A Pair of Bonnies

If you've been sewing long enough I'm sure you've had the experience of thinking, "I'd really like a pattern for x garment" and then magically someone releases that very thing.  It's an Indiana Jones moment where it feels like a shaft of light might has fallen upon the pattern while heavenly voices sing. The holy grail!  Anyway I had one of those moments when Abby sent me the Bonnie pattern to test. Cropped sweater YEEEESSS!

Wait did you say sweater Heather?  Yes you heard right, Bonnie is the first knit pattern from Bluegingerdoll. I had no idea what Abby had up her "puffed" sleeves when she told me that the next pattern was going to be for knits. When the technical sketches arrived and I saw it was a mix and match sweater pattern, my little heart sang with joy.  Nothing like a quick knit project to make one feel productive. Because of that I might have whipped up more than one.

*Both of my Bonnies are the cropped length body, crew neckline and the full length sleeves.  I used a size 10/12 combo with a 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment. The crew neckline was lowered an 1" in the front, because anything higher makes feel feel a bit choked. Due to the neckline adjustment I added 1/2" more length to each end of the neckband for a total of 1"

.

Version 1 - Sewn in rayon ponte with stashed medium weight rayon ribbing. 

After doing my test muslin in T-shirt weight fabric, I wanted to try a more "sweatery" fabric.  Trying the pattern out in ponte seemed fun, especially after finding this wild rose pattern on Etsy.  Bonus - if using a contrast fabric/ribbing for the bands, then you can get a 10/12 combo out of one 60" wide yard. I'm happy with the ponte version other than a touch more fabric could be taken out of the back. 

Bonnie is paired with some Colette Clovers here. They aren't the best choice for the cropped length since the waistline on the pants is too low when actually moving around.  Some "at waist" cigarette pants would work, such as the Butterick 5895.  I also think the cropped length top would look sharp with some forties area full leg pants, such as Decades of Style Empire Waist Trousers.

Version 2 - Sewn in T-shirt weight organic cotton/spandex jersey with self bands.

Here the pattern is sewn in a plain jersey which let's you see the puffed sleeve detail.  I've used the self fabric for the bands on this version. Bonnie comes with different band lengths for ribbing and self fabrics so that you get a good fit with either. Nice not having to do that ribbing calculation in my head.

I've paired Bonnie with my latest version of the Betsy pencil skirt. (The yellow/white polka dot fabric is still available at Gorgeous Fabrics if you're interested) My growing collection of pencil skirts is one of the reasons I've had cropped sweaters on the brain. The length is perfect to show off a brightly patterned skirt.

Right now Bonnie is only available as a PDF, but a print version will be arriving later in the month and can be pre-ordered now. You can pick up the pattern at 10% off the pattern with the code BONNIE through 10-13-2014. Meanwhile I'll be whipping up a bunch of these since it's finally cold in Pa. Hot pink is up next!