Goldie

Goldie – the sketch

Goldie is my woolly little black dress.

I designed this very simple A-line dress, named after actress Goldie Hawn, taking inspiration from 1960’s fashion and I made it using fine (Baby) black wool.

Goldie and the (almost straight and unpaired) needles

The most of it is knitted in stockinette stitch, easy to knit but frankly a bit boring (the most challenging thing here is not to fall asleep!), to make it a little more interesting I added an eye-catching  detail: a false bib-shaped yoke made with a sequence of two different cable stitches (and if you know my other designs, you know that they are very, very easy to do) and completed with metal buttons and a metal buckle.

Goldie – the yoke (trust me!)

Can you see something?

I finished the round neckline and the dropped shoulder with ribbed band edgesknitted separately and then joined to the bodice with a backstitch seam (this way the dropped shoulders became a sort of very short sleeve).

To create a neat hem I used a turning ridge that I had sewn later (you can see how in the following illustrations, I remade a section in blue to let you see it better). I simply worked a few rows, then formed a ridge knitting the stitches through the back loops on the wrong side (on the right side of the work there’s a purl ridge). Following this row I actually started my dress. This way the hem has a clean line and its “weight” help to keep Goldie’s A-line shape.

Goldie – hem stage 1

Goldie – hem stage 2

Goldie – hem stage 1

As usual in  I paid attention to shape and fitting ans was not interested at all in realizing a challenging piece of knitting. I’m quite sure nobody will be interested in asking you how difficult was to knit your dress (they probably wouldn’t even care if you have designed it, knit it or whatever), but probably they will notice how you look good with it a thing that will be easily true if you make it on measure.

To realize Goldie’s knitting pattern I started with a flat pattern I drafted using my body measurements as you can see in the illustration. You’ll notice how the side seam ain’t a straight line, in fact in that case the hem would be too large and probably your dress would be too tight round the hips. In woollen dresses like Goldie, especially if you’renot very busty, like me, you can reduce the bust measurement by 1 centimetre, while it’s better to add 1 or even 2 centimetres round your hips. This way you’ll accentuate the A-line and the dress will be loose round your hips.

Here is the list of materials and stitches I used. I based the pattern on my body measurements, about an XS size.

Materials:

• 250 gr of black Baby wool;

• Straight needles 2,5 mm;

• 4 metal buttons and 1 metal buckle;

• Yarn needle;

• crochet hook 2,5 mm.

Stitches:

• Stockinette stitch;

• Double cable (see chart).

You can see a larger version of each illustration just clicking on them, more photo soon.

Related articles from the blog:

Goldie: knitting a little black dress; Goldie: the stitch’s chart; Dark shadows; My weekend movie: Cactus Flower (1969).