Bill King Bolero #3

I'm going to show you the third Bill King Bolero that I made, before showing the second.  I haven't been able to get good photos of the second one yet :(  A while ago, I found two matching pillowcases at Value Village.  I knew one would make a nice pillowcase dress for Meg, and I knew Lucy would not want one to match, LOL.  But they have a cousin in the US who is about 7 months younger than Meg, and nearly as big as her.  Perfect!  They could be matchy, but they don't have to worry about showing up at the same time in the same outfit!  To go with it, a little girl needs a lightweight little white cardi!
This is the same (annoying) yarn that I made the "Kill Me Shawl" in.  I know every time I use it, I say I'm never using it again, but it is a HUGE cone.  I did do a swatch, not so much to accurately match gauge, but just to get an idea, LOL, and to see how it behaved.  Well, it biased.  I decided to throw caution to the wind anyway.  All I knew was that it would turn out smaller.  Not sure how much smaller....

 I had Lucy try on the Bolero to see how big it was, and she really liked it, and wants one for herself.  The cone is huge, so no problem (except for how much I hate the yarn).  Then, a few hours later, she asks if she can have it in any colour...

 Sewing this together was horrible.  The slubs in the yarn made using it impossible.  I had a white sock yarn, but it looked horrible next to the sweater.  I ended up using serger thread, doubled.  A tip for using thread to sew---double the thread, and tie a knot about 6" from the end.  Go into the first stitch, and take the needle back between the strands and pull tight so it pulls up to the knot...sorry, no picture...but then there's a 6" tail from the knot to the end to get woven in.  For the first seam, I had done the knot near the end, and I started the seam, and of course the knot pulled through...and then I had a little tiny tail that couldn't be woven in.
One thing I did to alter it was to start with 16 groups of stitches, knit 10 rows, then increase on the left side (the seam side) every other row until up to the 24 groups of sts, then knit 10 rows to get to the 70 rows.  On the last section, remember to knit 10 rows, then decrease on every other row, and end with 10 rows.

 I added some rick rack I found in my sewing desk, along the bottom and along the hem stitching line.  I had hoped to do more with the trim, but the satin ribbon I used for the straps....took up nearly the entire roll (for the two dresses).  I had some really narrow satin ribbon in the same colour, but I couldn't figure how I would sew it on.  For the rick rack, I did it the slow way...following the path of the zigs and zags, stopping at every point and raising the presser food and pivoting...took awhile, but I hope it stays looking nice!

 I didn't want to make the pillowcase dress that uses bias binding on the armholes and elastic on the neckline.  Something about them didn't sit right with me.  Plus, I would have had to go back to get bias binding.  However, I am having trouble when trying the shoulder straps.  I stitched the ribbon down at the center points of the front and back casings, so it won't pull out, but it makes it tricky to get both sides the same.

 I hope the bottom hem hangs straight in the back.  On the one I made for me, it dips upwards at the seam.

 Meg wore her dress to Grandma's today, and it got rave reviews.  I hope her cousin loves hers too!

Yarn In:  13 966gr
Yarn Out:  11 684gr+ 137gr =  11 821gr
Balance:  2145 gr more In than Out
Costs:  $306.30/196 days = $1.56/day