Circular Shrug / Vest - Scale Model - TUTORIAL

[guessica]

As I start designing more of my own patterns, I've found myself wanting to play with shapes before making a big commitment with a people-sized model.  So I started thinking about making more miniature versions of my creations.  I thought this one was particularly useful. 

I saw this sweater at Urban Outfitters a while back.  The construction was really interesting - essentially a big piece of circular fabric with holes for arms, but I couldn't for the life of me visualize how it was put together.  It's actually a classic type of sweater shape, as you can see from this Yesterknits pattern, but it's not exactly intuitive. 

The free Yesterknits pattern for the vintage shrug instructed you to knit a piece of fabric, essentially in the shape of a "T," and sew together certain edges.  But the instructions on sewing the fabric together didn't necessarily give one a good idea of how the "T" turned into a sweater. 

So I tried this little tiny test.  I cast on 30 stitches (not the right number for the ribbing, but divisible by three) and knit in 2x2  rib for 10 rows.  Then I cast off 10 stitches on each side of the work and kept knitting the middle ten stitches for another 10 rows.  Then I cast off.  Here's the resulting piece:

Now here's the part I couldn't figure out without trying it myself.  You fold the flap made by knitting the center 10 stitches down and sew side A to side B.  Then sew side C to side D (sorry... I fixed a typo here!).  You'll see the basic shape of the shrug.  It really does end up circular:

It also ended up being just the right size for the fabulous Ani DollFranco to model for you:

The 30 stitches cast on initially are the top / collar side.  Everything else kind of wraps around the body.

There are two main differences (besides the, um scale) between this sweater and the UO sweater.  First, proportion.  I didn't bother figuring any of that out, but you'd have to play with the proportions on a final version.  I just used as many 10s as possible because I was in a hurry.  But I suspect you'd have to knit more than 10 rows initially to get a wider collar.  Second, ribbing.  The UO sweater has two different rib patterns - one for the stitches that border the shrug and one for the inner portion.  You could accomplish this by starting and finishing with a certain number of rows in, say, 3x2 rib before switching over to 2x2 or whatever you finally decide to use.

I don't know whether I'll ever actually make the sweater.  Maybe Ani DollFranco's version got this out of my system enough for now.  But I can't wait to see yours!

[melidomi]

That is awesome!  Excellent use of pattern crafting ingenuity - and it looks fab on Ani DollFranco.

[acesulfamek]

That's really great.  Thanks for the tutorial - you make it very clear.

Can you see any reason, based on your model and all, that one could not knit it as you have it here, sew it up, etc, then pick up around the arm holes and knit down to make sleeves?

[ohmystars]

i still can't visualise it, but i want to try a full size version!
do you mean sew c to d?

[guessica]

i still can't visualise it, but i want to try a full size version!
do you mean sew c to d?

Yes... whoops!  That was a typo.  A to B and C to D.  Thanks for catching that!  Is it clearer now?

[Sati]

Aren't you clever!  Nice work and great tutorial

[Keridiana]

That's very cute. I had that vest on my list of things to work out, too. I actually would just use a piece of paper -- pattern paper, if possible -- rather than knit at all. If I make a model at all, anyway. (Usually I just plunge in and frog like a sucker.) But then all my little dolls are naked. !! 

[ohmystars]

i still can't visualise it, but i want to try a full size version!
do you mean sew c to d?

Yes... whoops!  That was a typo.  A to B and C to D.  Thanks for catching that!  Is it clearer now?

do you leave a little hole in the seaming for the armhole? i can't figure how it works..
i think i'm going to have to try knitting a scale model for myself!

[ctgirl]

That is so cool.  My niece and I saw a shrug similiar to that in a catalog and I wanted to try and make one for her.  I am going to try this out to see how it turns out.  The one we saw had a big collar though.....so maybe you just make it longer?  I'm going to try to knit a small model too to see how it turns out!

[guessica]

It is still a bit confusing, so maybe this helps to clarify:

A and B, C and D are the sides that will be sewn together to make the seams.  E and F are the sides of the work that will fold in 1/2 and remain unsewn to make the arm holes.




First, you fold the top flap down.




Then you fold each side flap in so that side A meets side B, and side C meets side D. 




Then you sew these sides, A/B and C/D, together.




Which results in the full shrug.  The red lines indicate where the seams are located.