Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Little girl fashion HELP

Hey, there --

I am planning a sweater for my six year old and realize that it would be more likely to turn out well if I were not so fashion-oblivious. I have in mind something like this - a v-necked wrap around, probably with elbow or 3/4 length sleeves. I want to make it in pink, out of an angora/silk/wool blend yarn, so it will be fluffy and make her feel like a ballet princess.

So far, so good. But the details have me stumped. I see a lot of variation in how these things fasten. Some (the traditional ones, I think) have ties on each end and holes in the side seam to thread them through; they tie in back or have long ties that wrap all the way around and tie in front. Some have little short ties on the left hip; closure on the other side is not visible but presumably is either short ties on the inside or a button. Some have a button on the right side. One was a sort of false wrap -- the two fronts were fastened to the same bottom band, so the sweater was really a pullover.

So how important is the wrapping function to make this feel like a Real Ballet Sweater? I think the long ties might be so cumbersome that she wouldn't like the sweater -- though she does like to tie bows. Buttons wouldn't allow for the same amount of customization -- will that matter to a first grader? I don't think she'd like the pullover as well as a wrap.

And what of the length? The Sirdar pattern shows it as waist length, but I wonder if slightly shorter wouldn't be more fashionable now. Though of course if it's waist length now it will be higher by next winter, more of this effect.

And what about stitch pattern? I love this eyelet patterned one (Rav link) but all the capezio type sweaters are plain. Will she know? Care?

I've promised myself I won't start this until I finish my current spinning project, but that will probably only be a few days. So help me think this through!

2 comments:

Caroline M said...

My only experience of girl fashion is seeing little misses trouping out of the school gate so they don't get much freedom of expression. In about two years they move from pink to a more purple shade (lilac ish) but that's all I've got for you. Sparkle is good so if you can get angelina in your yarn so much the better.

Spundun said...

Oh, gosh the pattern is adorable and I attend bellydancing classes at a dancing school. Just as our class starts, little ballet dancers come out wearing such cardis and they look so cute.

What I see is all sorts of colours, but pink, lilac and white dominate. The ties usually come round to the side or the front (easier for a wee one to do herself). I haven't seen any buttoned ones and they are all plain knitting with a ribbed edging.

The cropped length is definitely in at this ballet class, they look so cute!