Used the J hook for foundation chain and L for the large hook to work the arcade motifs. So far, I’m still larger than gauge by about 2”. As I finished the back piece, it fell into gauge. I used the I hook for shaping.
I’m not the only one who found an error in the pattern where you begin to shape the armholes on the back piece. It says to recommence the arcade pattern at row 2, which is impossible. Start with row 3.
There were really no detailed instructions as to how to assemble the garment. I chose the slip stitch to wrong side method in each sc and tried to match the 5DC spaces for uniformity. I blocked the pieces before assembly.
I’m happy with the results but found the sleeves to be a tad short. I’ll add a few rounds to them and they should be fine. Also, the garment is not as voluminous as the pictures with the belts indicate. If you belted it, it wouldn’t wrap around as much as a wrap sweater would. I suspect they put a very large size on the model.
3/14--finally added drawstrings; have been wanting to do that for awhile. Sometimes I’d like to loosely tie it at the neck/shoulders. I made two ties of 130 ch with a row of sc, then connected them to the garment at the point where the collar and bodice seam meets. I tied a knot at the bottom of each string. I know these are long, but the idea is to tie them together very loosely or just hang.