Miss Brooks

This summer, I was fortunate enough to run into Sabrina Famellos of Anzula Yarns while she was pitching my LYS on her way to TNNA. I was working on Guinevere in the shop that day, and we got to talking about design. A few hours and some delicious Kansas City barbeque later, we agreed that I would design a dress with Sebastian and Mermaid for the next TNNA, coming up this January. Four months and five skeins of gorgeous yarn later, I give you: Miss Brooks!

Worked entirely in stockinette and reverse stockinette, this dress is a timeless classic with plenty of sex appeal.

I have a thing for style of days gone by. If I could get away with dressing in Regency dresses and Tudor gowns every day I would, but that's another story for another day. For this piece, I wanted to reference the glamour of 1920's fashion; skirts were getting shorter, legs were just starting to go bare, and modesty was still a valued commodity. I considered giving the piece a dropped waist, but in the end I decided placing the skirt just below the natural waist line would keep the pattern more accessible to today's woman. A boat neck, sheer sleeves and sexy layered skirt finish the dress in style, snatching it away from the land of costuming and landing it squarely in the 21st century.

Check out the outline of that leg through the bottom layer of the skirt! Sexy! The top two layers cover you where it counts.

I particularly love the skirt on this dress. Each layer is worked side to side in reverse stockinette; the bottom edges are allowed to curl up, and they're seamed only partially from the right side, resulting in a cool sort of deconstructed look. Once you put it on, the bottom layer is almost completely sheer. Nineteen-twenties, meet The Sexy Knitter!

Vintage fashion not your thing? Give it an even more "right now" twist by styling it with a steampunk vibe, instead.

As much as I love the monochromatic look of the dress worked all in one color, I would be excited to see it knitted using a different color for each skirt layer. It would even make a lovely wedding gown, worked all in white or cream! Replace the satin belt for leather and the vintage heels for half boots, or add a bit of steampunk and make the style all your own. Can you see the possibilities? There are lots!

This dress will be featured in the fashion show at TNNA in January 2011. Stop by Anzula's booth to preorder the pattern for your LYS, or visit my Rav page in January for your own copy!

Many thanks to Lee Ann Barker for the gorgeous photos. She was, as always, talented and patient.

 

Watch for trains when you're shooting on the tracks! Lord, I thought we were going to get run over...