#necklines

“The Priscilla Yoke Book” by The Priscilla Publishing Company, 1916. Boston, Massachusetts.

Adventures in the Classroom: Understanding Necklines- All-in-One Off-Shoulder Necklines

Aloha! Good to see you here! Welcome to another Adventure in the Classroom and our ongoing foray into the magic of necklines. So far, we have covered six different necklines and we are now at the final neckline of the lesson series. Today, we will be looking at off shoulders. I know we covered it in its most basic form in the 100% contour lesson, but this time we will be looking at how an…

The Dressmaker Meets the Nature of Knitting: Sweet Tee Recalculations

I took a simple bottom-yoked sweater named Sweet Tee and recalculated its sizing upward, its yarn gauge, and its collar, all of which worked well until I came to the actual neckline. If you sew a neckline, even with a knitted fabric, there is a moment when you stabilize it. Perhaps with a facing, or with a length of seam tape in the shoulder seam or the neck itself, even with a bit of elastic. But there is not such thing in knitting.

So, failing to realize that my re-sizing upward had created a wider and largely unstable neckline, I pulled my new sweater on over my head. It promptly fell to my hips. Oops. My husband said it had a nice fit. Ha ha.

What to do? I took out a ready-to-wear knitted top that I like the fit of, and recalculated the neckline circumference that I was aiming for. So, my first tip for those who like a knitting pattern, but want to change to gauge or sizing, is still Do the Math. But my second tip is Do the Schematic sketch of the sweater as a whole. Focusing your primary attention to making the bust and waist fit may lead you to ignore the rest of the garment.