You know that favorite sweater in your closet? The one you reach for over and over again. The one that is somehow both comfy and cute. Well, I grabbed that sweater from my closet, got some measurements, and crocheted a copycat version for myself. And I LOVE it! So, let's get into how I did it!
First, I chose a sweater that had simple seams for my first copycat attempt. Nothing fussy, just a front panel and a back panel with ribbing. To recreate this, I measured the following;
1. Length from the top of the shoulder to the bottom (not including ribbing) (22")
2. Width of the top at the widest point (my sweater did not really have shaping, so this was simple). (28")
3. Depth of the V-neck (8.5")
4. Width of the bottom ribbing (3")
5. Width of the neck and sleeve ribbing (1.5")
6. Armhole depth (10")
Once I had these measurements, I started with the back panel, since it would take the most yarn and be the simplest piece. For my sweater I used K+C Cotton essentials, a DK weight yarn that is absolutely amazing, and a K/10.5 (6.5 mm) Tunisian crochet hook.
Back Panel
I chained the stitches I needed to match the width of my piece (77 sts for the 28" width), and then used the Tunisian simple stitch to crochet enough rows until I met the length of my garment (22"). I used a slip stitch bind off, cut my yarn, and moved on to the front panel.
Front Panel
I followed the same strategy as before, beginning with chaining the stitches I would need for the width of my top, and using the Tunisian simple stitch to crochet the rows until I reached the length I needed before starting the V-neck. Instead of crocheting to 22" like I had done on the back panel, I crocheted until I had 13.5" in length. I took the length I needed for the whole top and subtracted the depth of the V-neck I measured. Then, I worked the right side of the V-neck, crocheting until I reached the middle stitch, then completing the return pass. I repeated this, but decreased over the 3rd and 2nd to last stitched each time on my forward pass to create the right side of the V-neck. Once I had the appropriate length for my V-neck, I used a slip stitch bind off and left a tail for seaming. I worked the left side of the V-neck in a similar way, except the beginning of my row began at the bottom of the V-Neck in the middle of my panel, and therefore the decreases happened at the beginning of my row instead of the end. I ended the left side of my V-neck after it reached the same length as my right side, used a slip stitch bind off, and cut my yarn, leaving a tail for seaming.
Assembly
After both panels were finished, I used the mattress seam to seam the top of the shoulders together and the sides of the top, leaving a 10" armhole.
Ribbing
With the top assembled, I switched to a traditional crochet hook (Size H/8 5.00mm) for the ribbing. I crocheted a single crochet row around the bottom of the top, and then used an applied single crochet ribbing to get the 3" length I needed. I did the same for the sleeves and neckline, but used fewer stitches for the ribbing to get the 1.5" needed in those locations.
And with that I was done! I did end up adding some pretty embroidered flowers to the piece for a little pizzaz, and love the way this project turned out. Now to find some more sweaters in my closet to copycat...or maybe even my husband's closet!
You can also watch my YouTube video here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNYnBaBjk4s) to see everything come together.
What do you think of this method? Would you ever try to make a copycat sweater?
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