Garment Making: The Vertical Stripe Vest (Beginner)

This five day garment making course is designed for learners to master a number of techniques and processes used in machine knitting a full garment.

We will make a striped sweater vest, a classic fully fashioned machine knitted vest/tank top. A perfect garment for someone who has some experience of machine knitting but hasn't followed a pattern or constructed a garment before. The course focusses on a simple sideways knitted 5 x colour stripe fully fashioned garment. With simple trims, edges and neckline details to add an extra level of finish. 

The sweater vest comes in 3 sizes (small/medium/large) and is unisex.

To attend, learners need to have attended one of our Beginner Machine Knitting Classes, or have sufficient knowledge in using a knitting machine, its operations and want to learn more. If you haven't used a knitting machine before, or want to brush up your skills before the Garment making class, we have a Beginner: 'The Basics' Machine Knitting Class timetabled on the Saturday 3rd January 2026.

We use Brother knitting machines on the course. All equipment and yarns will be provided, along with technical notes to take home, with instructions for everything we've covered in the class.

Day 1 A quick refresh of basic techniques (casting on/off, changing colour), practice simple shaping techniques, linking on the machine and how to follow a pattern. 

Day 2 Tension swatching, shaping calculations, practice adding trims/edges and selecting colours.

Day 3 & 4 Knitting your garment, adding the trims/edges and neckline.

Day 5 Constructing your garment, linking and finishing. 

Please note that due to each learner learning differently and at different speeds, on rare occasions, you may not get every element of your garment finished, but you will learn the techniques to complete it yourself.

The course lasts 1pm to 5pm from Tuesday 6th January to Saturday 10th January. 

Cancellation Policy

These courses are highly specialised and take significant planning, resources and time. To give you individual attention we have limited numbers of spaces on each course. If you book a space that prevents someone else from booking, so we are unable to offer refunds if you decide to cancel with less than a weeks notice before the class.