Rather than beginning with sketches or drawings, Backlund develops all of her designs from scratch in three dimensions. She explained, “I improvise on a tailor’s dummy or on myself to discover ideas of shapes and silhouettes that I could never come to think about in my head.” The only constraints are those she sets for herself as a starting point, ncluding the size of the needles she works with, the number of stitches or rows of knitting, and the type of material she uses. She stated: “I like the way I can build my own fabric while working and the way it is mathematical but at the same time permits improvisation. It is really time-consuming and a real trial on one’s mental and physical strength, and yet for me knitting is synonymous with creative freedom.”

_{Sandra Backlund. Crochet Dress, Spring/Summer 2011. Courtesy of Sandra Backlund.}