With our newest collaboration collection launching soon with Alexi of Two of Wands, we of course had to sit down and pick her brain about all things design and collaboration. 

Tell us about who you are and what you do! 

I'm Alexi, the owner and designer of Two of Wands and I design both knitting and crochet patterns for home decor, garments, and accessories. I have also developed two yarns with Lion Brand and this is my first collaboration with an Indie Dyer and I'm so excited that it's with Sewrella Yarn!

How did this collaboration come about?

Well, Ashleigh and I have known each other for years now and I feel like our styles are not necessarily the same, but they're very complementary of each other and we have a lot of the same loves in life with nostalgia, favorite movies, and moods. We've always talked about doing something together also. Previous to Sewrella Yarn, Ashleigh was also a designer so we were doing the same thing so it was impossible to collaborate on something. As soon as she started making her own yarn, I was just in love with the colors and the process that she was doing and have been wanting to do something like this with a more luxury yarn as well. It just felt like it was the perfect moment for us to work on this - this specific concept for the theme we're working on, we have been discussing for years as well! 

What is your major inspiration for this collaboration? 

I think it goes back to that nostalgic, romantic, New York feeling that you see in all of the Nora Ephron films - largely starring Meg Ryan. Like You've Got Mail, Harry Met Sally. You have those storybook streets, fall energy, mixed with the eclecticness, the fashion, the fast pace of New York, but also a cozier, less harsh version as well. Ashleigh loves this as well, every time she comes to New York, we always talk about that. There's so many things about New York that we want to capture - the extreme touristness of Times Square with all of the loud sounds and bright lights but then also high fashion, all black everything - SoHo vibes. Then there's the super neighborhoody with more residential feel with Central Park, Tompkins Square Park, and neighborhoods of Brooklyn with more foliage. So we wanted to capture that side of New York what you see in the movies with Jazz Clubs, dinner parties. The romantic, cozy feeling you feel when you watch those movies. 

What are you looking forward to most about working with Sewrella Yarn?

Well I think it's really fun to see more of the process of how these things come together. Being part of the entire creative process - mood boarding, color samples, being part of the dyeing process, pattern making, everything is all wrapped into one! Being part of this with another creative like Ashleigh who has her own inspiration, we truly collaborate with things that we bring to the table and mesh those together. Of course, Sewrella Yarn has all of these amazing market items as well that play into the whole theme and mood as well, so I'm really excited to be able to play around with those components. 

What's been your impression of Sewrella Yarn HQ?

Oh man, I'm so impressed, inspired, highly jealous. It's very professional but also feels like it's one big family. I think the entire team here is amazing and they are very good at managing everything and I really enjoy the fact that they can rely on these team members and they can be developing and and going through the entire process and they have the team to support them to do all of these amazing things. It's very energizing for me to be around all of these creative people since I work alone most days, so it's super fun to be able to bounce ideas round. It's also so cool to see all the different components since everything is housed here. 

Are you going to work on a pattern in Sewrella Yarn for this collab?

We've been discussing this and yeah, we're definitely moving forward with this! I think we have finally narrowed down the idea to one. But there's lots of swatching ahead to find the perfect colorway for it! I'm really excited for everyone to see it - I feel like it encompasses the whole mood of the collection. 

What is your design process for this pattern like? How it that different from your usual process? 

Well, it's actually super similar to my usual process which is thinking about the character in the story. Who do I want to be at this moment? What am I wearing? What's the scene that I'm trying to encapsulate? Create the moment where you feel as if you're in that scene. So with this collection, I want to use variegated since I've never designed with that before. We're looking at the entire mood board to create a pattern that is immersive to the design.

Favorite past Sewrella collection?

Umm I don't know how to pick! All of the Halloweeny collections whether it was Hocus Pocus or Salem, I'm always obsessed. Not only because of the collection, but the entire marketing campaign that you do to follow it. The storytelling gets me every time. it evokes that nostalgic feeling where you feel warm and fuzzy inside. 

Favorite past colorway?

Billy. I'm obsessed. But also 1989 from the Taylor Swift collection. 

Colorway you're looking forward to most in the collab?

I don't know how you can ask me because they're all iconic. All of the tonals are sensational, they're so beautiful. Basically I gave Ashleigh some imagery and we both had the same idea in mind that she really ran with. Brooke is so incredible with translating Ashleigh's ideas and direction into the actual yarn. When I arrived, they already had a bunch of the tonals worked up and we just narrowed down the selection. As I've been here is when we've been working on the variegated which is super exciting for me because again, it's something I've never done before. So, we're pulling different tones from the tonals to reiterate those feelings. I want to say that there's a couple of variegateds that I'm very excited for so I'm going to shy away from the tonals just because that's what I've always done before. Basically they're all the answer. 

What does this collection mean/represent to you?

I'm just so grateful to Ashleigh for inviting me to do this. I feel so special and honored to be part of this. But also to be invited in and witness everything that they're creating and be a fly on the wall and to see everything first hand. They're not the first people to do hand dyed yarn, but the things that they do in their business, there's so many incredibly thoughtful and innovative things to Sewrella Yarn. It's super inspiring to me.