Knitting is not a passion for the impatient type. After hours and days spent meticulously stitching yarn into a wearable work of art, something beautiful like an intarsia sweater can come out on the other end. “Intarsia knitting requires a certain level of craftsmanship and definitely patience,” Bernadette co-founder Charlotte de Geyter notes to Vogue. “When I see an intarsia knit, I always know the amount of work and time that’s been put in, so the piece feels particularly precious and luxurious. There’s definitely been some love given to each Intarsia sweater.”
If you’re not acquainted, intarsia is defined by The Fairchild Dictionary of Fashion as decorative colored motifs knitted into a solid color fabric, producing an inlay effect and with patterns on both sides of the fabric being identical. “Intarsia is wonderful if you want to make a knit with a pattern that has multiple colors,” Geyter further explains. “With this technique, you’ll have only one active color per stitch. Your sweater will be knitted in one layer, and the colors do not overlap.” The end result will render more intense colors and a sharper design, she adds.