Fashion: Yarn Style

Marie Wallin’s Unst Fair Isle Cardigan & Simplicity 2444 Dress

 

 

I finally did it! I created an intricate fair isle knit that I am really proud of! And after all these years of eyeing spectacular versions of Marie Wallin’s fairisle knits, it was time to tackle Unst. I've wanted to knit this pattern since the very first moment I saw it. Someone had posted a photo of Marie Wallin wearing her new pattern among a group of knitting designers on Instagram and I was struck by its beauty immediately. I messaged the poster to find out the name of the pattern and then when I had the good fortune to attend the Edinburgh Yarn Festival three years ago I tried the cardigan on myself!

 

 

Mary had samples of many of her sweaters from the Shetland collection at her booth. Although the sample was knitted in a size small, which did not fit me, Marie recommended the pattern over the other garments to me because she felt it was more flattering for a curvy body type.

Marie Wallin, myself and my MIL Maxi at EYF

I was able to find the yarn for Unst at Uncommon Threads Yarn, and my husband purchased it as a Christmas gift. But in spite of all my swatching, the beginning of the cardigan back turned out too big. I just couldn’t face the idea of taking the fair isle out so I put it aside for six months. When I started again, I decided it was fine for there to be a bit of positive ease in the pattern at the hips and to add in more waist shaping to make sure of a more flattering fit. From the first four inches I’d knitted on a size 3 needle, I downsized to a size 2 needle and that is what I used to knit the rest of the garment. Here's my advice--always measure your garments four inches up from the cast on, no matter how perfect your gauge swatch seems. It may not turn out the size you expected because a garment piece is a much larger size than a four-inch swatch!

 

 

 I did add in a lot of waist reductions--I removed 20 stitches from the pattern--and then, of course, I had to add in all of the stitches again later for the bust. So it was a bit tricky knitting the stranded pattern on both the knit and purl side and tracking the shaping I devised at the same time. But I do feel that, because the fair isle motifs are small on Unst and it's knitted flat, it is an ideal pattern for adding in shaping. Each color section of a motif only goes on for about two rows. So it's a bit like adding shaping to a striped cardigan knitted flat, which is not too difficult. I just reduced 22 stitches gradually over the 5.5 inches from upper hips to waist, knitted the waist straight for two inches, and then I had to gradually increase the stitches again so that by the time I reached the armhole area, there were enough stitches for the recommended pattern size (M).

 

 

I feel, in retrospect, that I could have added in even more stitches for the bust, but overall the fit is good. It is just that buttonholes tend to gap on curvy wearers like me, and unfortunately the striped corrugated ribbing calls more attention to this. So in future, I will probably avoid using striped ribbing on the button bands of a garment like this.

 

 

Knitting such a complicated fair isle design on a size two needle took me three months once I’d picked up the project again. Because I was knitting on a size two needle for the body, I had to downsize the ribbing to a size one needle.  It also took me about three months to create my version of the sewing pattern Simplicity 2444 for the matching dress.

 

 

I had discovered the appeal of this pattern while watching the video podcast Stitching Over the Days because Constance, a fellow vintage style lover, has made many versions of Simplicity 2444 and I noticed it looked really great with her knitwear. However, the pattern was discontinued. So I actually searched for it online for about six months until I found a used version in my size. Then the challenge was to adjust the pattern to fit me. The shoulders were a bit wide and boxy and so I had to redraft that section of the pattern. Once I completed that, I realized that a boatneck is not a flattering neckline for me because of my face shape. Instead, I decided a sweetheart neckline would be prettier. So, using a photo from a Gertie Sews pattern as inspiration, I redrafted the neckline with the help of my sewing teacher, Paige, and drafted a matching facing.

 

 

At last I was ready to sew the dress! Of course, there were numerous trials and travails. I wasn’t used to sewing with plain fabric where both sides look the same so I kept sewing the sleeves or bodice wrong-side-out to the skirt. The skirt itself was a challenge because I hadn’t sewn pleats for about (eek) 30 years! So I had to get up to speed on that technique. Then, on top of everything else, it turned out the purple fabric was too sheer! So I had to line the bodice with a second layer of fabric!

 

 

As you can see, after all the work I put into both pieces of this outfit, I am going to appreciate this dress and matching cardigan forever!!!!!! It is too warm to wear them much right now but I am really looking forward to using them a lot in fall and winter. I wonder how many other knitters are becoming sewists during these strange times as we all spend so much time at home? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

 

VKL Yarn Haul + Hortencia Cardigan

 

Phew! It’s been a super busy couple of weeks since I got back from Vogue Knitting Live in New  York but I am determined to share my yarn haul with you since I know many were not able to attend in person and might be interested in some of these yarns!

 

First stop at VKL NY: Fuse Fibers studio.  This is a small, three-year-old company. I'm addicted to the vintage-inspired colorways but they sell out really fast. My favorite of the colorways is “The Natural Language of Flowers”, the light skeins pictured above, but even though I made a beeline for the booth, all but two of the Merino dk skeins were gone. When I cradled the two left in my hands, I could hear disappointed groans from the shoppers behind me. In order to achieve enough yardage for the shawl I had planned, I purchased a similar, but darker skein in the colorway, Cherry Tree, which you can see at the right in the photo. These do remind me exactly of cherry blossoms, which should be blooming in a few months! I'll knit my shawl then to celebrate the coming of spring.

 

 

Another hand dyer with a distinct color palette is Lolabean. Adella's super-saturated colors really pop. I eyed a bunch of her red, pink and yellow yarns, thinking of future gifts for friends who are flattered by brilliant colors. It is not always easy to find saturated and bright colors that are also tasteful and I really feel that Lolabean yarns has perfected that combination. I purchased this apricot-colored skein because it just called to me so much and I think would look amazing in combination with navy. My friend Stephanie is a big fan of Adelle's, the founder of lolabean, so we kept popping by her booth.

 

 

The other booth I raced for when the VKL market opened was Cat Sandwich yarns. I have been wanting to purchase one of their pins for years and I love the anime-like colors that the dyer combines together so provocatively.

I feel these colors shouldn’t go together but they do and they draw the eye like the costume of an anime superheroine. My niece is a fan of anime so I’m thinking of knitting her a pair of socks out of this yarn someday.

 

After having tried out the skeins I had sampled at VKL New York three years ago, I honed in on  one amazing, super-soft yarn—the Pascuali Naturale Tibetan. It is 70% merino, 30% yak, grown in Tibet then milled by Pascuali, which is a company that tries to support natural and sustainable farmers/herders. I had knitted the one natural skein of this yarn I had purchased together with some angora into a  Little Hearts Cowl[over the Christmas holiday.

The cowl pattern is by Martin Storey but I altered it a bit. Every other stripe you see different colored "big hearts" (me) holding hands with little hearts (my students). As you can see, I was missing them over the holiday. The Pascuali filati naturale Tibetan was soooo soft and luscious  that I HAD to buy more of that yarn. I decided to save my one “sweater” yarn purchase for this.  The Pascuali booth staff informed me  the yarn is such a top seller that they only brought five skeins in each color, and so I scooped up the only lot in blue. This yarn is so scrumptious that I keep humming and hawing over which design is worthy of it and that is holding me back from casting it on just yet.

 

 

As I've mentioned before, the huge advantage of a marketplace filled with hand-dyed yarn vendors is that you can find exactly the color of yarn you need. I have really been wanting to knit a shawl in deep green colors and I found my answer in the Green Dragon colorway of Periwinkle Sheep’s Merino Yak fingering weight yarn. I purchased all 3 skeins to knit a Wonky Starfish by Stephen West. I feel compelled to cast on one of his shawls almost immediately, before the hypnotic trance of creativity he lulled me into during his workshop lasts! Then again, I wonder if the green I purchased is the right shade of green for the starfish. The light green in the pattern photo does remind me more of a real starfish while this seems more like a forest green so maybe I should knit a more botanical design with this yarn instead. What do you think?

 

 

 

I have quite a few finished knits that have piled up while I was working up a storm and one of my favorites is this simple, vintage-style bolero designed by Andi Satterlund, called Hortencia. I'm wearing it with my Hollyburn skirt, which is also retro-inspired:

 

 

The cardigan has a top-down construction with a deep, short-row collar and the pattern is easy to follow. I used the Biches et Buches gros lambswool I’d picked up at Stitches West last year. I first saw the yarn at the Edinburgh Yarn festival and admired it two years earlier. I always love supporting natural yarns and family-owned mills. The mill for this yarn is in Scotland, in spite of the French name. It is a gorgeous, squishy yarn filled with lanoline and it was really enjoyable to knit with. Well, it’s taken me two weeks to get this post and photos together. I’m now sometimes working til 10pm and it's starting to wear me down so I had to stay home from a few appointments this evening as I was feeling quite dizzy.  Work life balance is important and I'm trying to get back to that somehow.

 

 

A Chanel-Inspired Skirt & A Fair Isle Cardigan

 

My one major goal for my sewing in 2019 was to try to replicate a zipper-front skirt I saw in the Chanel Fashion show influenced by computers in the Spring/Summer 2017 show:

 

I just adored these A-line skirts with the zipper in front but had very little sewing experience and was afraid I would completely mess up the zipper. But I kept at it, sewing skirt after skirt, starting with the Hollyburn skirt pattern by sewaholic. 

 

 

After creating several successful Hollyburn skirts, I moved on to McCall’s 7197. 

 

 

This pattern features a central zipper that runs the length of the skirt in the back, but it was easy to flip that around. I added one of the waistband options that dips in the center for more flair and voilà!

 

 

This fabric is a silver laminated cotton made by Joann’s fabrics. I really love it, as it has that metallic Chanel vibe. I then branched out and tried a more challenging combination, using a print inspired by Van Gogh’s starry night. For this skirt, I hand-basted the zipper slowly on before sewing it on the machine.

 

 

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo below, but the zipper is made of black lace, which I thought was really cool. If the zipper is going to be exposed, front and center like this, I feel it should be a statement piece.

 

 

I am now working on a wool version, which is considerably more challenging for me as I only sewed with cotton my first year (which was 2019). However, I really want to create something that reminds me of one of these skirts, which are all in tweed:

 

 

 

Here is the skirt as I have sewn it so far. It is just missing the zipper front and perhaps some bottom trim if I decide to do a black lace feature again:

 

 

I purchased this wool-blend fabric at a discount warehouse in San Francisco that receives leftovers from design houses. I love the pink and silver tones contrasting with the black which remind me of a Chanel textile. I will be sooooo excited if I can just find the right zipper and perhaps matching trim. A rhinestone zipper would also be really cool but I don't know where to look. I hope I will soon be able to finish and wear this skirt while it is still cold for a microsecond in my California climate! Someday I will try a pencil-skirt version of the zip-front skirt. The below image is again from the Chanel Spring Summer 2017 show:

 

 

Isn't it scrumptious? But where to find the pattern?

I feel really excited to have the chance to write a second blog post to kick off 2020. I teach reading and writing one on one to children with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, expressive processing issues, etc, and the private school where I mostly work is on intercession this week so my schedule is much lighter than normal. I will try to squeeze a VKL NYC yarn/notion haul post in too before my schedule becomes a whirlwind again! While posting this, I can’t resist sharing my fair isle Eliott cardigan, which I knitted for my birthday in September 2019. It is the cardi I am hoping to match to the zipper-front pencil skirt above if I can figure out how to sew one of those.

 

 

 

I knitted this stranded cardigan designed by Lisa Richardson which is from Rowan Magazine 66 in Rowan felted tweed. I used the same yarn colors in the pattern—watch out, the pattern photo colors have been deepended or altered--the Barn Red color of felted tweed is more orange, and the blue less deep blue than the pattern photo suggests. However, I still love this cardigan. I feel the striped sleeves break up the stranded color work, giving it a more modern feel. And this cardigan goes with so many different printed dresses because of its color range, it is really a versatile piece!

 

 

As you may have guessed, I have quite a backlog of knitted pieces I have not posted here. But actually a lot of the items I knitted this year were simple gifts that created bonds between myself and those I loved without being particularly noteworthy otherwise. I will try to post a few of my favorites in coming weeks, though! Thank you all for your kind, encouraging comments. I didn’t realize my blog was missed and it makes me much more motivated to continue posting!

 

 

Vogue Knitting Live New York 2020 Recap

 

Yarn, yarn, as far as the eye can see! The Marketplace at Vogue Knitting Live New York was unbelievable, and I found some wonderful colors there, such as this Green Dragon Colorway of the Merino Yak yarn hand-dyed by The Periwinkle Sheep. It is hard to find a really good green, and when you have an entire market of hand-dyers to choose from the chances go up enormously of finding exactly the color you want! Not to mention the gorgeous yarn art pieces.

 

 

But the greatest aspect of Vogue Knitting Live is the amazing people that attend the convention from all over the world. I have been riveted by Joji Locatelli’s design diary podcasts, and it was amazing to run into her at the Myak booth where she was planning a future project. I did not want to take her time by asking for a photo as she was there on a personal trip, but here is a photo that Joji herself shared on her instagram of herself and her mom in New York which is absolutely adorable:

 

 

 

A huge advantage of the Vogue Knitting Live format over events such as Stitches conventions is that they offer one-hour lectures. I adore the lectures—you get to sit with a knitting celebrity you've have always admired and drink in their personal stories while you knit.  I attended two lectures by Clara Parkes: Straight Talk about Wool and From Wool to Sweater. I was thrilled to obtain her autograph on the fascinating book about designing her yarn, The Vanishing Fleece. But more about that in later posts. The blurry photo below is one Clara Parkes took of us, her rowdy audience, applauding her after her first lecture.

 

 

One of the huge opportunities offered by knitting conventions is the chance to try on samples and determine a) if they work for you and b) what size you should knit the design in. And, as you can see, the Soldotna suits many body types. Below is a photo of my friend Stephanie and I wearing the samples provided by Spincycle yarns

I also attended a wonderful lecture by Aimee of La Bien Aimee yarn: Color and Business Confidence in which she described the founding of her two businesses in France and the way she finds inspirations for her unique colors. Do you know that her yarn company produces 300-500 skeins a day and she now has 14 employees? What a successful business woman! Aimee was wearing the Soldotna crop and she showed how flattering cropped styles are for fuller-figured women. It was really inspiring. Below is a photo of Aimee wearing her Soldotna —you can find more information about Aimee's version on Aimee's instagram here.

 

 

To my surprise, my favorite lecture was given by Stephen West—

I always thought he was a bit “over the top” compared to my more

quiet approach to knitwear but he provided an amazingly inspiring talk.

I almost felt that he was hypnotizing all of us with the following

messages—

“you are creative!”

“you are artists with yarn!”

“You can knit with more colors!”

“You can wear all the colors at the same time!”

The colors in the lecture audience were somewhat astounding—

I was in the “purple” row but pink, lime green and fuscia abounded!

And Stephen encouraged everyone  to parade around the room in their

brightly colored shawls which was joyous and freeing. What a fun experience!

 

Below is a photo of Stephen in one of his wild creations, the wonky starfish, which you can learn more about here 

 

I did attend one amazing, marvelous class, held by Susan B. Anderson: Three French Hens, which features this adorable pattern:

my first French hen

 

Apparently Susan designed this adorable chicken for Taproot Magazine which is read by homesteaders and others who like to live off the land or pursue a natural lifestyle, so she felt chickens were very appropriate. Almost too appropriate, as it turns out, as one of her readers got so excited she knitted 100 of them! While I would have laughed heartily at this fact earlier, knitting these little fair-isle hens is so addictive that I am already on my third hen in only six days! But what a great way to use up your scraps of yarn and fabric! I am trying to use a zero waste approach in my knitting and sewing and I collect all the odds and ends in ziplock bags to use as stuffing for projects like this. I’m finding the jersey fabric scraps are the best of all as they act a bit like polystyrene stuffing.

 

My dear friend Stephanie, the owner of Uncommon Threads Yarns in Los Altos, accompanied me on the trip and she and I had some wonderful meetings with women we have always admired, such as G. G. of  GGMADEIT  and Adella of Lola Bean Yarn Co.

I have never seen such gorgeous, saturated colors as the ones in Adella’s booth! But more about that later--I’ll share my full yarn haul in my next post.

 

Squeeal! I even got to meet up with Fruity Knitting Podcasters Andrew and Andrea again! They are such kind, interesting, delightful people and although our meetup was short it was really inspiring to see how passionate they are about their work. You can watch their video podcasts here—I really feel they are the best that I have ever seen. 

 

Sorry my blog has been very quiet of late --I have been struggling to keep up with my increased work hours [I added 12 hours of teaching a week to my schedule this fall] and balance that with my health needs, as well as my increased sewing activities. But one of my New Years’ resolutions is to squeeze in the time somehow, somewhere for more regular posts!

 

Anyway, my advice for anyone who wishes to attend a Vogue Knitting Live event is to save up your money and wait for the New York convention in January. I’ve heard really mixed reviews of the VKL events in other locations and although the one I attended in San Francisco two years ago was lovely in some respects it did not at all compare to the caliber of the instructors and lecturers, the yarn and notion vendors, and the experience as a whole. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to participate in this amazing experience. I hope someday I will be able to go again, it was really a life-changing experience for me and enormously recharging of my spirit and creativity.

 

Summer Peaches in Cotton Lace and Spangles!

 

It’s been swelteringly hot here in California so I’ve been knitting cotton lace. Everyone needs a lace vest for summer, right? It’s a light, cool piece that adds a hint of style to a dress without making you much warmer. I’ve been seeking the pattern for a white lace vest like this for years!

 

“Peaches” by Kim Hargreaves is a free pattern that you can download from Ravelry here

 

I discovered the pattern when we kicked off the Kim Hargreaves-along in the Stitching over the Days group, which I am helping moderate. Our knit-a-long lasts until December and we are all knitting at least one piece by the ravishing knitwear designer. While I was posting  the free Kim Hargreaves patterns that can be found on Ravelry, I stumbled on “Peaches” and it was love at first sight! 

 

This pattern calls for Rowan Cotton Glacé, but I find that yarn hard on the hands so I substituted in Rowan Summerlite dk instead. The Summerlite is a dream to knit with—light and bouncy and comfortable to handle for hours at a time.  I have already purchased more for another upcoming summer pattern! “Summer?!” You may say, “isn’t it just one more day to fall, and September 1^st?” Not around here, my friends. In fact, the hottest days of summer have not even hit here yet. Indian summer, mid September, is truly sweltering in Sunnyvale so I will be continuing to make items in cotton for some time. 

 

 

So far every summer garment I’ve sewed so far has been in cotton, but this may be my favorite. It is a spangled Indian muslin, which I discovered at FabricsRus in San Jose for $3 a yard.

 

 

I used the popover dress pattern from Gertie’s Jiffy Dress book. I chose the shirring option of this sewing pattern which involves gathering in the waist using concentric circles of stitching with elastic thread. It was not an easy process but after much practice and effort, I am very happy with the result!

 

 

Soldotna by Caitlin Hunter

 

Recently I participated in a knit-a-long of the Soldotna Crop cardigan at my local yarn shop. What a great stashbuster Caitlin Hunter's design is! I used Handmaiden Casbah (blue), (Fibercompany's Road to China and Myak Baby Yak Medium (dark browns), Olann Merino dk (white flecked with pink, blue and brown) and Rowan softyak dk (pink). This top is really versatile because all of us had different figures and different color schemes but we all looked smashing in the sweater!

 

 

 My friend, Sylvie and I had fun finishing Soldotna at around the same time and then we wore them on our trip together to Yellowstone Park in Montana. The park was gorgeous because of all the late rainfall which had created a bonanza of wildflowers and dramatic waterfalls. I found the Soldotna Crop, with its short sleeves, to be a perfect weight sweater for the kind of alternating warm and cool temperatures at this time of year in Montana. Sylvie and I wore our sweaters from early in the morning at the Paint Pots Geyser basin:

 

 to our late evening dinner at Chico Hot Springs where we indulged in the flaming orange dessert:

 

The Soldotna is a very short pullover and I lengthened it by following the example on the Malabrigo instagram page of a version lengthened using a repeat from the upper yoke of the sweater.

I really didn’t have the option of making the blue section of the sweater longer as I’d run out of yarn—I tried to knit the sweater almost entirely from stash but the teal section used Handmaiden Casbah doubled to DK weight which almost immediately sold out from the store I’d bought it from so there was no way to extend the main body section. And I found it fun to bring more colorwork to the bottom of the sweater anyway. It is still cropped on me but looks great paired with jeans or a high-waisted skirt.

 

 

Here are a few more photos from our trip to Yellowstone:

 

1: The Paint Pots

 

2 A Mother Watching over Baby Elk

 

3. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Waterfall

Vilma by Sarah Hatton

 

I’ve been knitting Vilma for over a year and a half-- it feels strange to finished it at last! The more stranded knitting projects I make, the less motivated I feel to work on long stockinette sections. But I persevered! The worst moment was last November. I left my half-knitted sweater in the back of a taxi in Paris and it took a while to to start again. Eventually I decided I would be permanently traumatized by Vilma’s loss unless I started over. 

 

 

I had meant to achieve a sweater-girl style look with Vilma, in keeping with Fran Jeffries sweater, which she wears in The Pink Panther movie here:

 

I think I achieved that pretty well, although my sweater is too tight in the bust. I have not washed it yet so I am hoping it will loosen up a bit. I went up a size from M to L in the bust section, then reduced to M in the yoke colorwork section to fit my shoulder/neck area. I had assumed that by adding so many extra stitches, it would be looser in the chest but for some reason it isn’t. Apart from that issue, the fit of the sweater is quite good, and I especially like the back:

 

 

I am wearing Vilma with the stretch-wool pencil skirt I finished sewing a few months ago. That skirt seems to go with all my sweaters so I’m wondering if I should make another one in a more spring/summer color scheme. A fellow knitted said that she feels shift dresses also go really well with sweaters so I have purchased a pattern to try. In the meantime, I sewed myself a little skirt/top ensemble out of denim using the Hollyburn skirt and a self-drafted top which I am really enjoying:

 

 

I like outfits  that can be paired together as a dress or worn as separates. And something about denim for summer seems right. As it's almost 90 degrees here, sleeveless seems a good option. My next project will be the fabulous Unst by Marie Wallin. You may remember that I got to try Marie Wallin’s sample on when I visited her booth at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival two years ago. I plan to go up a size so it fits me better than this sample:

 

 

To swatch for Unst, I am knitting some fingerless mittens using the same yarn and gauge, the Skerries Mitts:

 

 Skerries Mittens by Marie Wallin

 

I am in no hurry to finish any stranded projects right now because it's

too hot to wear any of them.  By the way, I should mention that

I really enjoyed knitting my Vilma out of the Rowan Finest

yarn that was, sadly, discontinued a few years ago. The yarn

is a blend of cashmere, merino and alpaca. I heard that it 

pilled quite badly in the knitting process from someone on Ravelry, 

but I did not have that experience myself, and I handled this sweater

quite a bit as it took so long to make the darned thing.

 

I don't see pilling, do you?

 

I have some bits and bobs of Finest left over in my stash, so I am

planning to cobble them together into an Asbury cardigan

by Martin Storey once I finish Unst. 

 

Clueless? Pairing Handknit & Sewn Clothes

Karen cardigan by Sarah Hatton + my sewn Hollyburn skirt

 

When you knit a sweater to match an item in your wardrobe, there are a lot of advantages. You’ve worn the garment for a while and understand its proportions. Understanding the style and shape you need to complete an outfit is key. I was thrilled that Myrna suited my purchased vintage dress as planned:

However, my other project was not so successful. I had originally thought, “How hard could it be to create a sewn outfit to go with my new cardigan?”

 

Because the official design photo of Myrna is styled with a V-neck garment underneath, I figured I 'd sew a V-neck top and skirt at the same time I knit the cardigan, and it would all go together

 

 

Since I was knitting the cardigan at the same time as I sewed accompanying pieces, I waited until all the garments were done to pair them together, which yielded surprising results:

 

 

I’m not saying this outfit is terrible, but it reminds me of a three-layer cake. Clearly, I should have remembered Tim Gunn’s words from Project Runway—matching colors don’t make a collection. It’s the match of the proportions of the pieces! The top is too long for the cropped cardigan and then the skirt flares out in a pouffy 3rd tier. Despite my disappointment, I wore the outfit to work. The Belgian father of my writing students raised an eyebrow and said, “You look Swiss today!” Hmm. Not sure my intention was to create a Swiss National costume. I don’t think I’ll be wearing Myrna with that red and white garb any time soon!

 

 

I've also tried to sew a dress that complements my new Willowwood sweater. My first dress attempt (and I will add the first dress I’ve sewn for 32 years) was the Simplicity pattern 8231.

 

 

While 8231 makes a great house dress, the proportions are all wrong when paired with Willowwood. Without a distinct waist band to the dress, the cropped sweater meets the skirt just where it starts to flare out, creating the illusion of no waist.

 

See how much better the cropped sweater looks with my waist-hugging, store-bought dress:

 

 

Refusing to be discouraged, I next sewed the Dahlia dress which is a popular Colette pattern and was on sale for $8. I also chose Dahlia for the distinct waist band which defines the figure better than the Simplicity Pattern: 

 

 

I’m super proud of this dress. The shoulders fit well since I tried the pattern hack that my wonderful friend Andrea helped me find here:  It's also a classic style I can wear to work. However, go with the Willowwood crop it does not:

 

 

Guess which sweater does go perfectly with Dahlia?

 

 

Note my look of dismay in the photo above! None of my plans are working out! On the bright side, I did randomly create a cute outfit with Myrna and Dahlia!????????

 

 I wear the Dahlia dress so much that I sewed up a second version with some Liberty poplin I found at a huge discount on Bluprint and a contrasting blue quilting cotton.

 

 

Something is working well, but it's not my outfit pairings, that's for sure! As Cher admits in the Clueless movie based on Emma by Jane Austen, there’s only one conclusion to be drawn-- the clueless one is me!

 

Do you readers have any advice? Until I figure out what I'm doing wrong, here is the plan:

 

     1)    Limit sewing and knitting projects to items matching what I already have.

 

     2) Wear each completed item for a month before I attempt to sew/knit a piece to match. By that point, I should understand what proportions will work. Or perhaps I won’t need to make another garment because the completer piece is already in my closet!

 

After all, the intention is not to pile up a bunch of random clothing but create a capsule wardrobe of things I want to wear, that go together and look good on my body type.

 

But perhaps some of you readers, being more advanced sewists than me, have a better idea?

 

Myrna by Andi Satterlund

 

 

 

I knitted Myrna to wear with a vintage-style dress I purchased last year.  I knew I would wear the dress a lot more if I had something to cover my arms, as the sleeveless style is not appropriate for teaching. Although I had queued Myrna, it was not until I saw CleoCMC’s version that I knew it was the one. Have you noticed how influential it is to see a really beautifully knitted version of a pattern? Seeing a knit on a real-life person, tastefully styled, allows you to imagine that sweater on you more easily.

 

 

Because Constance wears a lot of vintage styles like I do, I was 

able to see her Myrna paired with a vintage-style dress so I knew

 it would be perfect for mine. The pattern was clear and easy to 

follow, and I was able to knit it up in two weeks because the yarn

 is a worsted weight. Although the pattern calls for Miss Babs

Yowza, I am skeptical about using superwash yarn for garments 

as it has a tendency to grow, so I used some Rowan softknit cotton

 from my stash instead. 

 

It’s really a pity that Rowan discontinued Softknit cotton as it’s chainette structure makes it easy to knit and stable to wear. I have experienced no stretching from the cardigan, Karen, that I knitted with the same yarn two years ago.

 

 

My only complaint with the Myrna pattern is that the buttonholes are really big and a bit gappy. I used quite large vintage buttons I’d purchased in a Montana antique store for the cardigan but they are not secure. Now I plan to go back and reinforce each buttonhole by hand. Sigh.  Other than that small detail, I highly recommend the Myrna pattern. It has a lot of style in a small package and is fun and relatively easy to knit!  

 

 

 

Willowwood by Caitlin Hunter

 

I have finished knitting the boylandknitworks Willowwood

pullover in Woolfolk Far yarn. The combination of design and

yarn was absolutely scrumptious! I immediately became obsessed with the design when I saw the Pom Pom magazine because I feel it captures the drama and exhuberance of Victorian style but the cropped shape keeps it modern too!

 

 

The whole theme of the woman warrior with Victorian style in Pom Pom Quarterly 27 is just fabulous. Too often strong women are portrayed as hard-edged but the designs are so sumptuous and elegant!

 

Nightingale by Nora Gaughn

 

I have my eyes on the above design, Nightingale, as well. What a genius idea to create a suit of armor out of woolen cables! And the design uses an American made yarn, Quince & Co Lark, which I’ve been interested in trying. The other reason I am so obsessed with these Pom Pom designs is I’ve been reading some wonderful literature lately about strong Victorian women. Deanna Raybourn’s series that features a fearless Victorian female butterfly hunter and explorer, “A Curious Beginning” is just as sumptuous and well-fashioned as the Pom Pom knit collection.

 

The heroine Veronica Speedwell (Speedwell being the scientific name of a cornflower) is a blue-eyed warrior who will stop at nothing to capture the butterflies that take her fancy or the villains that threaten people she loves. It is so refreshing to read a thriller romance series in which a wounded hero is the retiring, beautiful character who must be ultimately stalked and trapped by an adventurous, world-traveled heroine.

 

Willowwood neck detail
 

Deanna Raybourn has been a bit of a muse for me of late, and her incredibly intelligent and entertaining interview in this podcast informed me about the intrepid Victorian woman explorers that Raybourn modeled Veronica Speedwell after. So knitting this pullover was mandatory for me, as it brings me one step closer to the marvelous world of adventure and thrilling scientific pursuits that Veronica Speedwell and the explorer Stoker inhabit.

 

 

I had the wonderful opportunity to try on a sample of Willowwood at Stitches West which resolved me to knit a more fitted version for myself. Although the second size of the pattern fit me rather well, it was quite wide at the bust which made my chest look simply enormous. For those of us who are on the busty side, I feel it is really important to pay attention to this area of a sweater. I altered the pattern accordingly by casting on only 160 stitches to define my waist and then I added in an additional 10 stitches every inch until I reached the armhole, at which point I’d reached the recommended 220 stitches. This created a gradual widening of the sweater so that there was NO wide swath of fabric hanging from the armhole to the waist, which had seemed to triple the actual dimensions of the chest area.

 

 

I also made the sweater more fitted by knitting the body on a size 7 cubix needle which tends to create a tight gauge instead of a size 8 needle as the pattern required. I only switched up to size 8 for the stranded sections of the pullover and sleeves. Otherwise, I knitted the pattern exactly as written and it fitted just as I wanted it to! I am planning to sew a dress to go with this pullover but I’m going to have to find a dress pattern with a lot of waist definition. The dress pattern I tried was too high-waisted for me to wear with a cropped cardigan and has become a house dress instead:

 

 

Between the cropped high waisted top and the high waisted dress, my waist seemed to disappear.  I'll try to post a photo next time to show you what I mean. So I’m going to try the Dahlia dress by Colette patterns instead: