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Completed: OAL2015 (M6887 dress + Vianne sweater)

MY GOD, you guys. I am so happy I got this finished in time for the OAL deadline! I’ve had the dress finished for a couple of weeks now, but I worried about that sweater as the time drew closer! I ended up needing to take a couple marathon days in order to finish, but I did finish! And now I’ve got an outfit to show y’all!

I’ll start with the dress. Again, this is McCall’s 6887, which I used cotton ikat fabric from Mood Fabrics to make it up with (this isn’t a Mood Fabrics allowances fabric; I bought this on my own dime while I was in NY last year). I used the version with the back cut-out, as well as the cap sleeves, omitted the lining in favor of bias facing, and added pockets. I’m not going to go into detail about the construction, since there’s a whole series of blog posts on the making of this dress! You can see them all here:

We are just gonna look at pictures instead. Btw, I walked through a lot of spiderwebs to take these. Appreciate me, dammit.

Now for the sweater part!

Vianne is a sweet little top-down cardigan with lace details and a open mesh back. It’s supposed to be knitted up in DK weight yarn, but I used Cascade 220 worsted weight and was able to get gauge using size 6 needles. I knit the size XS, and the only modification I made to the pattern was to knit full-length sleeves. As in, I followed the sleeve directions and just kept knitting/decreasing until they were long enough. I’ve found that I don’t have much need for 3/4 sleeves – if I’m cold enough to wear a sweater, I am cold enough to need the full sleeve – so I went with long sleeves. I did keep the mesh back, though. The mesh back is awesome. I found the mesh+lace a little confusing to follow, so I used a bunch of stitch markers to stay on track and that helped a lot.

While I normally finish my buttonbands with a strip of petersham ribbon for stability, I did not do that with this cardigan. Vianne is a looser fit on me, and the button bands are so wide that they don’t really stretch when they are buttoned. So I left off the petersham and just sewed the buttons directly on the ribbing. One thing I will say about using a stabilizer with your button band – it makes sewing on the buttons a helluva a lot easier! Oh well! Anyway, the buttons are vintage glass from my stash – I’ve had them for YEARS and been hoarding them for a special project, which I’m happy to have finally found! I only had 4 buttons, so I left off one of the button holes. And by “left off,” I mean I originally knit it and then later closed it up with a slipstitch haha.

As with all of Andi’s patterns, I REALLY enjoyed knitting this sweater! The yarn was so nice to work with (after a long Cascade 220 hiatus, I’m happy to be home! And I’m really happy to find a local source that is still selling it – Ewe & Company, who happen to be located here in Kingston Springs! What are the odds?) and the color is my favorite. The only thing I didn’t like was feeling rushed at the end, but that’s my own damn fault for not pacing myself earlier during the OAL. I’m glad I got it finished in time, at any rate!

As a side note, wrangling the last sleeve of the sweater got me really wanting to start doing seamed knitting. I’ve always been a fan of in-the-round, because it’s so easy, but I’m starting to feel a little comfortable and I’m kind of craving a bit of a challenge. It would be fun to learn how to properly seam a sweater. Not to mention all the pattern possibilities that open up when you’re not hung up on just one particular construction style!

Anyway, that’s it! Here is Vianne on Ravelry (spoiler: not any more info than what you see here!). Don’t forget to post your finished outfit in the OAL 2015 FO Thread on Ravelry for a chance to win prizes! We have prize donations from Indie Stitches and The McCall Pattern Company, as well as from Andi Satterlund herself (winner’s choice with all of these, so you won’t get stuck with something you don’t want!), and there will be 4 winners. Also, if you have blog posts to share with your FO, post them here so I can see! I need to get my lurk on 😉

Tags: cardigan, completed, cotton, ikat, knit, knitting, McCalls 6887, Mood Fabrics, oal, OAL2015, Vianne, wool

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Categories completed projects - new

Announcing the 2015 OAL!

15 May

Happy Friday, everyone! I just wanted to pop in and let y’all know that the Outfit Along is back for a second year! WOOHOOO!!!

Once again, I’m joining forces with Andi Satterlund of Untangling Knots to combine a sew-along with a knit-along. The idea behind the Outfit Along (OAL) is to make a complete outfit by sewing a garment and knitting a garment. This is a great opportunity to stretch your crafting skills, and we’ll have two official patterns that we’ll help you with along the way.

The official sewing pattern will be McCall 6887, and the official knitting pattern will be Andi’s newest cardigan pattern, Vianne. I will be blogging about the official sewing pattern and Andi be blogging about the knitting pattern so we can all sew and knit along together. If you don’t love the official patterns, you can still join in! The Outfit Along is about making an outfit you’ll really wear, so to participate, all you need to do is to sew a garment and knit a garment to make an outfit. You’re more than welcome to pick projects that fit your own style and skills. You can look through the 2014 Outfit Along FO thread in the Untangling Knots group on Ravelry to see the variety of patterns people chose to use last year.

You can read all the juicy details over at Untangling Knots, but in a nutshell:

– We will be kicking off the OAL on June 1, 2015.
– The deadline for completion is July 31, 2015, which gives you two months to finish both garments.
– Did I mention that finishing within the deadline means you are eligible for PRIZES? Yes! We are cooking up some fun pattern giveaways to reward those of y’all who complete their outfit within the allotted deadline, so stay tuned for more information!
– To be eligible for said prizes, you must finish BOTH garments by July 31, 2015 and post them in the OAL Finished Outfit thread in the Untangling Knots group on Ravelry. Prize winners will be randomly selected from those who finish both their knit and sewn garments and post pictures in the appropriate thread by the deadline.

The official knitting pattern, Vianne, is a seamless, top-down cardigan, knit using DK weight yarn on US 8/5mm needles, which makes it a lovely lighter weight cardigan for the summer months. The v-neck cardigan features a set of mirrored lace panels that run along the front neckline and frame a large mesh panel on the back. To celebrate Vianne’s launch, Andi is offering 20% off up until the official OAL start of June 1. Use the code OAL2015 to snag the discount! You can read more details in the Untangling Knots shop or check Vianne out on Ravelry.

The official sewing pattern, McCall 6887, is a fun little summer dress with a surprise cut out in the back! You probably remember my Pineapple Delight version from a few weeks ago – well, I’m dying to make more, and I want to drag all y’all down with me (mwahaha). The pattern features front princess seams, skirt variations (flared or fitted) and the optional open back (there is also an option for a non-open back if that’s your jam!). I will be covering basic construction of the dress, and including tips swapping out the lining for a clean bias facing, and adding pockets. The pattern is rated as “easy,” so y’all beginners should have no problem tackling this! Also, just a head’s up – I just checked my local Joann’s and it looks like all McCall’s patterns are on sale for 3/$5 through 5/16, so go save some dollaz!

Since I’ll be traveling around Peru during the first couple of weeks of the OAL, we won’t start the sewing portion until June 22nd. Of course, you are welcome to get a head start and begin sewing on June 1; there just won’t be any sew-along posts until the 22nd! Andi will be managing the knitting posts over on her blog starting on June 1. If you knit and sew along with us, you’ll get your projects done in plenty of time.

Help spread the word and grab one of the badges below or use the hashtag #OAL2015. If you want to hang out and chat about the OAL, come join the OAL2015 Discussion Thread in the Untangling Knots group on Ravelry. You do need a Ravelry account to view and post on the thread, but it’s totally free and totally worth it if you do any knitting at all 🙂