Our Final Friday artist for the month of August is Wendy Norman, an employee here at
Idlewild. Currently in her final year of the fashion design program at the University of
Cincinnati, Wendy’s Final Friday collection is an extension of her thesis process work.
Originally from Boston, Wendy moved to Cincinnati in 2022 to take part in the co-op
program at the school of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. Since starting the
program she has worked on the Rag & Bone men’s design team, made shoes by hand for
a small artisan designer and designed knitwear for big box companies such as Target
and Walmart.
After taking a machine knitting class in the fall of 2025, she purchased a knitting
machine and began designing in conjunction with plans for her thesis collection.
Machine knitting is a precise and delicate process of fabricating, shaping and
connecting pieces using one continuous length of yarn on a bed of 200 needles with a
joined 200 needle ribber attachment. Fully fashioned knitwear is created by shaping
pattern pieces with increases and decreases, done one needle at a time, to create the
desired shape.
While most sweaters are knit from the bottom up, the sweaters in the Idlewild collection
are knit from side to side to create a dolman shape. This patterning technique is
accentuated with horizontal lines created by keeping needles out of work to produce a
gap in the stitching. All pieces are knit with a 100% bamboo yarn to create a silky hand
feel and an elegant drape.
Wendy’s pieces will be in the store until the end of September, with an opening
reception on August 28th.
