Plaid is a huge fashion trend for Fall/Winter 2013! Red plaid in particular has been on all the magazine covers lately. I really adore Nicki Minaj's red plaid dress with all of the metallic accessories! The waist shaping gives the almost masculine plaid fabric a sexiness and the sheen of the metal accessories elevates it to high fashion. The minute I saw this I knew I had to find some way to knit a plaid this season.
Isn’t Olivia Wilde's plaid jacket fabulous? She pairs it with skinny jeans to give it more sex appeal. I went recently on a scouting mission to Chanel to get inspired by their fall collection for my future knitting projects and I saw this jacket in person—it looked amazing with the metallic jeweled buttons and braid as contrast trim. Talk about couture plaid, this is ultra chic!
Plaid has always had a huge draw for me because of my Scottish heritage but now it is actually fashionable! I was determined to knit my own plaid but I have little experience with Intarsia and the idea of creating the vertical lines of the plaid with multiple bobbins hanging off my knitting filled me with dismay. The last intarsia project I made was a square in a blanket for a friend’s baby and just that tiny piece caused me hours of agony, with bobbins of different colors tangling over each other and creating a royal mess. Ah, but I soon discovered there is another way!
Jennie Atkinson, a designer I have always admired, has created a slip-stitch pattern as the base for her plaid jacket, Striven:
This is a clever approach to plaid, because it does not require Intarsia. Embroidery is used instead for the vertical lines. The slip stitch fabric created in tweed yarn creates a multi-textured surface which you can embroider vertical stripes onto using duplicate stitch without the embroidery standing out. Usually, the idea of embroidery on knitting intimidates me because when you are adorning a smooth stockinette fabric, every little imperfection of your embroidery shows. But the irregularities of a slip stitch pattern in tweed are so great that duplicate stitching easily melds into the fabric, holding you to a much lower standard of accuracy regarding the size and consistency of your embroidery stitches.
Can you see the embroidery? Yes and no. It is subtle, isn't it? I really feel that is the genius of the whole design.
I really enjoyed making this jacket! I chose the colors based on my own mental model of a Chanel bracelet in pinks and blues and yellow plaid I saw several years ago. I added waist shaping to the pattern and made the sleeves much more fitted; those were my main modifications.
After completing each flat piece, I embroidered the vertical lines on top using duplicate stitch—I loosely used the pattern as a guide but I added additional vertical stitching to get the color effect that I wanted. I do not recommend knitting this jacket in the round as it is much easier to embroider individual pieces.
Also it is a more flattering jacket if you can decrease for the waist and then increase for the bust, all of which would be more difficult when knitting in the round in the slip stitch pattern in my opinion. If you look at this piece, you can see all of the shaping that went into it.
After embroidering the pieces, I hand washed them to allow the duplicate stitches to melt into the original slip stitch fabric. After washing, you really could not tell where the embroidery ended and the original knitting began. I am really excited about this project, and I felt it was a great beginner’s approach for anyone who is intrigued by the idea of embroidery on top of knitting. Here it is difficult to get in trouble because of the uneven fabric and variegated yarn, which all can hide a multitude of mistakes!
To finish the jacket and continue the tribute to my Scottish and Irish heritage, I added Green Man buttons. Green Man is a deity who in legends roamed the British Isles and represented the spirit of rebirth.
I loved the format of this jacket as it has a toughness that seems appropriate for plaid, which could have been the garb of my highland ancestors, warriors some of them. There is a quality to the edging and neck shaping that is almost reminiscent of a motorcycle jacket if you wear it buttoned up:
If you make a plaid, make sure it has attitude, that is all I'm saying. Plaid has an edge-no wonder it has made the crossover into grunge and punk wear!
Anyway, this project was a huge amount of work and I think my momentary craving for plaid has been satisfied. However, I do have my eye on the following plaids for future knitting adventures:
1. Martin Storey’s Tay Tartan:
L I love the way he incorporates an actual tartan into his design. It just really needs some waist shaping, don't you think?
2. ILisa Richardson’s Dhurrie:
I adore this and its totally romantic but in sunny Silicon Valley, how will I ever get away with prancing around in this cape?
3. Martin Storey’s Mull:
This could be adapted into a woman's sweater, don't you think?
Does anyone have a great plaid knitting pattern to share? If so, please post it in the comments section, especially if it does not require Intarsia!!