Eek! So happy with this new dress and finishing one of my goals for Me Made May this year. I cut the pieces for this dress out probably 2 weeks ago and then just sat with it, unsewn, until Monday when I needed a refresh in my office space. Cleaning everything up and putting away the remnants of other projects helped with my motivation and I finished it up last night. It’s amazing what a little refresh of your physical space will do for your mental space to be able to be productive.

I mentioned in my first post for my sewing goals for May that I had made a Wren dress already but hadn’t blogged it because I needed to make some modifications to be happy with it. This one went much better, mostly because I had made it once already and also because of the fabric. This is an organic cotton knit from Birch Organics that I purchased at Freeman’s Creative a few months ago and it is just really high quality. It feels soft but not too buttery, so I know it will hold up over time, and is really light and nice.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this project was the finishing on the sleeves and collar with the twin needle. I don’t have a separate bobbin holder for a second thread on my top stitching so my thread kept getting tangled, and tightening and breaking. I do like the finished look of a twin needle, so for the future I think I am going to either look into options for a second holder for that thread, or ways to thread the twin needle to prevent tangles.

This is the view B, and the only modifications that I made were to lengthen the sleeve by about 2.5-3” to make it a mid-length sleeve instead of a short sleeve, and to remove about an inch from the back bodice so that it hit my back at the same angle as the front of the dress. As written, it was hitting lower on my back and I didn’t love it.

I really enjoyed this pattern and can see myself making my version of a little black dress in the future. I may also consider raising the back neckline for a winter version as well, as it kind of has a scoop effect to it as written.

All in all, highly recommend this pattern and happy to have it in my wardrobe. I think it will be a versatile piece for dressier evenings, having friends over (someday) and even some outdoor events this summer (Lord willing). Until then, its a super fancy house dress and that’s just fine.

Yay! It is done!

I have had this sweater on my “to-make” list pretty much ever since it came out a few years ago. It’s the perfect combination of being cozy, but polished, and comfortable to wear. While some there are really amazing patterns coming out all of the time these days, I especially loved working on this one because I knew I had loved this pattern for a long time and would love wearing it for a long time, too. I prefer a narrow sleeve and love the combination of a boxy sweater with slimmer sleeves and this sweater really delivers. And unbelievably, it’s also my first sweater knit in BT Loft (it won’t be my last). This yarn is definitely an investment, and I actually just collected these skeins, in the Fossil colorway, over a couple of years. It was intended originally for a lacy shawl design also by Brooklyn Tweed, but when I realized that I was just one skein short of being able to knit this sweater, I went over to Hillsborough Yarn Shop, used some store credit I had saved, and cast on.

Despite this color looking very natural and undyed, it did actually have some color variation in the lots that I had collected, and so I alternated skeins while knitting in the body and no one would be able to tell. The honeycombs are created using this really clever technique that at first, looks a little floppy and weird but when blocked, becomes really striking.

I knit the size S because with the generous ease built into the body, I was in between sizes but my gauge was coming out a bit bigger than what the pattern calls for. I think it worked out, because it’s definitely still boxy but I don’t feel like I’m drowning in it either. The only modification I made otherwise was to lengthen the body by about an inch and literally used all but one yard of all five skeins (including ripping out the swatch to use as yarn in the sweater). There was some nerve-wracking yarn chicken at the end there! The body of this sweater would have been really excellent movie theatre knitting had we been able to go to the movies over the past month, as it’s just really long rows of knitting and purling.

You can see my full project page and the pattern on Ravelry here. 10/10 would recommend and I know I will be wearing this one so much when the weather cools down again (and also today, with the AC on).

Find me on Instagram: @abbygoodknits

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