge of knitting and crochet you can see it's a knit stitch pattern mimicking the texture of crochet. That doesn't mean it suddenly gets a free pass just because it wasn't completely hand made by someone being paid pennies a day.
When I see a clothing item I really like advertised on a fast fashion site, I reverse-google-search the images those sites use until I can hunt down the original artist. Sometimes it takes some DIGGING
I still can't believe I decided to pick up crochet again at the same time it became a trendy hobby just by chance. My grandma taught me years ago and I find it really calming
As I have grown and learned various art forms I have noted on multiple occasions that there is a big difference between people in fibre/sewing/cottagecore-ish arts and "fine" arts. Ask someone doing "fine" arts about a technique and for the most part you will be met with distrust, and an unwillingness to share because you might become a competitor. There are of course exceptions, but as a general rule it is sad. Then ask someone in the more "get your hands dirty" arts like fibre, cottage-core etc, and you are usually met with a firehose worth of information as they excitedly tell you the 30 different ways you can accomplish the same thing because we all feel like a community working towards a better world where people know where their stuff actually comes from. hahaha
I have a friend who studied art history - she said people were quite vile toward each other because of the competition, so I think you are right😅
Have another friend who worked at several galleries who said a lot of the fine art is some sort of tax evasion or something like that😂😂
@@Cevaliphey there, I think I have existed in both realms - I didn't grow up with much wealth or anything but I did grow up on a farm and do raise sheep and crochet and knit!
But I also went to school for art education, and my younger brother is an MCAD alum - so I think we're both well versed in the academic side of art and a little bit of the "fine art" pretentious stuff too. A lot of artists are more than happy to share with you, and critique you, and help you but it's just a little different. You study all these big art movements like dada and Bauhaus and try to figure out the hows and why's and blahblahblah. Fiber arts just ARE. They always have been and they always will be. Because they're so functional (even when they're meant to be fashion) you don't really need to explain socks to someone.
It's interesting to see the world of fiber art and fine art collide every once in a while, I will come back here and add some really cool artists below
Rachel Nettles
Ipnot
Eliza Bennet
Rob Strati
Vanessa Valero
Isabella Despujols
These are some of my favorite artists and watching them blend these two worlds is super exciting
I was glad to hear you say that all fibers have environmental and usage issues. I’m personally horrified by the impact of “organic cotton.” That fiber is so, so hard on the planet. Add in that hubby is violently allergic to linen, and wool turns me into a blotchy, wheezing mess, our only options are man-made fibers. Full stop.
And on another note, I used to make historical clothing for sale to friends. In an effort to help other people afford to participate in our hobby, I was paying myself a couple of dollars an hour, and I was on the hook for buying specialty fabrics out of pocket. I would feel so frustrated. For myself, I’ve now made the personal decision to simply gift the items. It’s a very loose barter system. If the only thing you can “trade” is helping with set up or take down at display events, that’s cool. Giving has allowed me to lose the frustration and resentment. But there’s a string: if you decide you no longer want to participate, just return the items so they can bless someone else. So far, we’ve only had one “take the clothing and run” fellow out of 30+ people.
I'm in the same boat. I make amigurumi dolls. I've sold a couple and many people who see my work tell me I should sell them. The problem is that at $75-$90 per toy, I would still not be making a livable wage for all the time that goes into making these doll because it Takes me 12 to 16 hrs of work to produce a doll (they are pretty detailed). So I end up giving them away as gifts to close friends and family whom I know would appreciate the item. Plus being paid and having a deadline for my hobby kinda sucks the fun out of it. If I have my own self imposed deadline, then if I miss it, no one knows.
Have you tried with fibers such as lyocell or modal? They're part of the half man made like viscose. They're made from tree cellulose that gets treated with chemicals and other types of solvents to create fibers that get spun into thread. Modal expecially is considered one of if not the most sustainable fabric out there.
@@kaylab1157 exactly this. If it’s a gift, mentally I don’t mind putting in the time and effort.
I feel the “Oh no, I just worked the tail” and “If you think you know how to count, try to crochet.” They made me laugh. Great video. Happy crocheting 💚🧶💚
Oh dear.
There are so many levels to this, and I totally get that everyone has different skills and different values. I’m going to tell you what I do, not because I’m judging other people’s choices and circumstances, but to contribute to the nuances of this conversation.
Aside from underpants and swimsuits, I make my own clothes. Jeans, shorts, shirts, caftans. When I was working, I also made dresses. I have been using the same shirt pattern (and the same dress pattern, but not any more) for 25 years. I don’t need a lot of variety, and my level of interest in fashion is something close to zero. As long as I’m clean and legal (ie not naked at the grocery store), I’m good to go. I only buy good quality (quilter grade) cotton in pretty prints, so my shirts last for many years. I have 8-10 shirts that I wear in rotation, and when one gets more worn than I like, I thrift it and make another shirt. Right now I’ve got two pieces of yardage to make new shirts, but the last time I made any was about 6-7 years ago. (As an aside, I put two pockets on the front and skip bras entirely.) I’m always clean and tidy, and now that I’m a senior citizen, nobody expects anything from me, which is lovely. To be clear, I was doing this while I was still working, but I worked for a small company where my style wasn’t an issue. I haven’t worn makeup since about 1985, and don’t color my hair. I’m active, have great friends and an amazing husband, and my life is pretty wonderful. We have enough money that I could “do better,” but why? I’m living MY values, not those of society.
“But what about coats and sweaters?” We’re snowbirds, and I’m always too warm anyway. In the past 30 years I’ve bought one windbreaker. All my other jackets last forever because I never wear them.
So. Yes, I’m 100% with you on asking yourself, “why am I shopping today, and what’s my motivation?”
From my perspective, the problem is the expectations society puts on us to act and look and be a certain way. If you’re loving what you’re doing, and you’re someone who loves fashion and makeup and variety, I’m not here to tell you you’re wrong. But if you feel like you’re dressing a certain way in order to meet external expectations, think about what you really want to be doing, and then work towards that vision.
🥰
As someone apart of the older section of gen z who loves fashion, I couldn't agree more. I feel like alot of fast fashion companies target people my age because we haven't fully grown into adulthood or are still teenagers trying to discover what we want to be and how we want to present. (In regards to overconsumption, not talking about people who can't afford to buy elsewhere.) It feels like a self-fulfilling cycle where people are pressured to dress a certain way for a couple months and when they obviously change and develop more, the fast fashion industry is waiting for them to buy more because by then the clothes they already own would be unwearable due to poor quality. It's just another example of capitalism encoraging peoples insecurities for profit, unfortunately.
@@milbbeeExactly! Young women are easy targets for anyone telling them they can fix their lives by buying Just The Very Thing those people are selling.
I think one of your final comments is also very important 'make a sweater and have that be your sweater, don't buy anymore'
Certainly in every office I have worked at there is a pressure to wear something different each day of the week, and to not wear the same item two days in a row. I even got a comment about my winter coat 'Didn't you wear that one last year' Yes I did, and it is still in perfect condition so I am wearing it this year, and most likley next year and beyond too. We need to go back to having fewer clothes, not buying more just to have something new.
Wow that’s crazy that they even care
@@WaffleSalad I know, I wouldn't have any idea what coat a colleague even wore the year before, unless it was something that really stood out like a bright red cloak.
One thing I haven’t seen or heard talked about is when clothing is mislabeled to take advantage of people who don’t know the difference between knit and crochet, not to mention when they completely lie about the material used. The way items are sourced, priced, and labeled shouldn’t be used to manipulate consumers. I hope conversations like these go beyond just the fiber art community and genuinely give people a better understanding of the items they want.
Recently, I have seen a "new" machine knit technique that looks like crochet from a distance. It can even imitate granny squares. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's what people get when they order those $12.00 "crochet" dresses.
I've seen from another youtuber that target did this and people were outraged as they thought it was actual crochet being sold for so little. But to the trained eye it's more obvious that it was knitted.
That's often the case, but I am pretty sure both from photographs and from the conversation Liz Kerr had with someone from the company that TS's dress is real crochet.
as an autistic girlie whose special interests include Taylor Swift, fibre arts and (sustainable) fashion, I feel like these discussions are tailor made (Taylor made?? sorry everyone 😅) for me! I'm so impressed by how thoroughly the folks in the community are exploring this topic. I've watched like three or four videos here on YT about it now and every single one was nuanced and with a slightly different perspective. I love that we encourage each other to think and explore deeply and with generosity! I found your channel through this video, so I'll definitely be subscribing! Glad to find another wonderful fibre arts creator 🥰
As for your question about 3 specific things to look for while shopping: I'm fat so size inclusivity is a always a necessity for me. I also have a lot of different sensory needs so wherever I shop, the individual garments always has to undergo a thorough investigations to see if it I can tolerate it lol. Lastly, I look for specific things in the construction and quality of items - my weight fluctuates so I need a construction that can facilitate that, especially with trousers. This means I can't always shop at stores that have the most transparent labour practices or business ethics, if they don't carry my size or their constructions all have weird seems in places that give me the ick. I've felt very bad about that in the past, but learning how to knit and crochet has helped me soothe that anxiety a bit since I know can provide at least some of my own clothing.
I am sitting here crocheting watching this video in cloths I sewed myself LOL
I am also working to make cloths that do not need elastic. I dont like using elastic for many reasons. including environmental reasons.
Well presented! Mostly, the general public is ignorant where their clothing comes from. If you create clothing or any textile goods, do it in public, you might get attention and then the oportunity to inform people. Not everyone can learn to crochet or make their own clothing. It is a skill like takes time to learn and master. Just as I would not tell everyone “paint your house yourself, learn to repair your car yourself, install your own hot water heater” I would not flippantly just tell someone to “make your own clothes.” Historically, “women’s work” has been veiwed as insignificant and I think that’s the core of the problem.
Evie thank you so much for this video. I get so frustrated when i see these sites selling crochet for such cheap money. We crocheters need to spread the word.
I'm actually impressed that they responded to you. I can't believe it when I see items so cheap in shops when I know how long they must have taken to make.
A woman I know spent most of her life researching and developing her subject expertise. She finally took the time to turn her teaching into a book and self-published.
Within days someone had bought her book and photocopied it to list it on Amazon as Used. There were more ‘used’ available than she had sold! There was nothing Amazon would do to stop the theft and it broke her heart. She stopped the whole project because she didn’t do it to waste her time fighting.
Yes, so many TH-cam crocheters making these videos calling this out. Thank you for helping to the word!
That’s how I learned when I was a child. I would constantly make long chains and undo them. Until one day I asked how to “add on”. So I’d crochet a little every now and then when I bored. I didn’t really start to learn until my teen years. Then I later learned that “adding on” was single crochet. 😂
Also probably like 90% or more of everything I own is second hand or free. My shoes, clothes, furniture, books, decorations, etc… Pretty much the only thing I buy from stores are like shampoo and foodstuffs. In the future I’d like to learn more, while being more self sufficient, and try to get everything as locally as I can.
Temu has a crochet sweater listed for roughly $13. I had someone send it to me and I was like greaaaat now people are going to expect that price at Craft/ Vendor shows and told them that the price doesn't even cover the hours to make that let alone the cost of yarn. Thank you for sharing this video. :)
12:49 this bit is such a mood. Specifically try counting when somebody wants to talk to you, especially if you’re doing your foundation chain oh my God! 😂😂😂
I hate the argument that "That's how fashion works" in terms of it moving as swiftly as it does recently. Companies passing the buck of responsibility off to consumers and saying that consumers are to blame for this speed obfuscates the more tangible influences on this modern speed of consumerism. Which, surprise, is driven by these same companies. With access to rampant advertisement and incentives for this shiny new social agent called "X Influencer", companies have direct, arguably insidious, access to consumers and are absolutely the main driving factor behind this ever increasing speed of consumerism. Consumers are following trends imposed on them by these companies through paid influencers and advertisements, using "same but gentler" techniques that have been utilized against populations since the printing press became a widely accessible tool. These techniques are borderline psychological warfare, supported and researched by consistent data over many many decades of use and study, and are the foundation of companies constantly increasing success by normalizing and perpetuating over consumption.
In summary "That's how fashion works" is only a 'true' statement because that is the way Capitalism and these companies have tailored the fashion industry to function, and not at all how fashion through history has actually evolved.
My great aunt taught all of us kids to crochet. She sent me home with a ball of blue yarn and some spare hooks. We didn’t have money to buy supplies (I didn’t even know patterns existed until I found Crochet World magazine in the 90s). So whenever I got bored I would crochet that yarn into different stitches and shapes and tear it out to restart.
And one time I chained the whole ball, then chained the chain over and over until I had to use my finger and couldn’t chain it again!
I didn’t know crochet was impossible to machine until last year, but I gave up on any aspirations of turning my skills into a cottage industry (like my gr.aunt was in the 60s) when I saw large doily pairs at the Dollar Tree 20 years ago. $.50 a doily doesn’t even cover the cost of yarn.
Size inclusive…perfect incentive to learn to make your own clothes. Thank you for the education.
I'm enjoying exploring fiber arts with you. Even a beginner spinner like me knows the internet has mistakes. Something you would know as obvious but I just figured out that a spinning wheel is a gear and the yarn doesn't go around it. LOL
You made a lot of good points about fast fashion, and the need for more ethical practices in the fashion industry. I started crocheting when I was 11, and I was originally attracted to and made very elaborate doilies as my first projects. Needless to say, I know real crochet when I see it.
Yesterday, I was visiting my daughters who both live in Montreal, and we ended up strolling on a busy commercial street with lots of trendy clothing. I live in the countryside, and I hardly knew who Taylor Swift is... I mean, I know I've heard some of her songs on the radio, just don't ask me what they are. So yesterday, when I spotted some 'granny squares' made of lace-weight yarn in a shop window, I just had to look at it closer. At this point, I had been long awaiting for the fashion industry to figure out how to replicate the crochet look by machine, and yesterday I had the Ah-ha moment. Yes, it was machine made, and yes, it very closely resembled handmade crochet and to some extent, I have to admit it is a form of crochet. By this I mean that if you can recognize that the most basic stitch in crochet is a chain stitch, and chain stitches have been making chain stitches for a long time, then what I saw is crochet. Essentially, the pieces I saw were made by stacking and overstitching chain stitches. This is a complete game changer in the fashion industry, where it now becomes possible to completely mechanize and computerize crochet patterns and make crochet fabrics. All you need is a computerized machine, a pattern, fabric stabilizer and a huge amount of thread or yarn. Did it look cheap? For me as a crocheter, yes, but for non-crocheter, it probably looks like the real thing. Do I think it's a good thing? Not necessarily. Would I buy it? Absolutely not! However, I thought it was important to point out that it is probable that even the VRG top was made from this crochet look-alike, considering the price that it goes for on the VRG Girl site of 159AUD. At this price, the work would have to be done for free...
Anyway, I thought it was important to share this information and encourage others to go out and find out what is actually being sold in stores locally, before jumping to conclusions.
On 'there's no machine crochet' - I do want to note that machine knitting still is a skilled craft. It's not like there's a machine spewing out whole knitted or sewn garments. There are still actual, skilled people making those clothes, having to do a lot by hand, being vastly underpaid. Crochet might be somewhat worse, but that doesn't make slavery in the making of knitted or sewn clothes less bad.
Edit: I was a bit too quick after hearing say 'crochet cannot be made by machine', I now hear you mention this later in the video. It's just that I have seen a bit too often that this is used by people in the crochet community like indeed a machine spews out buttoned shirts 😅
I’m so grateful for you and Ola Joe for making this video. I have been thinking about this since I saw the volume of videos about this dress. ❤ Living in hope just like you ❤
The very least we can do is not trowing things away that are not broken. If you want to get rid of close give it away or sell it. But better yet keep it and wear unif til it fall apart. I have 25 year old H&M acrylic croched cardgan and I think that i’ve earned my fast fashion item after al these yeart.
Count on Evie to bring the receipts and the nuance
Hi, Evie! So here is the situation I find myself in as of late: I have crocheted for 12 years at this point and consider myself a professional. I make things to wear, to donate, to sell, and to give away. I wore a dragonfly shawl into my doctor's office, and asked her if she were buying it, what should I charge? I said, "$150, $165?" And she said "I have NO DOUBT that you put $165 worth of time into it, but for the buyers who would wear that, I don't think they would have the budget. Maybe $100?" Then she proceeded to inquire about a bespoke/custom poncho for herself, if I could make the same design but as a poncho for her small frame. Yes, and yes. And we emailed several times so I have an exact idea of what she wants and expects. As for her final buyer's cost, I told her that I would ask her to pay whatever she thinks it's worth. I am hoping for $200 because it's essentially 2 triangle shawls seamed at the shoulders down the length of the hypotenuse to make a 4 point poncho with some neck ribbing, but I have no idea what she will actually pay me. People in our corner of the world do not take into account the years of learning it takes to become an expert. That the materials are beaucoup expensive, no matter what fiber they are made from. My doc now knows how much her fiber cost per skein and about how many I needed for her project (because she picked it from a variety of options I gave her). But I was the one who paid for it, just like any other project I would hope to sell. It's a lot out of pocket, up-front from me. People walking by my sales table in my front yard don't understand the time it takes because I'm not a machine, nor do they know or care about the pain in my hands from so many repetitive stitches. Crochet should be held to just as high (or higher!) cost-per-garment than knitting. I wish we as a community of artisans would price our pieces accordingly, so folks get used to understanding the human effort that goes into creating these pieces of fine crochet. The days of calculating "3x the cost of the yarn" for the value of the finished piece should be OVER with. Charge for the expertise. Charge for the high cost of materials. These are handcrafted art pieces. They are valuable. And if someone is charging $20 for a hand crocheted dress, don't buy it - because someone is getting ripped off somewhere. Even at $122 from VRG Girl, something smells fishy. What will the doc pay me? Stay tuned. Love & hugs, sweet friend.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this video and uplifting different voices and even speaking with the vrg girl rep. I'm really happy you brought light to this in such a compassionate ad delicate way! I've watched a few of the recreate videos not because I wanna make the dress but because I just like watching crochet videos and finding little easter eggs along the way. People have brought up the fact that it is pretty cheap and don't go fully in depth so I really appreciate you putting the info out there! :)
Thank you for making this video. I can neither crochet or knit so I buy as much as I can from small venddors or thrift stores.... keeping my purchases down since I have a small budget and I live in and work in an apartment. I do hand sew as much as I can of my wardrobe and home decor, but sometimes a cute figurine makes it into my shopping cart.
There's so much here and I'm glad you touched on it because you're not afraid of nuance.
I will say, I'm a crocheter, and when I made a knit garment similar in size and shape to a garment I'd crocheted, I was comically shocked by how much more yarn crochet takes per square inch. 😂
Oh wow, I LOVED this video! You raised so many important points.
I've always found it baffling just how undervalued crochet is relative to other comparable crafts when it's a craft that can't be made without a human making the very fabric stich by stitch.
Thank you for making this video!!
Crochet is a craft of love! So very true
34:10 such a great point to counterat nihilism! we HAVE to interact with the world as it is.. love that quote thank you evie!
Great show!! Thank you for looking all that info up- I was wondering myself about much of what you covered especially when I found that the dress was only $119 . (in the old days, wealthy families would have a seamstress and maybe her team come to the house to make custom fit clothing for the family or have a seamstress on staff. Regular folk wouldn't have many items in the wardrobe and would have to take care of them. None of this ready made, off the rack clothing)
I think probably a lot of crocheters can relate but it happens to me so often that family or friends will ask me why I don't sell crochet pieces. And then I have to explain that most of the nice looking people they see me wear take several 8+ hour days of work, and nice yarn that's comfortable material to wear and has pretty prints on it can be like 20-30 bucks for one ball and I'd need several. And that's not even counting the fact that I spend about as much time trying out and scrapping projects as I spend on stuff that actually gets finished
Im making a queensize chevron blanket. I have spent 60$ on yarn already (10$ canadian a 100g skien I love the yarn but its the cheapest one from the shop I get from because I try to also support local craft stores) and 2 skiens in I am at 6-8 inches in length. I will easily be spending at least a couple hundred dollars by the end as a low end estimate.
It may be knit and not crochet but I can understand the time cost and labour would make so many of my projects unsellable because even if I only make profit off the material cost to make it somewhat affordable to others, I cant justify the time/labour cost value I would lose.
Thank you so, so much for this video. This is a topic my fiber circle has been really upset about and passionate about for a while and I'm always so happy to see more people talk about it. Love your channel!
Her dress takes me right back to the sixties. I think that is where the pattern must have come from.
I agree with everything you said. I've been crocheting for 40 years. But I do love how you say 'human people ' 😂
I just finished a littlejohn yarns pattern today. What a coincidence to be watching this
I have crochet for over fifty years. I love it more and more every day. Right now my goal is to make 100 lap throws for a nursing home. I want each person to have their own crochet lap throw .Some are my own designs and some 😮are from other artists, I always give credit to the designers . I am not selling them to these seniors, I am a senior and am still able to make things so I decided to do lap throws, 3 done 97 more to go, some take 5 hours to complete, some are longer.
Crochet was one of the first fiber arts I learned, too, and I'd turn balls of yarn into long chains....then treat the chain like thick yarn and turn that into a new chain, and so on until I had a massive but short chain of chains
$11 of yarn is not enough for the yarn needed to make that dress, even from a dollar store
Apparently it’s $11 per skein, so that article was just incorrect overall
@@Feynix4 aah, that makes sense but like, that article was definitely ill informed
Do I crochet? No. Am I planning on starting? Maybe. Did I just subscribe because this was the most interesting, calming and sweetest person I’ve come across? YESSSSS❤
I know the point of this video is handmade/ethical versus fast fashion, however, on Taylor Swift's ethics, she's been touring in the UK and has made massive financial donations (more than the UK government!) to food banks in every UK city she's played in. I don't think Shein is her thing...
I love it when you get up on the gentlest, most reasonable high horse ever. Thank you!
I honestly prefer making things over buying them if it is possible. I started beading at 14, sewing wearables at around 15 and crocheting at 16. Making my own clothes, bags and jewelry saves my parents alot of money and it makes my things feel more personal to me. If i want something, but im not willing to put the time into making it then i dont really want it. Its very free too, you get to chose every little detail. Recently I've been wanting more graphic sweaters, but i like to keep buying clothes at a minimum so i took out some fabric paint and a plain sweater and went at it! Sure it took a few weeks on and off but at least i have a cool bug sweater now that i painted myself :)
Its also pretty cool to get to say "thanks, i made it!" To so many things you have.
I signed the petition. This was mostly new news to me and I appreciate your efforts in providing info for a better world. I went on a trip to India earlier this year and my heart will always ache seeing the poverty! Until you see it in person, you are unable to truly understand their pain!
The yarn itself is $11.00 per skein. But the time to crochet it is way more than that.
As someone who lived in a farming community, cotton was undesirable because it suckedall the nutrients from the ground and made farmland. The land would then be fallow for 3-4 years. Granted, we lived in a place with lots of clay and little rainfall. It probably isn't bad in more nutrient-dense environments.
I was so impressed by this video which probably popped up on my feed because I watch other crocheters(and crochet myself even though I'm mainly a knitter) that I immediately subscribed. I recycle and upcycle and re-use stuff quite a lot but you have inspired me to try harder. I buy stuff in charity shops here in the UK which are like US thrift stores but run by specific charities to raise funds. I've also bought yarn in charity shops but you have to be pretty quick to get it soon after it's donated other wise it's gone!!
Thanks for the effort and passion you put into everything you do. Watching while knitting a sweater from a pattern from a local New Zealand yarn company. You may have heard of them - Ashford!!
we have become such a throw away society. It would be nice to get back to better made things that last longer and can be maintained and reused for a long time. I frequently make over my self sewn items when I get tired of them or my style has changed.
Your necklace 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍! Where from. I just started the video. So if you mention it later, then I will know. But I got too excited to wait 😂it’s gorgeous
i’m a fibre artist swiftie, never thought i’d see an evie taylor video either but i’m living for it! thanks for bringing attention to how much work crochet is and that there’s no way to get around this work.
Thank you for having such a nuanced and detailed discussion around this issue ❤
Alysha brought up some great points 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 I knit (and crochet sporadically) and love when knowledgeable fiber artists share insights into the crafting world.
Even though it’s showing up on Fast fashion websites, there’s no way anybody is actually selling it crocheted at $20 like that’s just not happening. It’s gonna look totally different. It’s gonna be on those videos where they’re like what I thought I was buying what I actually got.
Thank you for such a nuanced and well researched video
I started crocheting in childhood, it came easy to me.
I have the knack to identify stitches in existing work, and can do restoration repairs to damaged crochet items.
Knitting... not so much.
I actually knit faster using cable crochet hooks.
The reality of struggling to count with crochet and knitting is REAL🤣. Beautiful video. I'm on the journey of making my own clothing and home décor (sewn, knitted, and crocheted), and it has made me appreciate every stitch, fiber, material, and minute it takes to get to the end result. A t-shirt is no longer just a t-shirt.
I have been knitting for over 60 years, am still learning, but crochet is another ball game! I have learned with a book and TH-cam to do granny squares but straight crochet for a baby's blanket was very difficult for me.
The point you made about ethical fashion was so relevant. One of my grandaughters buys clothes from the well known Chinese outlet and I have described the working and pay conditions for the people making her inexpensive clothing but I fear it is falling on deaf ears.
By the way, a friend said ' I see Taylor Swift is coming to Wales (UK) ' and I didn't know who he was talking about !
This is a wonderful video🥰 currently crocheting a swiffer wet jet pad to clean floors with with some sugar and cream scrubby cotton I got from Ollie’s☺️
It's wonderful that you're show follows the things we use every day to their source and you discuss the full costs of civilization on people and the ecology. I started watching because i was interested in what it would be like to live without modern machines and modern energy sources, but also because it is a kind of zen meditation for me , which is hard to explain, so the fact you go in depth into the broader picture riding a magic crochet carpet is unexpected and great
There is no truly ethical consumption, there are degrees of harm, but there is always some harm. We just have to do our best and reduce the harm as much as we can.
I discovered crochet in August I think it was (this year). I had been knitting since I was 6 and I saw this year a lot of people making amigurumi things and was like OMG that's so cute. It got to a point where I didn't want to spend large amounts of money I could essentially make myself. (though I understand people setting prices they feel reflect the time, effort and resources that went into their craft I also understand my financial situation) I taught myself to crochet using youtube tutorials as I'm a visual learner and find that more helpful than reading a pattern. Once I got more confident I started going through patterns and making things myself. I made a bunch of toys for my kids and I have started making a jumper for myself. and YES I thought I could count but I cant! hahaha Many times I've counted things over and over and got different results only to have to frog and start again haha I enjoyed watching this video, it was very informative.
Honey I can totally relate my grandmother taught me at 5 and I would chain for hours when I was at her house I would leave it with her for safekeeping and then when I came back to spend another night with Grandma she would hand me the ball of yarn and the crochet hook and say here start again and she lost what I made I learned years and years later she was just unraveling it rewinding it and handing it to me over again i had to teach myself the basics. I am 68
I’ve made scarves before, but I would love to make more of my own clothes. I just don’t have the time, money, or energy right now to do so. Life is just so draining rn 😅
I have made this dress as well and I agree that although I did not spend much on yarn ( Just used the yarn I already had) I have spent 3 weeks to make a dress and film a tutorial for my TH-cam. First it was too thick, then changing the yarn it was too short. It was a challenge, but not many people actually think how many hours you spend creating something.
Hi, new subscriber here!
And thank you for putting this video out. My heart also rises and sinks when I see the crochet trend bubble up again. I don’t crochet (I’ve tried, it seems my hands weren’t built that way!) but I’m very familiar with the problems about making and selling these items can be.
Fast fashion just can’t with beautiful crochet garments. It’s also sucky for craft crocheters (sp??) who get told they should be able to make these custom items for nothing…
(And of course this video was interrupted for a Sh*in advert…! 🤬🤬🤬)
I hope you share some of the flax prep. That sounds exciting.
this was such a well done , well researched video . aMaZING , thank you for the time and effort .
I just found you and i love how you talk about these things ❤️
New subscriber, first time viewer! I love to crochet. Thank you for your cheerful, encouraging, uplifting, takes on crochet. Thank you for appreciating makers, often misunderstood and undervalued. I wish you continued success. Have a great day.
Thank you for your video! I agree with EVERYTHING you said. Trending crochet is a double-edged sword, and it shouldn’t be presented as cheap. It hurts so many people we don’t see. I appreciate all the work and research you put into your videos!
Thank you for making this video. The ethics within crochet isn’t discussed nearly enough.
Wow! So glad I found this video. One of the most informative, educational, and intelligent videos I have ever watched! Awesome job!
The algorithm sent me your video. Crochet lovers are easy to catch 😅
Thank you so much for going into all the details... 💐
Ikea hasn't signed... Leclerc, Casino, Auchan hmm. I'm going to France in a couple of weeks, make note in brain.
Thanks Evie ❤
I crochet almost exclusively with acrylic because I get all my yarn secondhand and acrylic is what's in the thrift store or what's been given to me when relatives and coworkers want to offload their stashes. So for me, acrylic IS the more ethical choice.
I don’t really have anything to add to the discussion but that I go to Goodwill Outlet a few times a month and whenever I see vintage crochet doilies and lace items in the bins, I always try to save them. I can’t let all that labor go into the landfill. I have quite the collection and though I don’t know what to do with all of them I do enjoy getting them out and admiring them.
The fact that i got a temu ad for this video 💀