Jessie’s Girl Tips

On this page you’ll find some tips and tutorials for making your own Jessie’s Girl top! I cover the following the topics:

Picking a size

My idea for Jessie’s Girl was for it to be a super drapey and oversized top. But, you can make your own suited to your own style. If you want to also make it a bit oversized and drapey, pick a size whose finished measurements are around 7-11″ larger than your actual bust measurement. Example: if your actual bust is 40″, then I would suggest knitting the 48.5″ size. If you are in-between sizes, then it will just depend on if you prefer it a bit more oversized or just a little less.

If you want a more fitted look, then just choose a size whose finished measurements have less ease (around 4-7″ of positive ease). I recommend looking over all of the finished pictures posted on Ravelry to get a sense of how others have knit and styled it. And if you want to learn more about ease in knitting, check out my blog post here.

Note: older versions of the pattern had listed sizes as S, M, L, etc. If you are looking at finished photos on Ravelry and want to see how the old sizing labels compare with the new ones, please see below:

  • S = size 1
  • M = size 2
  • L = size 3
  • XL = size 4

The other thing to keep in mind with picking a size is considering your other circumferences, such as hips and waist. If you want that flowy/drapey look, you’ll want to make sure the size you pick allows for at least some positive ease at the waist and hips as well. It doesn’t need to be as much, but at least some positive ease at all of these circumferences will allow for the garment to drape off of the shoulders and have ‘flow’ all the way down to the hem. Here’s an example of the amount of ease I’m wearing Jessie’s Girl at both my bust and my hips:

Choosing a yarn that will drape well

I designed Jessie’s Girl to be knit with a sport or DK weight yarn, knit up on a larger-than-usual needle size so that the stitch pattern would be a bit loose and drapey. So an important part of this is choosing a yarn that will drape well. I used Knit One Crochet Too’s Batiste, a beautiful sport-weight merino/linen/silk blend – the linen and silk in it really give it that nice drape. It’s one of my favorite warm-weather-friendly yarns! Other yarns that people have used are:

  • Juniper Moon Farm Zooey
  • Universal Yarn Bamboo Pop
  • Manos del Uruguay Milo

  • Elsbeth Lavold Hempathy
  • Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool
  • Berroco Meraki
  • Malabrigo Susurro
  • Knitpicks Cotlin
  • Berroco Remix Light

Swatching Tips

Most of the body of Jessie’s Girl is knit in Garter stitch in the round, meaning you knit 1 round, then purl 1 round. It’s important to gauge swatch in the round to get an accurate gauge for this piece. Click here to read my tutorial about this or my video below:

Another important tip about swatching for Jessie’s Girl: I recommend blocking your swatch. Because you’re knitting with sport/DK-weight yarn on a larger-than-usual knitting size (to get the pattern gauge of 4.25 sts = 1″), this means that the fabric is more likely to stretch after blocking (especially if you use a blend of fibers). So it’s a good idea to:

  1. Make your swatch in the round
  2. Measure your stitches and rounds in your swatch before blocking (tip: in garter stitch, 1 garter ridge = 2 rounds).
  3. Block your swatch
  4. Re-measure your stitches and rounds to see how much it changed after blocking. I find with garter stitch in the round that my swatch grows in length much more than in width. So if this happens to you as well, just know that you should make your Jessie’s Girl a little shorter than you think so you’re accounting for the extra growth you’ll get post-blocking.

For more swatching tips, you can read my tutorial here.

Techniques Used in Jessie’s Girl

Below are links to all of the tutorials for the knitting techniques used in Jessie’s Girl:

Long Tail Cast-On
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Wrap and Turn Short Rows in Garter Stitch
Cable Cast-On
Sloped Bind-Off (in neck shaping)
How to Three Needle Bind-Off