Meet Cherry Our Woven Witch Model

The Official Model of Woven Witch

Every little fashion house needs a model.

Mine is extraordinarily patient, never complains about long fittings, doesn't mind being photographed at ridiculous hours and is perfectly happy to wear the same thing for as long as I need her to.

Her name is Cherry.

Cherry originally came to Woven Witch for a very practical reason. As I began making more pieces, I needed somewhere to display them properly. Photographing something lying flat can only tell you so much. Crochet changes when it's worn — lace opens, fabric drapes, necklaces find their natural position and bags suddenly begin to look like bags rather than interesting piles of yarn.

I needed a model.

And so Cherry joined me.

I don't think I realised at the time quite how much she would become part of the Woven Witch story.

She's been there as I've experimented with new ideas, learned what works and occasionally discovered what very definitely doesn't. She's modelled my first Woven Witch cardigan, carried my handmade raffia bag and patiently displayed chokers, crosses, leaves and other creations while I stood behind the camera trying to get just the right photograph.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking of her simply as the mannequin.

She became Cherry.

Now, whenever I finish something, one of my favourite moments is putting it onto her for the first time. It's often the point when I finally get to stand back from the hours of close-up crochet work and actually see what I've made.

There is something rather lovely about that.

A piece might begin as a ball of yarn on my desk. Then come the hours of counting, stitching, undoing, trying again, adding beads, changing details and wondering whether the idea in my head is actually going to work.

Eventually, it makes its way to Cherry.

And suddenly it looks real.

She has also quietly witnessed Woven Witch grow around her. What began with me returning to crochet has become a growing collection of handmade garments, jewellery and accessories, along with my website, shop, gallery and this Journal. Cherry has been standing in the middle of that creative chaos for much of it.

She has never once asked for a modelling fee.

Which is fortunate, because Woven Witch isn't exactly rolling in money yet.

Although I suspect she's building a case for back pay. 😂

I love that Woven Witch is gradually developing these little characters and stories of its own. There are the pieces I make, the collections they eventually belong to and the names they acquire along the way. Even my mannequin has somehow ended up with her own identity.

Perhaps that is inevitable when you spend enough time creating something.

You begin by making objects.

Then, little by little, you create a world around them.

So this Journal entry is for Cherry — the official house model of Woven Witch, wearer of unfinished experiments, keeper of countless crochet pieces and remarkably tolerant companion to one woman with far too many ideas and never quite enough yarn.

She may not say very much.

But she has had a front-row seat to the Woven Witch story from almost the beginning.

And I have a feeling her modelling career is only just getting started.

Gani
Woven Witch

Handmade with magic, patience… and one exceptionally cooperative mannequin.