Before I really considered knitting the Mondrian Jacket, I was thinking that it would be a good pattern to use with handwoven fabrics. It’s a very simple shape, mostly rectangles, and uses one continuous piece of fabric with a few darts and tucks thrown in. I finally got around to pulling out some of my handwoven yardage this afternoon, and took a few pictures to sketch out the idea.

It’s a completely different feel, but I like the way the warp-faced stripes run down the sides in this version of the garment.

And they’d do interesting things in the back where they meet.

I also really like this shoulder fold

It’s a bit simpler than what I did with the knitted version, but I really like the lines. I’d have to make a muslin to see if it would restrict arm motion too much in the actual garment, but I like the spare simplicity of this design, and how the stripe lines intersect.

Of course, this version looks nothing like a Mondrian at all – it’s amazing how changing the color pattern alters the design.

The vertical stripes also have me wondering if this could be knit sideways to take advantage of a self-striping or variegated yarn. I don’t see why not; the shoulder shaping would simply be accomplished using increases and decreases rather than short rows. Some pieces would have to be knit in sections, but that doesn’t seem like such a big deal. On the other hand, there would be some incredibly long rows!