Completed: My Finished OAL Dresses!

Good morning, everyone! I hope your AM is filled with lots of sunshine, like mine, and coffee, unlike mine (because, *ahem* someone forgot to mention we were out after he made a pot yesterday). Anyway, that’s neither here nor there – you came here to see finished dresses and sweaters, right? Let’s get to it!

Fair warning – this is a pretty picture-intensive post. I have two dresses to show plus a cardigan! (You’re so lucky that I don’t have two sweaters. I tried, but the second one is technically a vest right now soooo…). While I could theoretically stretch this out into 3 posts, I actually really hate it when people do that so I’m just dumping it all in one glorious picture-filled OAL extravaganza! Hope you don’t mind looking at my mug 😉

Speaking of which… you probably noticed the change in scenery, not to mention actual decent looking photos. That’s because I didn’t take them! Ha! All photo credit for this post goes to my lovely friend, Jenna, of Kitty Cat Stevens (you may recognize her photos from last year; she took those ace ones of my Lace trench). She really did an amazing job with these and I just love how they turned out!

Dress #1 was made with a lightweight cotton from Mood Fabrics (purchased at the NY location while I was there in March). The bodice is view C with cap sleeves, a softly pleated skirt and a lapped zipper.

LOOKS SO GOOD WITH MY HAIR.

Dress #2 was made with a gorgeous rayon challis from Grey’s Fabric. I used the same pattern, swapped out the bodice for view B with bias-faced arm holes, a softly gathered skirt and an invisible zipper.

The hem on this one is finished with rayon seam binding. So pretty!

Finally – here’s Myrna herself! I guess I can talk a little more about this part of the project since I haven’t really mentioned it much on my blog (unlike that entire OAL full of posts, ha).

Can I just say – I LOVE THIS CARDIGAN. It was super fun and super easy to knit, not to mention super fast (how many more times can I say super in this post?). According to my Ravelry, I finished it in just under a month.

I went with the size XS, getting gauge with size 6 needles (which is typical for me + worsted weight yarn + Andi’s patterns).

The yarn is (super?)AMAZING, isn’t it? Something I picked up from my local yarn store, Haus of Yarn– I knew I wanted neon yellow to go with the fabric for dress #1, so I took a swatch with me and went lurkin’. Maybe it’s just my yarn store (granted, we have more in this city – actually, a surprising number of really good yarn stores – but this particular store is less than two miles from my house, so obviously I like shopping here best haha), but they never seem to have the color I want in the weight/fiber I prefer! In this case, they only had a couple options for neon yellow worsted weight wool. Because I am an adult, I picked the most expensive option – this is Jill Draper Makes Stuff, and the color is Daffodil. At $26.50 per skein, it was definitely a splurge, but I only needed 2 skeins for this sweater so I figured it was worth it 🙂 Spoiler: It totally was! This yarn was a dream to work with – so soft and squishy, with a beautiful saturated color gradient. I don’t know if this particular yellow looks any good on me, but I also don’t give a fuck because it makes me happy.

I knit the pattern 100% as written, and had no issues. Blocked it with a bit of gentle shampoo (I keep meaning to get that special wool washing/no rinse shit they sell at my LYS, but since I went over budget with the yarn I had to put it back. Maybe next time. Maybe never lolz). True story: I forgot to finish the keyhole until after I’d blocked the whole thing, so I had to go back and keep knitting. I’m glad I did, though – I was on the fence about the keyhole because it looks kind of wonky at first, but once it’s finished it really does make a world of difference!

The button bands are stabilized with Petersham ribbon. Because this cardigan has a v-neck, I steamed the Petersham with a gentle curve to mimic the shape of the neckline, and stopped it a little above the top button hole (so, before you ask: no, it doesn’t go all the way around the neck). I used this tutorial from Sunni’s blog for guidance – she’s using it to hem a skirt, but it’s the same concept with the neckline, with a less aggressive curve. The vintage glass buttons are from my stash, previously purchased at the flea market.

I love how well the sweater goes with dress #2, because that was not planned at all! I didn’t decide to make a second dress until I’d already started the sewalong, and knit about half of the sweater. They do look good together, though. Yay for unintentional matching!

How are y’all doing with your OAL garments? Almost finished? Remember – the deadline to enter is this Thursday, July 31. Don’t forget to post your finished outfits in the Ravelry thread, which will give us all full lurking capabilities and also enter your ass to win some prizes. We also have the Offical Unoffical Flickr Group if you don’t use Ravelry/only finished a dress – but please be aware that your two pieces need to be uploaded to the Ravelry thread to be eligible for the contest 🙂 I’m loving all the dresses and sweaters I’ve seen so far, and I need to see MORE PLS.

Feeling inspired? Here’s a link to all the tutorials covered during the OAL:
1: Choosing Your Fabric and Size
2: Cutting and Marking Your Fabric
3: Sewing the Bodice
4: Sewing Sleeves or Bias Facing
5: Attaching the Skirt
6: Inserting a Lapped Zipper (see also: My Method for Invisible Zippers)
7: Hemming & Finishing
How to Stabilize a Buttonband with Petersham Ribbon (not part of the official OAL, but useful nonetheless!)
FINALLY, you can see my Myrna Ravelry notes here.

Whew! That’s a lotta post for a coffee-deprived Monday morning! 😉

Tags: Andi Satterlund, cardigan, completed, dress, grey's fabrics, jenna, kitty cat stevens, knit, knitting, Mood Fabrics, myrna, oal, OAL2014, petersham ribbon, Simplicity 1803, sweater, these pictures are legit, wool