Georgetown Vest

DROPS 219-1 by DROPS Design — rewritten as Chris's XXXL step-by-step tracker

🧶 Drops Karisma, colour 57 olive (the pattern's own colour!) · top-down · knit from the official pattern

Photo © DROPS Design — pattern DROPS 219-1, free at garnstudio.com

How this vest is made

Worked top down, in one piece, no side seams: each shoulder starts as a little strip, the back and front grow downward with neck stitches cast on between the shoulders, armholes are shaped by increases and cast-ons, then front and back join into one big round and the body is plain stockinette straight down to a ribbed hem. Neck and armhole ribs are picked up last.

Every step below carries your XXXL numbers, triple-checked, with stitch counts at each milestone. For the row-by-row choreography of the shaping rows, each step links to the exact section of the official pattern — which also has DROPS's video tutorials for each move (their terms ask that the full written pattern stays on their site, and their videos are genuinely good).

The fit check — read this before casting on

Stock XXXL is smaller than you like. Per DROPS's own diagram, XXXL finishes at 138 cm (54.3″) around the chest and — because the body tapers inward going down — just 130 cm (51.2″) at the hem. Your chest is 54″ (fine, zero ease) but your widest point is 60″ — the stock vest would be ~9″ smaller than your middle, guaranteed to hug and ride up. The modification below fixes it by reversing the body shaping. It's the difference between a vest you wear and a vest that lives in a drawer.

Chris's fit modification (replaces the body decreases)

Follow the pattern exactly until the front and back join into the round at 290 stitches (= 138 cm). Then, instead of the pattern's four decrease rounds:

When the body measures 5 cm from the join, work an increase round: knit to 1 stitch before each side-marker stitch, make 1 (M1), K3 (the marked stitch and its neighbours), M1 — at both markers = 4 stitches increased.
Repeat the increase round every 3 cm, 10 times in total → 330 stitches ≈ 157 cm ≈ 62″ — about +2″ of ease over your widest point, arriving gradually so the vest A-lines gently over the middle.
At the pre-rib increase round the pattern grows the stitch count ~15% so the ribbing doesn't cinch: from 330, increase 50 evenly → 380 stitches (divisible by 4 ✓) for the K2/P2 hem rib.

Yarn cost of the mod: roughly +40–50 g over stock. Stock XXXL needs 500 g; modified ≈ 545 g. Your 11 balls = 550 g — it fits, but with almost nothing spare: swatch, then frog the swatch and reuse the yarn, weigh at the checkpoints below, and if it runs tight, shorten the body 2–3 cm (each cm saves ~8 g at full width).

Materials & gauge

Yarn: Drops Karisma, colour 57 olive — 500 g stock / ≈545 g modified. You have 11 balls = 550 g.
Needles: 4 mm circular (80 cm) for stockinette · 3 mm circulars (40 + 80 cm) for all ribbing.
Tension: 21 stitches × 28 rows = 10 cm stockinette on 4 mm.
Full instructions, videos, corrections: DROPS 219-1 at garnstudio.com (one correction, April 2022, already in the current page text).

My gauge check

Swatch in stockinette on 4 mm, wash, lay flat, measure over 10 cm. (Then frog the swatch — you need the yarn back.)

Stitches I get
Rows I get (optional)

Part 1 — The Back

Right shoulder: with the 4 mm circular, cast on 21 stitches. Work back and forth in stockinette with the outermost stitch at each side knit on every row (a garter edge stitch). At 4 cm, increase 1 inside the edge stitch at the start of a right-side row. 22 stitches Set aside. Left shoulder: cast on 21 and work the same, but the 4 cm increase goes at the end of the right-side row → 22, then work 1 wrong-side row (this puts both shoulders on the same footing for joining). Join for the back neck: knit across the left shoulder's 22, cast on 44 new stitches at the end of that row, then knit the right shoulder's 22 onto the same needle. 88 stitches Continue in stockinette with garter edge stitches. At 16 cm from the shoulder cast-on, grow the armholes. Per side, in order: increase 1 inside the edge stitch on 4 right-side rows, then cast on 2 stitches 4 times and 3 stitches 3 times at the row ends (cast-ons happen at the end of every row, right side and wrong side — 14 cast-on rows total). That's +21 per side. 130 stitches The exact row choreography: pattern → Back piece (with videos). Set the back aside.

Part 2 — The Front

Both front shoulders: cast on 21 each, worked like the back shoulders — but at 7 cm the neck shaping starts: increase 1 (→ 22), then at the neck edge cast on 2 stitches 3 times and 3 stitches once. 31 stitches each Left and right mirror each other — the neck cast-ons land at opposite row ends (pattern → Front piece). Join for the front neck: knit the right shoulder's 31, cast on 26, knit the left shoulder's 31. 88 stitches At 16 cm, grow the armholes exactly as on the back: 4 edge increases + cast on 2×4 and 3×3 per side. 130 stitches (Use the two counters above — that's why they have reset buttons.)

Part 3 — The Body (with Chris's fit modification)

Join in the round: knit the front's 130 · cast on 15 (underarm) · knit the back's 130 · cast on 15. 290 stitches Place a marker in the middle stitch of each 15. ⚖️ Weigh checkpoint 1: ≈190–210 g used so far; over 230 g means plan a shorter body. The mod (instead of the pattern's 4 decrease rounds): work stockinette in the round; at 5 cm from the join, and then every 3 cm, 10 times in total: knit to 1 stitch before each marked stitch · make 1 (M1) · K3 · M1 — at both markers, +4 per round. 330 stitches ≈ 62″ Try-on checkpoint: at ~15 cm below the join, slip half the stitches to spare yarn and try it on. The increases should be clearing your middle with room to spare — adjust the remaining count up or down; the vest answers to you, not the counter. At 39 cm from the join: increase 50 stitches evenly around. 380 stitches (divisible by 4 for the rib ✓). ⚖️ Weigh checkpoint 2: the rib + edges ahead need ≈90–100 g. Change to the 3 mm circular. Work K2, P2 rib for 4 cm. Cast off in rib, loosely — the pattern's cast-off tip (yarn-over every ~4th stitch) is good insurance. Total length ≈ 67 cm shoulder to hem.

Part 4 — Finishing

Graft the shoulder seams (pattern → Assembly, with video). Armhole edges: with the short 3 mm circular, pick up ≈ 132 stitches inside the edge stitch (adjust to a multiple of 4). K2, P2 rib in the round for 2 cm, cast off loosely in rib. Both armholes. Neck edge: pick up ≈ 120 stitches (multiple of 4), K2, P2 rib for 2 cm, cast off loosely in rib. Weave in ends, gentle wool-wash, dry flat. Photograph it below — olive Karisma deserves documentation. 🎉

Project photos

Progress shots and the finished vest — photos upload straight from your phone and stay with the project.

Page settings

Checking sync…

Clears every checkbox and counter. Photos are kept (delete those individually with the ✕).

Georgetown Vest © DROPS Design (DROPS 219-1, pattern u-898) — knit it free at garnstudio.com.
This page: Chris's personal XXXL notes, tracker, and fit modification. Made based on a design from DROPS Design.

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