Pawfect Stitch Co. is a web application designed to make learning crochet more approachable while encouraging more sustainable crafting practices. Our team identified challenges new crocheters often face, including navigating an overwhelming number of online resources, choosing the appropriate yarn for different projects, and understanding the environmental impact of their materials. The final project brought together crochet tutorials, stitch information, sustainable upcycling ideas, and an interactive learning experience.
As part of a four-person team, I contributed to the design and development of the website, with my primary responsibility being the Learn Stitches page. I helped create a space where users could explore common crochet stitches through abbreviations, written pattern examples, and linked tutorial videos. This was also my first experience working on a larger web development project with a team, which taught me how important communication, collaboration, and shared workflows are when multiple people are contributing to the same codebase.
The project followed a complete design and usability process, beginning with brainstorming and identifying the problem before moving into low-fidelity wireframes and high-fidelity prototypes. We also incorporated user-centered research by developing a user study to evaluate whether the web application could improve users' knowledge of crochet, sustainability awareness, and confidence in starting a project. Additionally, we conducted a heuristic evaluation to identify usability issues and opportunities for improvement.
On the development side, the website was built using React and deployed using Vercel. Throughout the project, I gained experience working collaboratively through GitHub, learning how to contribute to a shared codebase and manage a project alongside other developers. I was especially proud of this project because it combined web design and development with something I am personally passionate about, crochet. Pawfect Stitch Co. gave me my first opportunity to experience the full journey of creating a web application, from an initial idea and user research to prototyping, usability evaluation, implementation, and deployment.
