This Spring I’ve gone back over 6 of my summer tees and completely reworked the patterns with edits and updates for 2019. That’s a lot of tees! So it’s a good time to take a quick look at my top down tee designs. This post contains details about the patterns in the collage above (from left to right): Sweet Clover Tee, Lavinia, Masala, Sophia, Lily Tee and Kenia.
My Sweet Clover tee released in June of 2018. Sweet Clover is a simple top down raglan with a square neck and an optional lace panel on the body. For this design I went a little off-book as compared to my other tees. Many of my tees follow a similar path from start to finish with different lace and necklines. But Sweet Clover features a-line shaping and positive ease for a relaxed fit. This pattern also offers two different options for finishing the body – either with the lace panel and then linen stitch as pictured above or skip the lace and finish instead with just the linen stitch.
The pattern is written in 7 sizes and the lace panel is both charted and written. With this design I found that I really love the fabric that linen stitch makes in a cotton yarn and I’ve been wondering how I’m going to incorporate that into other designs. I’m leaning towards a shawl but I’m still in the early stages so no promises.
Next Lavinia is a simple top down yoke tee with a lacy Roman Stripe at the top of the yoke and bottom of the body. This tee is tunic length with instructions to shorten if desired. Waist and hip shaping for a flattering fit. Written in 6 sizes.
Lavinia was originally published in October of 2014. This is one of my very few top down yoke patterns. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy wearing this tee until I pulled it out to work on the 2019 edits. I’m going to be wearing it more. Once the yarn shows too much wear and tear, I like this one so much that I’ll take the time to reknit a new Lavinia out of a different yarn. I’ll probably keep the same royal blue color.
Next in the photo Masala was published in April of 2015 and is the first in the series of Masala, Sophia and Lily that are all slightly different versions of the same tee. Masala is a simple top down raglan V-neck with lace panels at the bottom of the sleeves and body.
I much prefer my shirts and tees in a tunic length so most of my summer tee designs are written either as a tunic length with instructions to shorten or normal length with instructions to lengthen. I try to always include pattern notes in my patterns letting knitters know how and where they might tweak a pattern to get the fit just right for their body.
Published in August 2015 Sophia is the second of my top down raglan tee series. Sophia has a crew neck and Milanese lace at the bottom of the sleeves and body.
This is not a neckline that I wear at all. So I made the pattern sample tee a Size S to fit Mona (my dress form). Sophia came about because I had a request for this particular neckline from a knitter.
Lily is my third summer tee in the raglan series. Lily has a scoop neck and lace panels at the bottom of the sleeves and body. I made the sample tee for Lily extra extra long and I love the heck out of this tee. In fact, I wore it so much it is too ragged to bring back out for better photographs. So I’m on the look out for a new cotton or cotton blend in a sport weight to knit another sample garment for this design.
And finally, Kenia was originally published in 2012. Then reworked with added sizes, edits and updates in 2016 and now again in 2019. Kenia was one of my earliest published designs. And I still love this one.
I’ve found over the years that one downside to being a knitwear designer is that I don’t feel like I can wear my sweater samples (just in case they are needed as actual garment samples for shows). It is perfect for an added warm layer over my preferred long-sleeve cotton tees and more importantly it is definitely worth re-knitting a new sample garment for this pattern once I’ve worn it beyond repair.
I really enjoyed diving deep back into these patterns this Spring and bringing them up to my 2019 standards. The more hours I spent pouring over pattern math in 6 or 7 sizes (depending on the design) and rearranging pattern layout, the more I remembered that I love these tees and I’m proud of the work I’ve put into them.
I’ll be starting my Summer Tees Promotion again soon now that I’m finished with all the pattern edits and updates!
