The request came from Marie Olsson Nylander: a skirt with a high waist and fullness. I drew a dress in several colourways to try out the idea, with one detail that came back in every version — a tight waistband above the hip, and below it a fullness that fell in waves towards the floor.
I took the one part of the sketch and left the rest. The neck, the sleeves, the colour blocks at the top — it was the line above the hip that carried the whole idea, and a skirt could carry it alone.
The yarn came first: a rust-red mohair, a pale pink in the same quality, and a velvet-soft chenille for the waistband. Swatches in several sizes were knitted before the combination was settled — one where gold thread and burgundy met in the red without a fixed pattern, mottled rather than striped.
The construction fell into place like a rhythm: a waistband in garter stitch, tight around the waist, then panel after panel downwards — Kyss, Pudder, Dus Valmue, the mottled gold panel, Pudder and Kyss again. The last round before the velvet edge is knitted with a double strand, like a trim between the mohair and the velvet.
The skirt ended up in two lengths. RED - Mini stops at 54 centimetres, with four buttons in the waistband opening. RED - Maxi follows the same build further, to 86 centimetres — the skirt Marie Olsson Nylander asked for, graded from XS to XL.
Finished, it hangs outside in winter light: poppy and raspberry against a white mohair cardigan and a rust-red hat with old coin buttons. The fullness that lay drawn below the line on the sketch is the same fullness that swings when the skirt moves.