Berroco Dreamaway Vest Waistcoat Knitting Pattern

Berroco Dreamaway Vest

What is Being Made

The Dreamaway Vest is an intermediate-level knitted waistcoat designed by Melissa LaBarre, featured in Berroco Portfolio Vol. 5. This garment is a sleeveless vest with an open front construction, offering a forgiving fit with approximately 2–4 inches of ease built into the design. The fronts do not meet, creating a layering piece suitable for various styling options. The vest is available in five sizes with finished back width measurements ranging from 17½ inches to 25¾ inches and length options from 25½ inches to 27½ inches.

Construction Techniques

The Dreamaway Vest employs a bottom-up knitting method worked in one continuous piece before being divided for separate front and back sections. The garment begins with a long-tail cast-on across all three sections—left front, back, and right front—worked simultaneously on circular needles. After the initial body is completed, the fronts and back are knitted separately to their respective finished lengths. Shoulders are professionally joined using the three-needle bind-off technique, a method that creates a strong, seamless connection between shoulder edges. Stitch markers are used throughout to clearly delineate the different sections of the garment during construction.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The primary stitch used in the Dreamaway Vest is stockinette stitch (St st), which creates a smooth, classic fabric with a flat appearance. The pattern incorporates garter stitch edging at the front and hem, created by knitting the first and last two stitches of every row on the wrong side while purling the middle stitches. This garter border provides a finished, rolled edge and helps prevent curling at the vest opening. The construction involves slipping markers throughout to maintain pattern sections and uses basic knit and purl stitches to establish the garment's structure.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Dreamaway Vest is designed to be knitted with Berroco Remix yarn, a worsted-weight yarn available in 100-gram balls. The pattern calls for 3 to 5 balls depending on size, shown in colorway #3949 Nightfall. Berroco Remix is a durable, versatile yarn suitable for structured garments like vests.

Needle requirements include:

• One 32-inch circular needle in size 8 (5.00 mm) for the main body construction
• One 16-inch circular needle in size 8 (5.00 mm) for working smaller circumferences
• Three double-pointed needles (dpns) in size 8 (5.00 mm) for the three-needle bind-off at the shoulders

Additional notions include two stitch markers to denote section divisions and waste yarn or stitch holders to temporarily hold stitches during construction. The recommended gauge is 17 stitches and 23 rows per 4 inches in stockinette stitch, making gauge checking essential before beginning the project to ensure proper fit across all five size options.