Dorothy Top in Adriafil Rainbow - Downloadable PDF

Dorothy Top in Adriafil Rainbow — Free Knitting Pattern (Downloadable PDF)

The Dorothy Top is a beautifully shaped women's pullover knitted in Adriafil Rainbow yarn, colour number 84. This free downloadable PDF pattern produces a relaxed, wearable top with a distinctive curved hem — longer at the back than at the front — created entirely through short-row shaping worked directly within the stitch pattern. The result is a garment with a modern, flattering silhouette that showcases the multicolour character of the yarn.

Garment Overview and Sizing

The Dorothy Top is worked flat in separate front and back pieces and is available in three sizes:

• Small (S): approximately 86 cm garment width
• Medium (M): approximately 94 cm garment width
• Large (L): approximately 102 cm garment width

The front length measures approximately 52 (54) 56 cm at centre front, while the back is noticeably longer at 62 (64) 66 cm at centre back. This intentional length difference gives the top its signature curved, dipped-back hemline — a detail that adds elegance without requiring any seamed shaping or separate hem pieces.

Materials Required

• Yarn: Adriafil Rainbow, colour n. 84 — 450 (500) 550 g depending on size. Rainbow is a worsted weight yarn, making it a satisfying and relatively quick knit.
• Needles: 6 mm knitting needles

Tension / Gauge

The stated gauge is 14 stitches and 20 rows = 10 cm measured in stockinette stitch on 6 mm needles. As with any garment pattern, swatching before beginning is strongly recommended to ensure the finished dimensions match the pattern's measurements, particularly given the structured shaping involved.

Stitch Patterns Used

The Dorothy Top uses two distinct stitch patterns, each contributing both texture and visual interest to the finished fabric:

• Garter Stitch: Used for the bottom border of the garment. Garter stitch is formed by knitting every row on both right and wrong sides, creating a ridged, reversible fabric that lies flat without curling — ideal for hems and borders. The cast-on edge is worked over 10 rows of garter stitch before the main pattern begins.
• Fancy Motive (Lace-Effect Stitch Pattern): This is the primary stitch pattern used throughout the body of the top. It is a two-row repeat combining knit and purl panels with a subtle lace element:
  • Row 1 (wrong side): Alternating panels of purl stitches — 10 (11) 12 stitches — separated by 3 knit stitches, ending with a purl panel.
  • Row 2 (right side): Knit panels of 11 (12) 13 stitches incorporating a yarnover followed by k2tog (knit two together), creating a small eyelet or lace detail within each panel, ending with a knit panel of 10 (11) 12 stitches.
  The yarnover-and-k2tog combination is a classic lace technique: the yarnover creates a new stitch and a decorative hole, while the k2tog decrease immediately compensates, maintaining the stitch count. The overall effect is a fabric with vertical texture columns and a delicate repeating eyelet motif.

Key Techniques

Several intermediate knitting techniques are central to constructing the Dorothy Top successfully:

• Short-Row Shaping: The curved hem at both the front and back is achieved entirely through short rows — a technique where the knitter works only partway across a row, turns the work, and works back, gradually building extra length in specific areas. In this pattern, short rows are worked in increments of 7 stitches at a time (7, 14, 21, 28 stitches) on both sides of the piece, all while maintaining the fancy motive stitch pattern. A slip 1