Sweetbriar Surplice is the second pattern in the Everyday Dresses Ebook. The book is available now for $10.00, until the publication of the final dress (Salt Island), when it will reach the final $12.00 price

The upstairs bedrooms at my great grandmother’s house were filled with treasures from a time when coal and cargo trains passed in an endless ribbon through the railroad town where she lived. In the corner of the room my siblings and I shared stood an old victrola, and tattered stuffed animals filled the sloped-ceiling closet. And in the room across the hall, where my mother slept, a wash basin rested near the foot of the bed and trinkets covered the top of the old oak dresser. I’m pretty sure this is where I saw milk glass for the first time, and the hobnail texture enchanted me.

Sweetbriar Surplice is inspired by my great grandmother’s milk glass and the Greenbriar river that rushed past the steep embankment where her house stood. The textured bodice and knitted-on lace add vintage appeal, but the surplice shape is easy to wear.

Sweetbriar Surplice is a seamless, top-down tunic or dress. It is knit in one piece starting with the back yoke, and the body is worked in the round. Yarn-over increases add fullness to the skirt and periodic side increases form a slightly a-line shape. The bottom hem is finished with a simple knitted on lace edging, and garter stitch finishes the armhole and neck edges.

The pattern includes instructions for tunic and dress lengths, and the picot stitch yoke pattern and knitted-on lace edging are both written and charted.

This pattern is appropriate for advanced beginners and intermediate knitters.

Finished Chest Measurements
18¾(21½, 21½, 24, 26¾, 26¾, 29¼) inches;
47.5(54.5, 54.5, 61, 68, 68, 74.5) cm

When choosing a size, pick one that is closest to your child’s chest measurement. If you are choosing between two sizes with the same chest circumference, refer to the schematic to determine which will best suit your child. Body length, armhole depth, and cross back (shoulder blade tip to shoulder blade tip)measurements will differ.

Yardage Requirements

Dress: 340(410,520,610,670,740,800) yards; 315(375,475,560,615,680,735) meters heavy DK or light worsted weight yarn

Tunic: 280(360,395,500,550,620,670) yards; 255(330,395,460,505,570,615) meters heavy DK or light worsted weight yarn

Sample is shown in O-wool Legacy DK, Desert Blush, a 100% wool yarn. However, the pattern will work just as well with cotton and blends

Designer Notes

The knit picot stitch pattern is worked in two different directions: up from the provisional cast-on and then down from the provisional cast-on once it is unpicked. The picots lean to one side of the stitch they are worked into. As you work your first row of picots down from the provisional cast-on, they will lean to the opposite side of the picots above them. Things may look slightly out of alignment at first, but this is not noticeable in the final garment. Just be sure there are 5 stitches between each picot stitch (excluding any partial repeat at the beginning and the end of the row).

Blocking before weaving in ends is recommended.

When blocked, lace should measure 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in length.