The stitch pattern in the bodice of this dress reminds me of the cables in suspension bridges, especially when worked in a silvery-gray yarn. Initially, I designed the dress to be strapless and sewed an elastic band to the upper inside edge of the bodice to secure the fit. I found the look charming, though doubts about the practicality of a knitted strapless dress ultimately led me to attach the top band, shown here. I finished the top and bottom edges with a beautiful light-gray lace trim.

Note, 2/8/11:

I have been seeing images of the Suspension dresses that several people have made here on Ravelry and was concerned that their bodices (the stitch pattern portions of their dresses) seemed a bit on the long side. So I went back and took a look at the sample I made and then looked at the schematic in the book and tried to figure out how my tech editor had come up with and calculated the sizing for the dress. The length of the bodice for the sample I made and sent to her (and shown here) is 6”, which is considerably shorter than the 10 ¾” she ultimately designated. I’ve written my editor now to try to fix the problem and find out exactly what happened, but the thinking behind the design for those of you considering making the dress, is that the bodice should end a few inches below your chest. You can easily place your stitches on waste yarn and try the bodice on when you think you’ve gotten to this point, and when you have, you’ll be all set to proceed to the skirt portion. Having the bodice end higher than currently designated simply gives the dress more of the intended A-line structure. Once I have the tech editors review the pattern and find out what happened, I’ll post any changes or fixes here and also on the book’s errata page on the STC website. I apologize sincerely for any problems this may have caused -- the finished dresses I’ve seen here have been lovely. Kristy