What is in a hem?
Thank-you to everyone who has expressed interest in my journey to knit myself a dress. And for those of you who wish to join me – here is a discussion of your first consideration – I have already worked out these questions for myself!
In the pattern that you downloaded I offered up three different hem widths. These were just arbitrary numbers based on what I thought my ideal hem would be. It can and should be changed to create the hem that you want. Every other aspect of the dress is created from your hem.
My only caveat is to not make too narrow a hem, unless your skirt is quite short. Remember a comfortable stride is part of a comfortable garment.
How do you decide what might be best for you?
Start out with your favourite dress. The one you love to wear, the one that fits just right. Lay the dress out and take some measurements.
- How wide/long is the hem?
- How long is the skirt to the waist?
- What are the measurements of waist, bust, shoulders, length of arm?
- How wide or deep is the neckline?
With this basic information we ask ourselves some questions? Do you want to keep to the dimensions of the original? Is there something about it you would like to change?
For the moment your hem is only decision. My hem of choice is fairly full. Basically about 8 feet, 240 cm around. I like a full skirt. You may not. So look at your dresses and judge from there. I have started a forum thread on Ravelry. Feel free to ask me questions at any point in your journey.
To figure your cast-on for your hem you will need to employ some pithy math.
Pithy Math – My pattern panel repeat is approx 5 inches wide x I have 18 repeats. 5 x 18 = 90 inches. Since I know that this number will be a little wider/longer once properly blocked I feel pretty confident that my hem will be around 96 to 100 inches long 8 to 8.5 feet. Each panel is 21 sts wide, so my math for my cast-on was 18 x 21 = 378 sts. It will create a hem close to what I am expecting.
I do not and you should not expect exact measurements. We are creating a fabric and garment from a string. So many things will affect our final results. What the string is made from. The weight of your string versus the weight of my string. Your tension/gauge as different from my tension/gauge as different from every other knitters tension/gauge!
My Dress
My dress will be an amalgamation of my current dresses and a favourite dress from memory. So it will be all its own. The colour will be whatever my favourite colour is once the dress is complete. Right now it would be a very bright pink. Probably not by the time this dress is finished. It will most likely be a jewel tone though, probably not a subdued colour. I do love the deep jewel tones.
I am hoping that my dress will be fairly close to the sketch. I will be adding a collar. It will be a gathered collar and it will be beaded.
That is the only known fact about my bodice. And I am thinking that there may be beads on the bodice and sleeves, that could change. I am also thinking that I may sew a simple slip to wear under my dress, maybe with a knitted lace edging, that could change.
A big part of process, once your hem is decided and you have started knitting is dreaming about all the parts that will come next. Knitting the skirt will be the longest part of the process. There will be lots of time to think. I am already thinking ahead and keeping and discarding my ideas. You can too!
Happy Knitting
Lynette
