Fade to Light Jacket make-a-long: Reveal

Have you ever made a crochet garment? Or have you ever thought about making one but you are afraid it won’t work because you have been crocheting blankets and shawls all your life? New make-a-long (MAL) might help you to overcome your fears and enter the exciting world of crochet sweaters and cardigans.

The idea of free MAL about creating a top down garment have been growing in my head for a very long time. For two years at least. Every time I release a new crochet sweater, I can hear and see comments from people doubting they can handle the pattern. And I can understand the fears. If you have never made a garment before, it might be scary to dive into the short rows, yoke increases, shaping and adjusting to your own needs. And I decided to design a simple raglan jacket to show you all steps - slowly, with progress pictures and explaining every tiny bit.

Colors used for a jacket above are Whirl Fine Art 650 Minimalism and Merino Soft 601 Pollock.

Fade to Light Jacket is designed to fit with 4-6" (10-15 cm) of positive ease at the bust and 1.25-2" (3-5 cm) of positive ease at the upper arm. The jacket is worked seamlessly from top down. First some short rows are worked back and forth to raise the back neck. Then the yoke with raglan increases is worked in rows to separation for body and sleeves. The lower body with mosaic pattern is worked in rows to bottom. Sleeves are worked top down. The length of the body and sleeves is easily adjustable.

Sizing

The jacket pattern is written for ten (!!) sizes: XXS (XS, S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X) with finished bust circumference: 91.5 (99.5: 103.5: 109.5: 113.5: 121.5: 127.5: 131.5: 137.5: 145.5) cm/ 36 (39: 40.7: 43: 44.7: 47.8: 50.2: 51.8: 54: 57.3)

To choose the size you need, please measure you bust at the widest point and add 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) for ease. Then see the numbers above and choose the closest size. If your measurement is in-between the sizes choose either a smaller one (if you want a more fitted look) or a bigger size (for an oversized fit).

In the picture below I am wearing size M while my actual size is S. So the jacket is slightly roomy for me, which I like. The colors for sample below are Whirl Fine Art 651 Impressionism and Merino Soft 655 Chagall.

Yarn choice

Fade to Light Jacket pattern was designed exclusively for Scheepjes Whirl Fine Art and Merino Soft yarns. Use one Whirl cake for size XXS-S, choose between one or two Whirl cakes for size M, and two Whirls are recommended for sizes L-5X. The rest of the yarn is Merino Soft.

With one Whirl cake you will get a faster color change for the yoke, and a complete fade of two colors in the mosaic pattern of the lower body. The sleeves will be solid. And with two Whirls for smaller sizes (M and L) the sleeves will get a long fade of colors (see picture above). Larger sizes will be something in between: half faded and half solid sleeves.

Here are examples for your inspiration.

Sandra Veneman (size L, two Whirls: Whirl Fine Art 654 Cubism and Merino Soft 609 Rembrandt)

Photo credit: Sandra Veneman

Esther Schippers (size 2X, two Whirls: Whirl Fine Art 657 Renaissance and Merino Soft 650 Velazquez)

Photo credit: Esther Schippers

Alternatively, Fade to Light Jacket can be worked with Scheepjes Merino Soft Brush yarn instead of Whirl Fine Art: one Whirl is replaced with 5 skeins of Merino Brush (and two Whirls are replaced with 9 skeins of Merino Brush accordingly).

The yoke begins with Whirl and solid shade of Merino Soft is added later for the sleeves and mosaic lower body. You can either start working with light or dark tail of Whirl.

Laura Jackson made her jacket with both Merino Soft and Merino Soft Brush colors in size XS (Merino Soft 605 Hogarth and Merino Soft Brush 252 Toorop). She also added a tiny mosaic detail to the sleeves. Check details on her Ravelry page.

Photo credit: Laura Jackson

And here is my version with Merino Soft 607 Braque and Merino Brush 257 Van der Leck (size M). I went for a ¾ sleeves for this one and also added a mosaic detail for the cuffs.

The pattern will give two options for the front bands: either for a clasp (without button holes) or with buttons. You can choose what you like better.

If you search for color inspiration, have a look at the image below.

Complete yarn amounts:

You will need 500 (550, 600, 620, 680, 740, 790, 840, 890, 940)g of yarn,

or 1 (1, 1, 1(2), 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2) Whirl Fine Art cakes

and 6 (7, 8, 8(4), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) balls of Merino Soft.

*Please, note that yarn amounts are approximate. They were estimated for specific measurements: length of the lower body from underarm approx. 35.5cm/14". If you want to make your jacket longer, you will need more yarn*

Find all yarn in your local Scheepjes shop, or purchase it online via international retailers:

Wool Warehouse* and Black Sheep Wools* (UK, please check shipping guidelines before placing your order, as there might be limitations due to COVID situation)

Caro’s Atelier* (NL)

Taemombo (US and Canada)

What you will learn during MAL:

• How to choose correct size for yourself
• What short rows mean and how they are done
• How to shape yoke with raglan increases
• How to adjust yoke/jacket for your own body
• How to add (correctly) button and buttonhole bands

Fade to Light Jacket Timeline:

Reveal (this post) – July 17th, 2020

General information and gauge swatch – August 4th, 2020

Part 1: short rows – August 7th, 2020

Part 2: raglan increases – August 14th, 2020

Part 3: sleeves – August 21st, 2020 

Part 4: mosaic pattern for lower body – August 28th, 2020

Part 5: button bands and collar –  September 2nd, 2020

See you there? :)

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