This lovely winter warmer is the Ruska Knit Dress from Breaking the Pattern.

Getting straight to the technicalities, this dress is a size 6. My measurements placed me between a 5-6 but I’ve found that for the knit patterns in Breaking the Pattern, I’ve generally been safer sizing up when in between sizes.

I feel lucky I did so for this one because I definitely need all of the space in this one!

From the hips downwards, I actually no longer followed the size 6 line but extended out to the largest size to create a slightly more A-line shape in my version of the Ruska Knit Dress.

I also did a full bicep adjustment on the sleeves, although I added a little too much this time around. The sleeves are a little loose for this style of dress and the fabric can pool and has some drag lines around the arms as a result. Although, to be entirely honest, I’m enjoying the additional comfort of these sleeves! Who knows, maybe ‘ever so slightly too big in select places’ will become a trend some day…

Fabric temptations….

I’m not necessarily proud of this, but this dress was born from one of those times when I saw a lovely shiny new fabric and just wanted to have something made out of it.

This fabric is a modal rib jersey from Meter Meter in the colour caramel. (Incidentially, it is basically the exact same colour as the Fabric Store linen in Ochre, so it’s funny how many different names we might give to the same colour!). As promised, this modal knit is very buttery soft and lovely.

I also sewed this just before leaving on vacation to Australia and definitely had a bit of a ‘I don’t have enough time to sew a big project before I go, but a little quick knit action would be lovely…’.

So, yeah, I got suckered in by the lovely modal rib.

Which is truly lovely.

But it is also kind of slippery and shifty and a bit of a pain to work with.

In particular, I felt some major pocket regret.

As in, why in the world did I think it would be a great idea to add huge patch pockets which required top stitching a rib knit. Every single dodgy looking stitch is visible to me and, well, it kind of drives me nuts.

In other words, this fabric, while pretty, is also pretty unforgiving on imperfections! Incidentally, it is also a little unforgiving on imperfections under the garment – I feel that my bra strap/underwear outlines can be a tad more visible in this garment than I would ideally like, although not enough to stop me from wearing it!

Getting back to those pockets, I tried to stabilise the entire pocket by using a lightweight knit interfacing, but it wasn’t enough. I tried playing with settings on my sewing machine but just couldn’t find a pretty stitch to top stitch these babies down!

I should definitely have kept it simple stupid and skipped these pockets! After all, they are not really usable, as the weight of the fabric can’t hold anything much and whatever you have in there is very visible, so it was just done for aesthetic purposes. But if aesthetics are the main consideration, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given that I wasn’t able to give a nice clean finish!

Ruska neckline???

The other thing I wanted to mention is that this is now the second time that I have sewn the Ruska pattern and had problems with the neckline fitting over my evidently ginormous head!

The same thing happened with my Ruska knot top – each wear is like a rebirth.

Unfortunately, this Ruska Knit Dress has the same issue.

Now I did use a lightweight knit interfacing on the neckline because I wanted the mock neck to stand up crisply and keep its shape.

So it may be the interfacing that is actually causing the problem.

But yeah, each time I put this on, I worry that it will never be able to come off.

This Ruska Knit Dress is strictly a do-not-wear-on-days-I-need-to-get-changed-in-a-gym-dressing-room-outfit!

But, all-in-all, despite my pocket imperfection and some pressure around the temples, this dress overall does make me feel pretty chic and put together.

Perfect for basking in some winter sunshine…

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