Greetings gophers, meerkats, prairie dogs, capybaras and other assorted small rodent-like creatures who may or may not have been cleared for Friday gobbling during lent. Let’s do a reveal today, shall we?

I’ve been calling this my Dynasty sweater. Doesn’t it look like something that Krystal Carrington would have worn? Still wears, perhaps, somewhere out there on the airwaves or in a Netflix DVD warehouse… Anyway. I’ve been on a bit of a knit-wear campaign, and wanting some variety, I decided to give Butterick 5497 a shot. A clear case of don’t-pick-the-pattern-by-the-envelope-drawing, I think.

{Butterick 5497}

I thought it was sort of cute. Actually, I liked the other views better – they have a surplice neckline. But the sleeves were short and I wanted long sleeves so I went with this view. A problematic one for a girl with a chest. Like me. The iffy pattern selection + super cheap acrylic knit from Hancock makes this a fine candidate for the donation bag, but let’s go over the details before I donate, okay?

I WILL say that I like the view from the back, though!

I just think it cuts funny in the front. Of course, I did a cheater FBA. I added 2 inches of length to the upper bodice on the front and back. There’s MORE than enough ease in the bodice, but I figured that I’d need a bit of extra length to properly get over the bosoms. I could have added another inch or two, I think and perhaps I would have liked it more!

I added a powermesh lining to the sweater. Partially for modesty, partially to protect my sensitive skin from the cheap sweater knit and partially to provide a bit of support to the midriff of the sweater since it’s a bit close-fitting. I drafted the lining by sort of tracing out the pattern pieces for the sweater, then laying a close-fitting cami over the tracing to get the fit right – I wanted the lining nice and close fitting.

I constructed the upper bodice, both lining and sweater and tacked the lining to the sweater at the shoulders. I attached the lower bodice at the hemline, making sure the lining was an inch or two shorter than the lower bodice to give it a nice finish. Then I serged everything together at the empire seam. It all worked out relatively well. The only change I had to make to my original gameplan was to cut the arms much, much deeper as the dolman sleeves got caught up in the more traditional size armholes.