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Sheila's
Crazy Crochet Vest Tutorial
The first step is to sort out any unfinished
projects, swatches, etc. in your yarn stash.
Sort them by similar types of yarn
- i.e. all cotton, all acrylic, all wool, whatever you decide
you would like your project to include. In this case, I had a
lot of different colors of Bernat Christmas sparkle yarn and a
couple skeins of Red Heart Holiday yarn. I had fooled around with
designing a couple of afghan squares and abandoned them, so those
were my starting point.
As I have begun to do in this picture,
start laying out your swatches like a jigsaw puzzle in the basic
shape of a sweater back until it is pleasing to your eyes. You
may change your mind as you work but this will get you started.
NOTE: If you want to go on and add sleeves, follow the same process
as shown for other sweater parts.
Step 2
Find a sweater that fits you very well.
Using it as a general guide for shape and size, you will be creating
the parts shown below - a right and left front (for a cardigan),
a back, and two sleeves. I refer to an "imaginary outline"
of your pieces. However if you want a REAL outline, trace your
favorite sweater parts on a piece of newsprint or freezer paper
and simply fit your work to it.
Step 3
Begin slip stitching blocks or swatches
together. You can use a couple of methods to do this. You can
do a row of reverse SC on the outside of the garment. You can
slip stitch on the reverse side. You can slip stitch on the outside.
Or, you can draw up loops across a row in afghan stitch on the
outside. I used ALL these methods in this sweater (hey, it IS
crazy after all)
Always stay INSIDE your "imaginary
outline" of the sweater part you are working on. It is easy
to add bits and pieces here and there to fit your outline. So
think from the "center-out" not the "outside-in."
Step 4
Filling Up the Outline of a Part
As you can see in the illustration
below, I have stitched together all available blocks and then
I have attached different color thread and crocheted right onto
the edges of the green/red block and the white/red block. I kept
going outward until it fit the "imaginary outline" of
the back piece. The other armhole was shaped in the same way.
While We're At It - A Note About
Your Fill-In Crochet
You can use ANY stitches, pattern,
etc., of your choice to do fill-in crochet where needed. Because
I wanted my sweater to be as light as possible I used mostly moss
stitch or rows of DC for my fill-in.
Here, I add rose colored crochet to
shape the back upper neck.
And here is the finished back piece.
Step 5 - Let's Lay Out The Front
I made the top two blocks on each side
because I wanted to include a dog theme with my flowers. I had
one big piece of previously made ribbing. I added the red around
the two bottom blocks.
Step 6: Putting the Front Together
As you did on the back, slip stitch
together your blocks and do fill-in crochet to fill out your imaginary
(or real) outline. When you are done, slip stitch the shoulder
seams together.
If you desire ribbing trim/buttonholes,
now is the time to add it to the neckline/center front edges.
You may wish to try these different methods of making
crocheted ribbing
Buttonholes are made by chaining and
skipping over desired number of stitches. In next row, just SC
the same number of stitches into the chained space.
Step 7: You're Almost There!
Slip stitch the side seams. Put ribbing
on the armholes and bottom edge. Add homemade or purchased buttons.
And ta-da... you get...
Thank you for reading my little tutorial!
I would LOVE to see your crazy creation and/or hear your feedback
about this tutorial! You can email me at SheilaSchnauzies@aol.com.
Have an amazing day... and...
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