Coming Full Circle with Machine Knitting Patterns
Appalachian Baby Design got its start as a machine knitting operation, known as Appalachian By Design.
In the early 90’s, I was working with an organization called Women & Employment and helping a group of sheep farmers, many of them women, assess the feasibility of starting a regional wool mill. Lynda Grose, a designer for Esprit’s Ecollection was looking for U.S. wool….and as an afterthought she mentioned they also needed knitters to knit the wool into sweaters.
I knew some machine knitters (realizing hand knitting was not feasible for U.S. production) and from that partnership with Esprit, we formed a machine knitting training & marketing organization called Appalachian By Design. Along with making sweaters for Esprit, we got contracts from other boutique designers, mostly ones who were pioneering ecological yarns.
To ensure consistent work for our knitters, numbering over 40 throughout mid-Appalachia, we started our own line of home knits (pillows & throws) and a baby knits line for gift stores. (pillow photo, cover of baby catalog)
Many of our knitters were employed at textile factories in the region that closed shortly after NAFTA was signed. The next big hurdle was competing in a global economy, primarily with China, once the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. We did a lot of pivots to keep our network of knitters working, including developing a made-to-order women’s knit suit line, yet it became impossible to survive and we closed our doors at the end of 2005.
Because I had contacts in the textile sector for ecological yarns and we had created beautiful baby knit designs, I created Appalachian Baby Design to serve the vibrant craft market, bringing U.S. Organic Cotton and Shaniko wool to knitters, crocheters and weavers.
Today, many of the same women who worked with me at Appalachian By Design work with me at Appalachian Baby Design! It feels full circle to now be able to provide machine knit patterns for baby gifting so many years later!
We are starting with three of our original designs we converted to hand knit patterns, and now we are offering them as machine knit patterns: our Baby Soft Blanket, Tassel Cardigan and Lamb’s Ear Cardigan.
