Deck the Closet Blog Tour: Day Five and the Knit Classic Shell Hack

It is the last day of the Deck the Closet Blog Tour - I hope that you have discovered new patterns, been inspired by the talent of these bloggers, and are ready to create clothes for the season that you will wear and love!

It is also the kick off of our Black Friday $3 Blowout!!!!  All of the Winter Wear Wardrobe Builders are on sale for just $3!!!!



Today we have an amazing blogger sharing her festive creations, and then I am going to show you a quick tutorial for a staple dress using the Classic Shell (which is on sale for just $3!!!) that you are going to love having in your capsule wardrobe for the holidays and all year round.



Next we have Alyssa of the Sewing Goatherd with a phenomenal holiday skirt.  Alyssa is a phenomenal hacker...but I think even she would say that you don't need to be a hacker to put this skirt together.  With the skirt of the Bateau Garden Dress for women and the Waistband of the Crop Dress, Alyssa has created that quintessential pleated circle skirt that we all drool over.  She paired up this gorgeous skirt with the Outerbanks Boatneck (just $3!!!), head on over to her blog to read about it and see all the pictures.




Now on to my quick and easy tutorial to make your own Classic Shell out of knit.  I love versatile patterns, and nothing makes me happier than making a pattern I already love again in a way that looks nothing like those that have come before.  Today I am going to show you a quick and easy way to make a Classic Shell dress in KNIT!!!


When taking a woven pattern and making it out of knit, the general rule of thumb is to go down one size in width.  I think it is a pretty solid rule of thumb.  For my knit Classic Shell Dress, I stuck with my original shoulder span and then came in one size through the bust and waist and then left the hip at the original cutting line.  I could have probably come down in the hip as well, but I don't like things to get too tight across my belly, so I erred on the side of caution.  The great thing is that you can easily adjust your side seams to nip the silhouette to exactly your preference.


Now the Classic Shell comes in top and tunic length, so I used the Blithe Dress length as my guide for the finished length I wanted.  You can use a dress from your closet, another pattern that you like the look of, or you can hold the pattern up against your body and see how many inches you want to add to make your preferred dress length.


I sewed this up as written and finished it off with a banded neck... I would have loved to have done the facing included in the pattern, but this fabric was just a touch too thick to want to behave with a facing.

So there you have it - a Knit Classic Shell Dress.... and this pattern is just $3 through the weekend for our $3 Black Friday Blowout Sale!!!