Last summer and into the fall, a constellation of crocheted geometric tapestries graced the side of a yellow house near Michigan Stadium. A sign invited potential buyers to email jackieblue717@gmail.com, and by last month, the outdoor gallery held just a single unsold piece.
“I like creating abstract pieces that you can hang on a wall, hang from the ceiling, wear on the body, or drape over lampshades to create shadow patterns,” says Blue, born Jackie Weddell. “I use thinner yarns with a thicker crochet hook. This creates more of a lacy weblike pattern that parallels things I see in nature—veins on a leaf or ripples in the water.” An Ann Arbor native, Blue sold acrylic and oil paintings at the Youth Art Fair from seventh through eleventh grade and found her love for fibers doing costumes for the Pioneer Theatre Guild. “In my sophomore year, I created a collection of winter-gear accessories, like hats and balaclavas and scarves and gloves,” she recalls. “I would sell them at the craft fair. It was fun to see students walking around with my art on their bodies.”
Blue graduated in 2019 and headed to Bard College in upstate New York, where she took up crocheting during the pandemic. For her senior thesis, live models showcased nine of her outré garments and impractical ceramic bags on Bard’s first fashion runway. (She says the bags make “an interesting statement about the heavy baggage we carry. We can’t use it, but we always bear it.”)
Though her family’s been supportive, she says she felt a self-imposed pressure to consider a corporate job after graduation. But she concluded, “It’s just impossible for me and my lifestyle … Freedom needs to be there for me to gain fulfillment.” So she moved back home, applied to grad schools, and started making and selling fiber art pieces and clothing. Though her off-the-wall gallery’s seasonal run has ended, her newer pieces and line of winter wear are available on Instagram, @havingfunandplayingames.
