On negative ease and learning from the past

It took me a little while to feel as comfortable as this in my new skirt and sweater but I got there in the end

When I made this skirt for the Titanic project the fit was so good that it got me thinking.  I wondered what it would look like made in a contemporary style.  When I say contemporary I mean short, there was no need to mess with the shape in any other way at all.  I made a few little modifications like using a zip fastener under the scallops.

I still did lots of hand stitching as I felt the skirt went together better that way.  It is made entirely with stash fodder, the gunmetal coloured linen was bought a while ago on a visit to Goldhawk Road and the ribbon left over from a previous project, rummaging around in my work-basket I found the right colour cotton and zip.

I loved the skirt it looks perfect in its 21st century guise, I expect to make it again and again and I love the little Tana Lawn shell top, Sorbetto, from Colletterie patterns (it is a free download at the moment)  But not together,

So delving into the stash boxes again I came up with three skeins of Manos Del Uruguay silk and merino blend in just the right colours.  A search on Ravelry came up with the perfect pattern from Ram Wools Yarn Co-op.

The largest size was a 36inch - too small for me so I swatched (yes I truly did) and added stitches to give me an extra 2 inches round.  I also decided to go for an all stocking stitch construction with curly edges.  This is when I discovered what negative ease is.  It was huge and only looked OK if I grabbed a handful at the back and smoothed out some of the curlyness.

It was just a Sloppy Joe and not the look I wanted at all (I should have learnt from the way Sorbetto was the wrong shape).  So I pulled it all out and made it up in the 36inch size, obeyed all the pattern instructions and VOILA!

So, negative ease - knit a sweater that you want to fit snugly about 2inches smaller than your bust size then it will fit not hang.

xx

C