Make a Sweater to Dupe a Fashion Brand

Free People is known for its casual, boho look, and sometimes spendy styles that cause knitters and crocheters to say “I can make that!”

Amanda Solomon was inspired by the fashions of Free People to design her Dupe Sweater, which looks like something they would carry. (I cannot confirm it’s a direct dupe but it looks like several things on their website.) The pattern is meant to embrace the effortless style Free People is known for while providing knitters with an effortless, meditative knit.

Her version is made with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together for a marled look. It’s worked in the round from the top down and has deep drop shoulders that go almost down to the elbow, and an oversized fit for a casual and comfy look. The sleeves look to be about three-quarter length, but you could make them longer if you want.

It has a faux seam up the center front of the sweater, and it looks like there might be seams on the sleeves as well (I’d guess there’s probably also one on the back but no photos show the back).

The pattern is available in nine sizes, but the pattern information on Ravelry doesn’t give the measurements, it only says that the pattern fits from XS to 5XL. If any of you happen to have a copy or buy a copy of this pattern and want to let me know the chest measurements, I’d love to add them to this post.

If you don’t have a bunch of fingering weight yarn sitting around to make this sweater with, you could also work with a single strand of DK weight. Or mix and match a bunch of leftover yarn with a single solid color held together for a cool marled effect.

You can grab your copy of this pattern from Ravelry.

[Photo: Amanda Solomon]

A Perfect Sweater to Knit if You’re New to Knitting Sweaters

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The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

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