Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexi Tavel.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in Loveland, OH, with my artist mother and younger sister. We were constantly creating something – my mom painted murals on the walls, cooked us the most beautiful foods with so many ingredients from our own backyard, sewed us fashionable clothes, and encouraged our creativity in everything that we did. I ended up studying fashion design in college and moved to NYC right after graduation. I originally landed in the non-profit world for nearly a decade, but I always had a creative endeavor and so many personal projects on the side. In 2013, I took the leap and quit my day job to focus on my Etsy shop selling finished knitwear and patterns, which had just taken off. I focused on creating fashion-forward pieces that were approachable and wearable, having been influenced by my Midwestern upbringing and adult life in NYC. Now a decade later I focus fully on pattern design and have worked with celebrated brands like We Are Knitters, Sewrella Yarn, Joann, LoveCrafts, and Lion Brand Yarn, with whom I have developed two yarn lines – Hue + Me and Color Theory. My designs have been featured in Vogue Knitting, Martha Stewart, Mollie Makes, Buzzfeed, and more. It is such an honor to see makers use my patterns to create cherished pieces for themselves and loved ones!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My work has gone through a lot of iterations – from starting out selling finished pieces to then both finished pieces and patterns, transitioning to only selling patterns, then starting a blog where I can also offer free patterns for some of my designs, to collaborating with brands, and most recently launching two yarns of my own with Lion Brand Yarn. Each iteration has brought new but exciting challenges that have helped me grow and scale the business. Time restraints are really the most difficult thing to navigate as yarn crafts are a slow process to begin with, and maintaining the whole back end of the business and customer service with hundreds of thousands of followers and no employees in addition to the design work is incredibly difficult. It’s so hard to say no to opportunities that come my way, but I have to be super selective now, especially as I just had my first child last fall, and my time is even more limited!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I design knitting and crochet patterns for the modern maker. These yarn crafts have become so much more popular with a younger audience in recent years, and it’s so fun to use my background in fashion design on a daily basis to create patterns that people of all ages can enjoy. I focus mostly on women’s garments and accessories and home decor, but I’m hoping to branch out into menswear and children’s designs this year as well. I aim to design fashion-forward pieces that have classic appeal so they can be wardrobe staples for years to come. My style is generally casual, with a touch of whimsy here and there. I get influenced by my surroundings, and since I split my time between NYC and the Catskills, it’s a mix of both style and function.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Growing up I couldn’t wait to get out of Ohio and move to NYC, haha. It felt like everything was happening there, and nothing was happening in Loveland. Now, as an adult, I love visiting family and friends back home, and I’m so grateful for the suburban childhood I had, playing outside on the cul-de-sac until it got dark with all the neighborhood kids, building forts in the woods and basically living the quintessential John Hughes-esque teen life. It’s easy to take the affordability, beauty, and convenience of Ohio for granted until you don’t have it any longer!
Contact Info:
- Website: twoofwands.com
- Instagram: @twoofwands
- Facebook: facebook.com/twoofwands
- Other: https://www.ravelry.com/designers/alexandra-tavel and twoofwandsshop.etsy.com
