The Helen Sweater – Vintage-Inspired Knitting Pattern

A little vintage romance, knitted for today.

Quick look details:
Sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL (28" - 62" or 71cm - 158cm bust circumference)
Needles: 2.75mm,3.25mm (US 2,3)
Skill Level: Intermediate - there are some complicated elements to the pattern that a beginner will struggle with, but more experienced knitters will cope with.

Meet Helen. A beautifully feminine, vintage-inspired sweater filled with the sort of details that make a hand knitted sweater feel truly special.

With her fitted silhouette, gently puffed elbow-length sleeves and wonderfully tactile bobble pattern detailing, Helen takes her inspiration from the elegant knitwear of the past, but has been designed and written for the modern knitter.

She's the sweater to wear tucked into a favourite skirt or high-waisted trousers, dressed up for afternoon tea, or simply thrown on with jeans when you fancy adding a little vintage charm to an ordinary day.

And although Helen might look rather intricate, don't let all those beautiful bobbles fool you…

She's an immensely satisfying knit.

A sweater full of beautiful details

The real star of Helen is her gorgeous textured stitch pattern. Delicate fan motifs and bobbles travel across the body, with the detailing continuing onto those lovely puffed sleeves to create texture from every angle.

Turn around and there's still something to see.

It's exactly the sort of knitting I love: interesting enough to keep your needles and your brain busy, while creating a garment you'll want to keep stopping to admire as it grows.

The deeper ribbed hem draws the sweater gently in at the waist, while the shorter sleeves and softly structured shoulders give Helen her unmistakably vintage silhouette.

Wear her alone or pop a pretty collared blouse underneath for an extra dose of vintage loveliness.

Designed for different bodies

One of the most important parts of developing Helen was making sure I didn't only see her on my body.

The pattern has been test knitted across a range of sizes, and seeing each tester's Helen come to life has been one of my favourite parts of the whole process. The Helen Sweater is available in sizes XS - 5XL, which is from a 28" - 62" bust!

I've included detailed sizing and finished garment information within the pattern so you can choose the fit and amount of ease that's right for you.

Choosing your yarn

For my original Helen, I went stash diving!

I used Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4-ply, a beautifully soft 100% wool yarn, in the colour Rose Petals. It turned out to be a wonderful match for Helen.

You certainly don't need to use the same yarn, but after working with my test knitters I do have one piece of advice:

Choose something relatively smooth, soft and not too grippy.

A smooth fingering/4-ply yarn allows Helen's textured stitches and bobbles to really shine—and makes those bobbles rather more cooperative should you ever need to frog a section!

Some of my testers found that grippier yarns, particularly Shetland blends, had a tendency to lock the fibres together around the bobbles and made frogging frustrating! So when you're standing in front of a wall of beautiful yarn trying to decide what Helen should become, remember:

Smooth. Soft. Not too grippy.

Then comes the much more difficult decision…

What colour will you knit yours?

For extra guidance, make sure you sign-up to the mailing list so that you receive helpful Helen emails once you order!