Alex Capshaw-Taylor - Dressed in Knits: 19 Designs for Creating a Custom Knitwear Collection

As a little girl, I remember the air of mystery that surrounded my mom as she got ready for her daythe careful selection of an outfit, the time spent getting her hair just so, applying the right shade of lipstick, and stepping into high heels. It was magical, and she looked beautiful. Now, as a woman, I share this ritual of dressing with my mother and her mother and the generations of women who came before.

In addition to a love of fashion, my mom fostered my interest in sewing. When I was little, she took me to the fabric store to select remnants that I would then use to create clothing for my American Girl doll, Samantha. My mom taught me the basics of handsewing and eventually let me use the sewing machine. As I got older, I transitioned from making clothing for Samantha to making clothing for myself. With my moms encouragement, I grew more and more confident in my skills. This early experimenting led me to pursue patternmaking and construction later in the knitting world.

I learned to knit while in college, thankful to find a craft that was more portable than sewing. My first projects were painfully inept, misshapen, and full of mistakes, but I stuck with knitting and slowly improved. When my mom put my first copy of Interweave Knits in my Christmas stocking, I pored over it, excited by the possibility of no longer knitting rectangles. As I became comfortable knitting garments, I began taking risks and challenging myself to modify existing designs. Success with modifications eventually led me to design my own knitwear.

As a designer, I take pleasure in creating the pieces that make up my wardrobe. Drawn to slow fashion, I appreciate clothing that stands the test of time, both in quality and design. Handknits embody these idealscarefully crafted in quality natural yarns, they can be passed down from mother to daughter, much like a cherished piece of jewelry. When sketching the designs for this book, I kept this ideal in the forefront of my mind.

Dressed in Knits is a collection of nineteen chic garments and accessories that are modern takes on classic feminine silhouettes. With looks that can be styled for the office, the weekend, or a night out, these timeless designs are refreshingly easy to wear. Five chapters of projects follow a foundation chapter, each set of projects inspired by an element in the ritual of dressing. I hope that youll take pleasure in creating these luxe garments, from foundation pieces to outerwear and everything in between. And like the perfect shade of lipstick, the attention to detail and the couture finishing of these designs allows you to step out of the house with confidence.

Happy knitting!

Alex

Knitting garments that fit well depends on the right foundation. The finishing of a garment actually begins before you cast on a single stitch, and it continues with every choice you make until the last seam is sewn. If you take the time to put a little thought into each step along the way, youll end up happy with the results.

The materials you select and the groundwork that you lay at the onset will affect your finished garment as much as when you join the pieces together.

When you choose yarn for a project, its important to select the best materials for the job. As I selected yarns for the designs in this book, I looked for fibers that provide ideal structure, drape, stitch definition, elasticity, function, seasonal wearabilty, and durability. I always suggest using natural fibers if you can afford them. They wear better than their synthetic counterparts, and they stand the test of time.

That said, I realize that knitters dont always use the yarn suggested in a pattern. If you do choose to make substitutions, keep in mind the weight and fiber content of the specified yarn. Different weights of yarn will affect the gauge, and different fibers may have characteristics that can lead to quite different effects (for a discussion on fibers and their characteristics, visit www.worldknits.com and search substituting yarn).

For example, a mohair-nylon-wool blend at 230 yards (210 meters) per 50 grams should be a good substitute for a mohair-nylon blend at 115 yards (105 meters) per 25 grams because they have similar weights (both are 4.6 yards [4.2 meters] per gram) and similar fiber contents. A mohair-silk blend at 229 yards (209 meters) per 25 grams would be less successful. The fiber content will provide similar drape, but the yarn is significantly thinner at 9.2 yards (8.4 meters) per gram. Although its quite possible to substitute a different fiber or fiber blend, bear in mind that your piece may not drape or wear as well as it would made with the suggested yarn. Whenever you use a different yarn than specified in a pattern, even one thats similar in weight and fiber content, knit a swatch to ensure that youre happy with the drape or hand of the fabric at the gauge specified in the pattern.

Gauge is the measurement of the number of stitches and rows over a particular horizontal and vertical distancetypically 4 inches (10 centimeters). Although gauge is generally reported over 4 inches (10 centimeters) in the instructions, the magic number that designers use, and that you would use if you needed to modify a pattern, is the gauge over 1 inch (2.5 centimeters). But its difficult to accurately measure gauge over such a short distance, particularly if partial stitches are involved. Thats why gauge is typically measured over 4 inches (10 centimeters), then divided by four to get the number of stitches and rows in 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of knitting.