More Pictures of the Lady's Undervest

Curvy niece Pam modeled the Lady's Undervest for me this weekend:

she's such a cutie :-) 

I think the final consensus is that this is a warm but lightweight sweater.  And that a corset which puts one's breasts in the properly perky position would improve the fit.

Lady's Undervest Photos!

Pia took pictures for me, thanks P!  One of her students modeled, and a darling model she is. 

Project 5: Lady's Undervest Nearly Finished

All I have left to do is find 4 buttons and The Lady's Undervest is done!  And get the battery in my camera charged so I can get some good photos (or better yet, have Pia take some pictures for me, with a willowy model wearing the sweater)

I made a goof on the bottom "flounces", I now see.  The front has 2 flounces, the back has 3 :-(  Well I'm not fixing it now.  And I figure eyes will be drawn to those boob darts, so no one will even notice the bottom.

This is another pattern I'm not going to rewrite in modern "language".  The original instructions are actually quite clear, and I don't think they need reworking.

Project 5: Lady's Undervest Progress

I'm plugging away on miles of ribbing :-)  I am nearly finished with the back (about 8" to go!).

The sleeves are knit from the top down to the cuffs, which surprised me.  Not sure why they are "top down", but perhaps it will come clear once I start knitting.

I got my extra Heilo yarn, and the dye lot looks like a pretty good match.  I'll knit the sleeves in the "new" yarn, and hopefully it won't be too noticeable that I'm working with 2 dye lots.

The plan is to have this sweater done this weekend, so I can move on to Project 6.  Which I think is going to be a small shawl.

Project 5: Lady's Undervest Front Finished

Front is finally done and the buttonholes are spaced correctly, as in the engraving.  Before blocking, my front measured 30" in length, so it's going to be a bit longer than the original instructions (which say 29" long, but don't say if that is blocked or unblocked).  The engraving does show a fairly long sweater though, so I think it's okay.

Now to find a long, lean lady to model for me.  I don't think this style is going to fit my chunky body, even if it does have a lot of stretch.

Project 5: Lady's Undervest

I found more of the Heilo yarn I need, and it's on the way.  Fingers crossed that the yarn is a close match dye lot-wise. 

I've reknit the right front of this sweater 3 times now :-(  I am having trouble getting the buttonholes spaced correctly on the front placket.  The instructions say to make a buttonhole "every 10th ridge".  I first interpreted that as every 10th row (the placket is in garter stitch), which didn't work.  Ripped and tried every 10th garter ridge (20 rows) and that didn't work either.  3rd time I'm trying 10 rows between the buttonholes.  This had better work, as I'm kind of sick of knitting the placket/right front and would like to move along to the back.

I'm also writing up my instructions and knitting the samples for my first Piecework article.  Thanks to sister Sue, knitter exraordinaire, I have one less sample square to knit myself. 

Project 5: Lady's Undervest

I don’t think my 9 skeins of Heilo is going to be enough for this project (guess I should have thought about that before plunging in), so I’m on the lookout for more in this color and hope the dye lots are not too different.

I’m about 3/4 done with the front, working on the bust dart (which is an interesting technique, you increase one of the ribbing columns from 6 to 20 stitches, then back down to 6 for each dart). I’m curious to see how those bust darts look on 21st century boobs :-)

Not to mention that wasp waist.  Luckily, this sweater is quite stretchy, so it should fit a non-corseted lady just fine.  

I'm also looking forward to knitting the sleeves.  It will be interesting to see if the 1890s sleeves and armholes vary much in size from today.  From what I've read, these areas had much less ease than we are used to, but perhaps in a ribbed "undervest", the designer took comfort into account.  We shall see.

Project 5: Lady's Undervest

This week's project (which may spill over into next week), is "Lady's Undervest with Moderately High Neck and Long Sleeves" from Weldon's Practical Knitter, Twenty-Eighth Series (published in 1895), included in Weldon's Practical Needlework Volume 10.

"The Pretty undervest shown in our engraving is so elastic as to be capable of fitting almost any figure, and moreover, plenty of space is afforded on the chest by means of bosom darts.  The pattern is a wide rib.  The vest is 29 inches long from the shoulder to the bottom, and the sleeves are 17 inches long."

The original pattern requires: "8 ozs. of unshrinkable best wool of the best quality procurable, a pair of No. 10 long bone knitting needles, or No. 9 if a tight knitter or if an extra-sized vest is wanted, also a pair of No. 12 steel needles, and four pearl buttons."

I am using Dale of Norway Heilo yarn (DK weight) in Light Sheep Heather, and US #4 needles.  Here is my Undervest so far:

As I am an "extra-sized" lady, I am using the larger size needles for the undervest.  The bottom scallop edge is quite pretty.

I don't think I'll look like our engraving though.  I'm not planning on wearing a corset with this.