Hi,
I am trying to knit a christening gown for my baby girl to have her christened early next year. The pattern is an old one. I don’t understand how to measure my work based on the following sentence:
“Keeping continuity of patt as set cont until back measures 32cm, when stretched to 86cm, in width, ending with a ws row.”
I am not sure which should be measured as the length and which should be the width?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Louise
How lovely to be making your child’s christening gown!
To me this sounds like you would stretch out the width of the fabric to 86cm and then measure the length. When you stretch out fabric width-wise it shrinks length-wise so you need to keep knitting more rows until the length reaches 32 cm whilst being stretched. It will appear longer than this when unstressed.
If you have a separate front needing to be worked to the same length I suggest counting the rows as you work the back so you can work the same number of rows for the front.
Do you have a link to the pattern or a name and number?
I am hoping it works out for her big day!
Thank you so much for the help, the pattern seems a bit complicated to me. That makes a lot of sense how you explained it, I have never seen it written like that before.
So, I bought the pattern from Etsy and it has no number or brand on it oddly but here is the link and I am attaching some pictures that include the instructions I am confused about.
https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/1344682309/pdf-baby-christening-dress-robe-bonnet
Great, thanks.
It’s a Sirdar pattern but I couldn’t find a number.
The narrowing of the gown, from the fuller skirt at the bottom to the narrower skirt at the top, is being produced by using smaller and smaller needles rather than decreasing the stitch count. This sounds lovely as the lace pattern will keep continuity whilst also getting smaller for fit and design.
So, the bottom section on 5mm needles is going to stretch in width (86cm) more than the next section worked on 4.5mm needles stretches (80cm) and the third section, on 4mm needles, stretches less again (68cm).
The main thing here, I would say, is to be able to replicate this for the front. I am assuming that as this comes under “Back” there is a later section for “Front” and that it is going to tell you to work as for Back and later a section for "Finishing " or something similar which will say to seam the sides.
I may be wrong! Check the pattern.
I can imagine another way of making this would be to make the full skirt in one large section (rather than 2) and seam it in one place rather than two side seams. But at this point I don’t think this is how it’s worked. If you read ahead you can let us know.
If I was making this I would do a few things to ensure getting the front at back to match up, just suggestions.
I would keep a track of how many rows for each section on the Back and then work this same number of rows for the Front. Jotting down how many rows in each needle size.
I would place a removable marker or embroidery yarn loop on each end of the row where the needle size changes (ie on the first row of a new needle size). Later these markers can be matched at the long seams helping to keep on track and match up the sides well.
I may also place a marker yarn loop every 10 rows (these in a different colour to the needle change markers), again each end of the row. As it is a long gown these markers could really come in handy when seaming sides to match up rows and make the job easier.
Keeping track of the number of rows means not having to try to stretch and measure the fabric to know how many rows to to for the front. When seaming you want the same number ideally.
I like to use embroidery silks/threads for marking loops as they are thinner than the knitting yarn and I can even reuse the thread on another project. Thread up a blunt tapestry needle with the marker thread and thread it through the stitch on the needle. Then join the 2 ends with a slip knot so it can be undone.
Embroidery thread is also quite good for life lines as it is thin and slippery so doesn’t catch on the yarn.
Do you know how to use a life line? It would be well worth putting some in for this big project, lots of people use proactive lifelines for lace projects.
Thanks so much for all the help, I really appreciate it. I am definitely going to use those tips for keeping track of the number of rows so the seaming is easier. I sometimes find matching up the seams challenging so this is a great tip for all projects.
The front is knit the same as the back and there are two seams.
I didn’t really understand how the gauge is explained either so I wasnt going to knit a swatch because i am going to do the biggest size which is 6 to 12 months so I thought there was enough leeway for the size to be ok. I actually started the first couple of rows but the needles I had were a bit slippy for the wool and the lacework so I have ordered some wood needles in the sizes and I am hoping they will have a bit more grip.
I agree the tension is a bit tricky to understand.
I think if you wanted to do a swatch then casting on something like 50sts with 3.25mm and marking the middle 30 sts for the lace work pattern, working the 10 sts either side in stocking stitch, would offer the first tension gauge of 28 sts to 10 cm. You’d be measuring the middle 28 sts, so not quite the whole pattern… and as it’s lace that’s tricky to measure as it will stretch. It would though give a rough idea as to how it’s working up. If you worked up 48 rows (patt is 16 rows each rep so this is 3 reps) and measured 36 of these rows it would measure 10cm.
The following tensions are for 3 repeats of the lace, so
3 reps or 48 rows on 5mm needles is 15cm
3 reps or 48 rows on 4.5mm needles is 14cm
3 reps or 48 rows on 4mm needles is 12cm
The last gauge is for stocking stitch alone, 25 sts and 34 rows on 3.25mm.
If you wanted to work the swatch maybe begin as I described above then mark the needle change and switch to 4mm work 3 reps, mark needle change to 4.5mm work 3 reps and so on.
Or, as you said, there is quite some leeway in the pattern, especially the skirt, so the gauge is not crucial so long as you are happy with the feel and drape of the resulting fabric on the needles. Row gauge is not so crucial as you will be measuring in cm and can make it longer or shorter as you please.
Maybe swatch up the stocking stitch to check the size will be okay for the fitted top section.
I use bamboo and wood needles. My bamboo are budget needles (very very low cost) and grip great. They’ve also lasted really well considering how inexpensive they were. My wood needles are much more expensive and more slippery although I think they grip more than metal. It’s been a long time since I used metal so I can’t say for sure but I’ve read this is usually the case.
Such and exciting project.
And I really should have said sooner, congratulations on the arrival of your daughter! Happy times!
Thanks so much, her name is Ana and she is four months old. Such happy times, we waited a long time for her.
I think I will knit a swatch for the top to make sure I am happy with the fit. She is a big girl!
What is the idea behind the lifelines, is there a video or anything you recommend to explain how it works?
Really appreciate all the help.
Beautiful and worth the wait!
When mine was 4 months I couldn’t eat in front of him or he’d scream the house down as he wanted my food instead of his milk. I had to eat in secret!
Sure, there are lots of videos for life lines, here’s one
A proactive life line is when you put a thread through your knitting stitches whilst they are on the knitting needle. Some people choose to do this every pattern repeat if it’s a large lace project, because it saves the stitches if you drop a stitch and can’t fix it, you can rip out to the life line and redo that section safe in the knowledge that your stitches are saved on that row and will ot ladder or rip out further.
Afterthought life lines are very useful for a plainer fabric , I find them too tricky to put in on lace or cables. I like to choose a row which is quite plain like fully knit or fully purled if there is one.
I prefer the proactive life line and I jot down what row number my life line is on and what row of the rep pattern it is on too.
I find knitting yarn too thick, it can change the gauge on that row if it’s bulky so I use thin silky embroidery thread. Another member recommended a very fine ribbon which I think is a great idea. I’m using a similar weight yarn just now and put a few life lines in with thread, now they are removed there is a tiny distortion to the stitches but it will wash or steam out when the yarn relaxes.
I used my life line placed in the row below the bind off for underarms to go back and add length in the body.
Hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask any more questions and keep us posted on your project. we love to hear how things are progressing.
I will do, thank you so much for all the help. I love the idea of the lifeline, I have definitely had complex patterns before where I have had to rip back quite far because there was no chance of picking up through the work.
This is a great place to pick up new tricks and tips. I have learned so much since I joined.
