This first of the Ella coats came into being after I made a felted coat for little girls. The striped pattern in the little girl's coat was inspired by the piled up mattresses in the Princess and the Pea story. I even sandwiched 3-dimensional green peas between the stripes. Because a felted garment must be made so much larger than the size it will become, I was able to wear the coat before it was felted. I was smitten with the fit of the unfelted coat and the first Ella Coat was born.
Ella is a body-skimming sweater coat for women with an A-line silhouette that is created by making the bodice first from the high waist to the shoulder. The advantage of starting here is that you ensure your coat fits perfectly before you finish the entire coat. A perfectly fitted bodice will ensure a beautifully fitting coat. Then pick up at the high waist and work the skirt, stopping when the coat is the desired length.
For a detailed tutorial on choosing colors for your coat, fitting the coat to your own body, adding beautiful details, including alternate ruffle edgings, consult the Ella Coat Knit-a-Long that was conducted through the Noni Blog.
Intrepid Easy: Requires knowledge of knitting, purling, picking up stitches within the knitted fabric, increasing, decreasing, knitting in the round, and some hand-sewing during the finishing process.
18 sts and 24 rows over 4"/10cm in St st using worsted weight yarn on a size 9/5.5mm needle or size need to obtain gauge.
Solid Coat
6-8 skeins worsted weight wool
Solid Coat with Colored Ruffle
Coat: 4-6 skeins worsted weight wool
Ruffle: 2-3 skeins worsted weight wool
Striped coats
2-3 skeins of color (A), 1 skein or 100-250 yds (91 - 230m) of every other color
Size 9 (5.5mm) 32" (80cm) or longer circular needles
Size 10 (6mm) needles
Size 10 J crochet hook
Row Counter (optional)
Locking stitch markers
Sewing needle and sewing thread
Velvet ribbon to line the plackets (2" (5cm) wide and twice the length of one placket)
Cover samples were made in Shepherd's Wool by Stonehedge Fiber Mill: the coat on the front cover was made in Plum with Lime Ruffles. The striped coat on the back cover of the pattern was made using the Ocean Coat strip pattern (see chart on pattern).
First Edition
Sleeves -- The sleeve start location on color chart didn't take into account the first 10 rows worked in col 1. Count up 10 rows for the correct start location.
Sunrise Coat Color Legend -- Antique rose replaces Orange in the legend. Lime should not appear in the legend. It is only used for peas, not for stripes.
Clarification on the use of Lemon Yellow in the Sunrise Colorway -- Lemon yellow is listed as an optional color 1. When I made my Ella coats, I used Lemon for the ruffle rows, then I switched to the Spring Chick for the stripes. You can do this or only purchase one of the yellows to use for all col 1 sections.
First & Second Editions
Garden Coat Color Chart Legend -- Green replaces royal blue.