Jumper Dress in James C. Brett Rustic Aran Tweed: a triumphant finish

September 20, 2018 by Elaine 3 Comments

This dress sits neatly just below the knee.

Well it took some doing but I finally finished my jumper dress and I have to say that I love it. It is so warm and comfortable to wear and I would absolutely recommend the yarn and the pattern. The only adaptation I made was to knit the sleeves slightly shorter, so that they sit more three quarter length. The dress sits neatly just below the knee and can be worn either with leggings or boots and thick tights and definitely looks better on a body.

I took great care during the making up process to ensure that the start of the front and back yoke patterns matched up and that all my ends were carefully worked back into the knitting – there is nothing worse than an errant loose end on a garment designed to be worn against the skin and not over another item. Mind you my mother drummed it into me from an early age that I needed to finish a piece off properly and so I always take the time to work the tails and ends back in, snipping them as close to the work as I can.

I’ll admit to being slightly worried that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate the feel of the yarn against my skin but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by just how smooth and non-prickly the finished dress was.

Saturday morning I decided to be brave and enter my finished item into the ‘Hand Knits’ class of the show in which the girls did so well. I wasn’t that hopeful as the other entries looked to be really well made but I popped my carefully folded dress onto the display table next to the other five entries and tried not to think about it for the rest of the day until we returned after judging.

After marvelling at how well the girls had done, I took a deep breath and wondered down towards the crafts area and then realised that my dress had a certificate on it …….. oh! A couple of steps more and I could see the colour of and writing on the certificate ….. OH! First place! OH MY!!!

I’m told it was my finishing that secured the win, with the judge turning each item inside out to check that as much care had been taken with the hidden work as with the visible work.