So here is my beatnik/Audrey Hepburn inspired mock turtle neck sweater. I wanted something with a distinct retro vibe to make it more interesting and less generic compared to a regular black turtle neck.
I also wanted the top to be fitted but not super tight. I love when knitted tops shows some curves so I always taper my patterns at the waist.
The fabric is an organic cotton/wool mix from Danish vendor Stoff & Stil. No itch whatsoever, but a total lint magnet!
I just did a simple turtle neck piece using a rectangle. If I hade shaped it with two slanted seams it would probably have fitted even better. But I think it works like this too!
I did an new block draft for this top as I wanted to make it tight to accommodate for the unstable rib knit (i.e. the pattern needed to be smaller than the finished top because the fabric would grow). However I forgot to do the forward shoulder alteration so the shoulder seam ended up being a bit far back and too straight.
Seriously I love this turtle neck sweater! Using a fine fabric makes all the difference compared to my old RTW ones that was just some low quality cotton or rayon/lycra jersey.
As you can see the hem is a bit stretched out and wobbly. The fabric is so loose which is why I originally added a self fabric waist rib piece to the hem, Normally this is a good way to tame these kind of fabrics, but the problem was that the waist rib grew as well – this fabric is useless for ribbing! So late at night I cut the waist piece away and had to coverstitch an already stretched out hem, which was a doomed project. Had I coverstitched the hem first thing and followed my own advice on how to stabilize the fabric when hemming knits this issue would have been avoided! So obviously, I still sometimes struggle learning from my own mistakes!
But the hem issue aside, I am very grateful for having this classic garment as part of my new collection of wardrobe staples.
