cowboy crochet or crochet carter

SHE COMIN!!! guys. Beyonce is truly the best artist to ever live on this planet earth I am not even joking. You cannot come on this blog and say otherwise because how is this woman almost 30 years into her career and she still stays ending your favs…. like I’m sorry she is the blueprint and no one will ever compare to her level of talent.

AND BEFORE ANYONE STARTS SAYING SOMETHING THEY REGRET- which artist is performing a 3 hour show with the most beautiful visuals, choreo, and outfits. NONE, NEXT QUESTION. AOTY, stay mad… Beyonce gave us artistry, vocals, visuals, and a strong message through this experimental album, so argue with a wall (peace and love). Touring with the second act of her three part series, I knew I had to go witness greatness in real time. I had already gone to the Renaissance tour (on Bey-Day btw, stay mad) with a custom crochet overall top, so it was only fitting I crocheted another piece for this tour.

If y’all know me, you know that I am a star lover to my core. I learned how to crochet a star and I never looked back- what else could I possibly want to crochet? Stars, stripes, and everything nice, the Vu siblings were ready to take on the Cowboy Carter Tour. These jeans were the next step in my sewing journey. I started with the flared bow jeans (s/o my Instagram), but deep down I always knew I wanted to apply the same design but with a star. And what better way to debut these star shaped designs than at the COWBOY CARTER TOUR? right… right… exactly..

It started off with the base shape- I had an old pair of flared jeans that weren’t living up to their true potential and were in desperate need of an upgrade. I figured it would’ve been easier if I started with a base that already had a flare, only because I am not completely confident in my skills on a sewing machine. But all this to say, my sewing machine skills are close to none… I understand how the machine operates, but I don’t have the foundational skills that allow me to have picture perfect straight lines unfortunately. But everything is a learning process! I keep having to remind myself that I cannot be the best at everything and skills and hobbies take time and effort to learn.

Growing up, I used to have the mentality that if I wasn’t immediately a prodigy at any given sport or creative hobby, it is not worth my time and I would inevitably quit. But with aging comes maturity- at least in my case, can’t say the same about other men (sorry that’s really shady but I think it needs to be said)- and I’ve learned to appreciate the process of adding new skills to my repertoire of crafts. Also, this is going to sound extremely corny, but struggling is part of the process! And I would know, because I started this project in March and completely abandoned it because I was getting frustrated with the proportions of the crochet in comparison to the denim. A little reflection and some trial and error later, we have the final product. I simply just made a more exaggerated flare at the bottom of the jeans, and to match with me I made a giant star halter top for my sister.

Now the jeans were not necessarily difficult to make. I was inspired by this one person who makes custom hoodies by sewing a patch directly on top of the base, and then cutting out the shape. Have I ever tried this technique before? No. Was I fully confident in my skills to replicate this technique with beginner-level knowledge on how to operate this sewing machine? Also no, but I had a vision, and nothing was going to get in the way of me wearing these jeans to this show. It was surprisingly a lot easier than I thought it was- I was initially intimidated by the sewing machine because I wasn’t full confident in my ability to get picture perfect lines, but then I realized no one is going to care more than me, so that gave me a little peace of mind.

As for the star top, my only real struggle was the fact that I had made the star WAY TOO BIG, and I had already added a denim trim to the edge so there was no modifying the crochet portion. I ended up folding down the point of the star that was poking my sisters neck, and then attaching a denim lace so she can tie it around her neck and back. For someone who had 3 hours to finish sewing a top, I will say I did a pretty good job. Now, were there some aspects of the project that I would change? Most definitely. Since the shape of the star wrapped around my sister’s body, it wasn’t as prominent and you couldn’t really tell that it was a star. In order to resolve this issue, I ended up making a star outline out of leftover denim scraps that was sewn in on the inside.

Beyonce said “Are you ready to serve, are you ready to slay?” and trust and believe I did. Honestly, I think we all served and slayed. You can’t go to a Beyonce concert and think everyone is going to wear everyday attire- you show up and show out wearing the best on-theme outfit you possibly can. It’s honestly the least you can do, given that any Beyonce concert is going to be guaranteed as one of the best performances of your life.

All this to say, Cowboy Crochet is alive and well. Stream AOTY, Cowboy Carter, and watch the process of me making these outfits on my Youtube (coming soon). More pictures are available on my Instagram, thanks for reading and for all the love on my recent posts.