Fellow knitter, Mary Jane found a T-shirt style sweater that she loved. The shape would be considered a dolman style with the sleeve being knit in one piece with the body of the sweater.

Because there isn't a shape like this in Standard Garment Styling, we need to create our own. Start in Standard Garment Styling and fine-tune the design in Original Pattern Drafting.

You may not want to re-create this exact style, but walk through the design process step-by-step for tips in creating your next "original".

1 The Plan

2 Start in Standard Garment Styling

3Finish the Design in Original Pattern Drafting

4Different Approaches

5 Not Enough Needles?

6 Stuff you Should Know

7 Challenge Yourself

Here is the basic shape of Mary Jane's sweater. DesignaKnit doesn't offer a standard shape with this style of sleeve. We will establish our basic size with Standard Garment Styling and fine-tune the design with Original Pattern Drafting.

Features:

• 2 pieces - just a front and back
• Curved hems and underarms
• One-piece cap sleeves
• Round Neckline
• Shaped Shoulders

There are many ways to accomplish our goals when working in DAK. Each of us approach designing differently.
When I looked at Mary Jane's original DAK file, I noticed a few things that I would have done differently ... what do you think?

1. Too many points?
2. Sleeve Shaping?
3. Sleeve Shaping?
4. Add Markers to position the stitch pattern
5. Duplicate the Pieces

NOTE: After creating this video Mary Jane shared that she purposely made the front longer instead of adding bust darts. She also wanted smoother curves and deliberately added all the extra points ... lesson learned ... there is no right or wrong way to design in DAK.

The beauty of using software to to get the results YOU want!

Tools used:

Start with Standard Garment Styling

• Adult Female Sleeveless Pullover Straight Sleeve Straight Front and Back necks
• Zero Ease
• Bust 34"
• Edit sizing
• Body Styling:
  • Remove ribbing
  • Add 1" shoulder drop
• Neck Styling:
  • Remove neckband
  • Edit neck width = 10"
• Save

Switch to Original Pattern Drafting

Tools used:

Mary Jane is using a Brother 260 with 114 needles. Her stitch gauge is 5.5 stitches per inch.
For her machine, at that gauge, the widest piece she can knit is 114/5.5 = 20.72".
This isn't going to give her enough width for her sleeves.

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Options:

Using our dimensions, or use your own, design a "Tee" using the skills covered in this module.

As with all things DesignaKnit, there are multiple ways of doing things. If you get the results you want, there is not "right" or "wrong" way.

Challenge Yourself:

• Skip Standard Garment Styling and create your pieces from scratch in Original pattern Drafting.
  
  • Start with a basic rectangle that is half your bust width and the desired finished length.
  • Add points for the armholes, sleeves and neck opening.
  • Continue as in the video to complete the design
• Instead of starting with a sleeveless sweater, create a straight short sleeve sweater in Standard Garment Styling.
  • Join the short sleeves pieces to the body of the sweater in Original Pattern Drafting with >Piece >Join
• When drawing the curved hem, try this:
  • Create the front hem with 5 points
  • Create the back hem with 20 points
  • Compare the knitting instructions for both pieces
• Not Enough Needles?
  • Play with adjusting your gauge to see if a slight difference will help
  • Adjust the sleeve length to reduce the number of needles needed

In Original Pattern Drafting

SLEEVES

• Extend the sleeves by moving points
• Establish the armhole opening depth
• Establish the sleeve opening depth
• If desired, curve the underarm

HEM

• Set the 0 orientation to the hem
• Use the curve tool to create a 2" curved hem
• Confirm the total garment length

* * * * DUPLICATE THE PIECE * * * *
FRONT NECK

• Set the 0 orientation to the top of the piece
• Use the curve tool to create a 2" front neck

BACK NECK

• Set the 0 orientation to the top of the piece
• Use the curve tool to create a 1" back neck

Get Knitting!

Tools used: