Garment Designer Projects

We are beginning to post some project lessons that we have done over the years. Some of these will come from articles Susan has written in past. Feel free to email us with comments, or even pictures if you create your version of the project.

This was an article published in Knit N' Style magazine a few years ago.

Unfinished Finished Top by Susan Lazear

A few years ago I traveled to Denmark to visit with friends and explore the textile arts scene. As you may know, the Danish have long been known as design innovators, in art, architecture, furniture and general design. Of course, my greatest interest was in the clothing and textiles, Although my shopping time became very limited, I still managed to find numerous design inspirations and ideas, the most interesting of which was a sweater-type garment that I would classify as ‘unfinished’. Of course I purchased it so that I could share the idea with fellow knitters back home.

The unique feature of my ‘unfinished’ sweater is the fact that individual knit pieces of garments (i.e. a front, back and sleeves), are either stitched on top of, or attached to a sheer stretch netting fabric. It is almost as if someone began to knit a sweater and realized the body pieces were too small, and thus simply stitched or appliquéd them onto a base of knit commercial fabric in order to salvage the project. Of course the knit body pieces are smaller than the netting, and so you can see through to the netting in areas of the garment, which of course is the whole idea of the garment. Illustrations 1 through 3 show you the original garment.

As an exercise, I am going to create a variation of the unfinished finished sweater. After some digging through fabric stores, I found an interesting netting fabric. I then looked through my yarn inventory, and found a teal wool yarn that would coordinate nicely with the fabric.

The Process

1.	The first step of the design process was to analyze the original garment. I looked at the top critically, to determine the proportions of open-space netting at the side seams, shoulder, etc. I also noted that no edge finishes were applied to the garment in that the hem and neck edges were unfinished. This could be an option in my garment although I might choose to have a more finished treatment.
2	Next, I tried it on again to check the fit and then drew a schematic and recorded the measurements (both vertical and horizontal) of the top as it laid flat.
3	At the computer, I opened Garment Designer software and turned on the display of dimensions. This would allow me to compare the dimensions of the garment I was building with the dimensions of the finished garment that fit. I chose a Petite Size 6, as this is close to my size.
4	I changed style options and then dragged the points around on the top front and back until I matched the desired measurements of my schematic. The knit shell should fit fairly closely to the body, so you can see how I reproduced this idea. (Illustration 4) At this point, I scaled the pattern to 1/4 scale using the Display menu (Illustration 5) and printed a 1/4-scale pattern.
5	To prep the pattern for sewing, I added hems to the top and sleeve and added seam allowance. (Illustration 6 and 7) I turned on Final Pattern mode (Illustration 8) and then printed a full scale pattern which tiled onto 8-1/2 x 11” sheets of paper. I taped these together and cut out my mesh garment. (Illustration 9)

6	Back at the computer, I resaved my shell file with a new name. Then I began the process of designing the front and back pieces that would become the knit pieces. I used my original schematic as a guide and determine the new widths and lengths of the pattern. The easiest way to resize the garment was to select the entire side of the pattern (side seam and armhole) and drag it inwards. (Illustration 10) I also shortened the garment using the top length option. Illustration 11 shows you the finished pattern pieces. Once I was satisfied with the pattern, I printed out a quarter scale pattern and cut it out. By laying it on top of the original garment pattern, I was able to determine if the fit would work. (Illustration 12) It took a couple of tweakings, but I was please with the results and the ability to see in advance how the hand knit pieces would work with the commercial knit mesh.

7	At this point, I input my gauge and requested knitting instructions for both the front and back pieces. I then knit the pieces and used a full-scale pattern of the knit pieces as a guide to block them. (Illustration 13).
8	It was now time to sew. I attached the commercial mesh at the shoulder seam, and then laid the front hand knit piece on top of the front mesh. I hand-basted the knit in place and then top stitched it with my sewing machine. The same process would apply to the back garment (although I have not yet knit that piece. (Illustration 14).
9	The final steps were to attach the mesh sleeves and sew the underarm seam of the garment.

Illustrations 15 and 16 show you the finished garment (minus the knit back piece which has yet to be knit). Isn’t it fun? You can see how easy it is to create a funky project from a design source. Using the computer makes the entire process much simpler, and utilizing quarter-scale patterns in the process allows you to visualize easily how the various parts work together. It is now your turn to come up with your own version of the ‘unfinished’ top. Possibly you have the knit pieces already done (for a project that is on hold). What a great way to get to the end, simply place them on a commercial knit top. If you don’t sew, simply purchase a simple knit top and appliqué your hand knots on it. There are so many creative ways to work with the concept. Give it a try!