Swatches and yarn choice

Alright, maybe for the biggest project I’ve ever attempted, I should actually use my Ravelry account and not just wing it the whole way through like I usually do. Plus, I left a comment on black spruce knitting podcast’s youtube video about her version of this dress, which someone actually saw and replied to, and I thought, okay, maybe other people can actually use my notes. Said video is a great resource for anyone else attempting this dress. There are a few mistakes in the pattern which you should be able to identify pretty easily, but if I remember what they are as I start casting on my final project, I’ll try to make notes of them here as well.

I tested three yarns for this project. First I compared Gepard Wild&Soft and Knitting for Olive Pure Silk, and between those two I initially landed on the silk. It held up better to stretching after blocking (which will be important to get that beautiful snug fit on the bodice), whereas the Wild&Soft gave a very “spiderwebby” result and didn’t keep the structure very well. I later found out the waistband works best when knitted on a smaller needle, and perhaps the Wild&Soft waistband would look better on a 2mm than a 2.5mm needle, but I digress.

The Pure Silk it was! I decided on the 2.5mm needles for the main pattern, but felt the waistband would be better tighter to maintain structure (which was coroborated by Black Spruce’s experience in the video, I later found out). I knitted the entire waistband on 2mm needles and blocked it. And then I went back to my local yarn store, thinking I should test just ONE more yarn. Just to be sure. And I found the KFO Merino yarn. And I thought, “It can’t be better than the silk. But just in case…” And the owner gave me a spare skein to test for free, so nothing wasted there either (which is why the merino swatches are beige). And oh no. It’s beautiful. The waistband in particular held the pattern so well after blocking. And not a hint of the “spiderwebby” texture I was trying to avoid, even when stretched. Surprisingly, I had to go up a few needle sizes to get gauge, landing on 3.5mm needles for the main pattern, and 2.5mm needles for the waistband. I tried to convince myself that the Pure Silk was still nicer because it has a very slight sheen and a rustic texture at the same time, but I could feel in my heart the merino would work better. I’m in between sizes, so knitting a size small to fit my bust properly means the fabric will have to stretch nicely to fit my waist.

To be extra extra extra sure, I decided to knit a test of the bodice, including all three patterns which appear, in the right order. I’m deviating from the pattern here, because I didn’t really like the spider stitch on the bodice. I think it makes sense on the skirt, but it doesn’t do much in the way of “connecting” the fountain lace and mini leaf stitch on the bodice. So I tested a few other stitches (I can upload a picture of the ones I tested, but I don’t think it matters). I ended up going with this fountainy pattern I found on Drops. It probably has a real name but I couldn’t find that. Played around a little with the setup
Side-note: OH, this is where I found at least one mistake in the pattern. The boundary from Mini Leaf v1 to the next pattern (be it spider stitch or my personalised version) looks much better with a k2tog than a ssk. Maybe it’s visible in the picture where I included both my draft swatch for the full bodice pattern and my final version, where I made the change to k2tog. Not sure.

OKAY, so now that I figured out my pattern, I made a full swatch in both the Pure Silk and the Merino. And okay. They both look really nice. I think it could work with both of them. In the end, the merino just felt right. It was nice to work with, and gave the kind of stretch I was after. Doesn’t hurt that it might be just a tad warmer for a late September wedding, but I’m probably just making stuff up. It just felt right.
Went back to the yarn store and ordered 15 skeins in the colour “Cream”. That’s the colour that suited me best. 15 might be overkill, but rather have enough leftover for a sweater than just enough for one sock.

Last note - I disagree with the pattern’s instructions for the waistband. After knitting the full band in Pure Silk and blocking it, following the instructions, I still felt it came out a bit flat. You can see it’s very stretched out in the picture. Knitting on a larger needle gave a poor result as well. No, in the end, at least for the waistband: fuck the gauge and the instructions. I’ll knit it to a little shorter than the length I need, block it so it looks nice, and live with it not being 8cm wide. I’ll block the skirt slightly longer to compensate, and I’ll pick up as many stitches as I need to connect both skirt and bodice.

Final choice:
Knitting for Olive Merino, Cream.
3.5mm needles for main pattern.
2.5mm needles for waistband.

Now, let’s get cracking.

17-05-2025

Okay, it’s been a while, and a lot has happened in the last, what, four months? In that time, I’ve completely finished the bodice, started the skirt, had a meltdown, made a plan, and, I think, gotten back on track.

I finished the bodice in the beginning of April, having made a couple of changes, some of which I described in the first update. I uploaded a picture of my notes, where you can see the specific changes I made. Connecting the bodice and waistband was slightly stressful, because the first time I did it I made it too tight, and the second time I ran out of yarn in an unfortunate place and ended up spit splicing, which is visible if you look really closely. But I’m very happy with the result, and it fits like a glove.

I sized down the needles for the skirt after a bit of testing. I decided I wanted a tighter fabric and a more snug fit, and the 3mm needles gave a good result. So I quickly finished the center skirt panel on 3mm needles and got started on the main skirt piece. And h-oh boy. This is gonna take a while. I modified the skirt because I didn’t want buttons down my butt (more on this later), and sized down to an XS, and it still takes me about an hour of knitting per centimeter. Maybe I’m just slow, but this is where I had a nervous breakdown because it felt like I would never finish! And there are increases for each section, so it will take slightly longer per centimeter by the end! I’m happy I started early! I decided my goal would be at least 1cm per day, meaning the entire skirt will take me about 100 days, and I should have more than enough time to finish the dress before the wedding. And most days I’ve done more than 1cm, so I’m all good. Phew.

Anyway, due to my bodice modifications, the waistband sits higher on me than in the original pattern, and the skirt has to be longer. I made the first skirt section 25cm, and will aim for 20cm for the remaining 4 sections, giving a total of 105cm when blocked. I’m making the front panel the same length because I don’t want a train. As for the pattern, again, I made a few changes. Where in the bodice patterns I used S2kp everywhere for a flatter effect, I did the opposite on the skirt and am using Sk2p everywhere for more texture. This only impacts the fountain lace in the bodice and the mini leaf on the skirt, I think.

Back to the butt thing - removing the butt buttons may cause issues. The waistband is tight, and I may have issues getting into the dress at the end. I tested a bit, and I think it won’t be a problem for me, but for anyone with broader shoulders, beware of this modification.

Okay! I think that’s all for now :-)

30-07-2025

So, another few months have passed, and I’m almost done with the main skirt section. Think I have about 15cm to go. I’ve gone a little back and forth on having a train, we’ll see where it ends after blocking. Either way, I just ordered a slip dress to have underneath, and I actually also found a very pretty white bridal skirt in a second-hand shop (cost me 80DKK). I’m not entirely sure how I’ll use it, but I thought it might help make the skirt more sturdy and protect it a bit.

My main concern right not is how to join the bodice and skirt. I altered the pattern because I didn’t want buttons down my butt, but combine that with how tight I made the waistband, and I might have problems actually getting into the dress if I just knit them together. I have quite broad shoulders, so that makes it more difficult. I have a few ideas for solutions, the one I’m most confident in at the moment is to actually leave the bodice and skirt separate and attach them with fastening hooks and eyes (which I also found second-hand). I think I can get it to join almost invisibly. But we’ll see how it goes once the skirt is blocked and finished.

12-08-2025

Skirt is done and blocked! Just need to sew it all together now.

30-09-2025

Finally complete, and wedding has passed! Ended up hooking the skirt to the top and although it did mean I had to stay aware of the edge of the skirt sometimes poking out from under the waistband, it held up really well through an evening of dancing and partying. I couldn’t be happier with this dress!