Nowra Jacket in Ella Rae Toowoomba - ER01-03 - Downloadable PDF

Nowra Jacket in Ella Rae Toowoomba – Knitting Pattern Summary (ER01-03)

The Nowra Jacket is a classic, relaxed knitted jacket designed for women, worked in the luxurious Ella Rae Toowoomba yarn. Published by Knitting Fever Inc., this downloadable PDF pattern produces a comfortable, everyday jacket featuring clean lines and a straightforward construction that suits knitters with some experience. The design is worked in separate pieces — a back, a right front, a left front, and two sleeves — which are then seamed together for a polished, structured finish.

Garment Overview

The Nowra Jacket is sized to fit a range of bust measurements:

• Small: 80–90 cm (31½–35½ in)
• Medium: 95–105 cm (37½–41¼ in)
• Large: 110–120 cm (43¼–47¼ in)

The finished length measures approximately 53–55 cm (21–21¾ in) depending on size, and the sleeves measure 46 cm (18 in) in length across all sizes. These proportions create a jacket with a comfortable, wearable length that sits at or just below the hip.

Techniques Used

The Nowra Jacket is knitted entirely in Garter stitch, which is one of the most foundational and recognizable textures in hand knitting. Garter stitch is created by knitting every row on both the right side and the wrong side, producing a fabric with horizontal ridges on both faces. This technique results in a dense, slightly stretchy, and reversible fabric that lies flat without curling at the edges — making it particularly well suited to a jacket or cardigan that benefits from a neat, stable structure.

Because the entire garment uses Garter stitch throughout, knitters do not need to switch between knit and purl stitches, which makes the pattern approachable while still producing a beautifully textured result. The consistent stitch pattern also means the fabric has a lovely drape and body when worked in a DK weight yarn.

Stitches Used

• Garter stitch – the primary and only stitch pattern used throughout all pieces of the jacket
• Cast on and cast off – used for starting each piece and for shaping armholes, shoulders, and necklines
• Decreases (k2tog) – used to shape the armholes and front neck edges, worked at the beginning and end of rows on both right-side and wrong-side rows
• Increases (inc 1 st each end) – used on the sleeves to gradually widen the fabric from cuff to sleeve cap, worked every 11th row a total of 13 times per sleeve

Construction and Shaping Details

The back is cast on with 100 (110, 120) stitches using 5.00mm needles and worked in Garter stitch until the piece reaches 26 cm, at which point armhole shaping begins. Armholes are shaped by casting off 4 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows, followed by paired decreases at each end on the next row and then on every alternate row four more times. Shoulder shaping involves casting off in stages — 8 (9, 10) stitches at the beginning of four rows, then 7 (9, 11) stitches at the beginning of two rows — before the remaining stitches are cast off for the back neck.

The right front is cast on with 55 (59, 63) stitches and worked to match the back length before armhole shaping. Armhole shaping on the front mirrors the back on one side, while the front neck is shaped separately with a cast-off of 7 stitches followed by a series of decreases worked on both right-side and wrong-side rows to create a smooth, angled neckline. Shoulder shaping is then worked to correspond with the back.

The sleeves are cast on with 43 (45, 47) stitches and worked in Garter stitch with gradual side increases — 1 stitch at each end every 11th row, 13 times in total — to shape the sleeve from a narrower cuff up to a wider sleeve cap. The sleeve length is consistent at