Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Color Block Toddler Dress

I made this dress recently for my niece Emma. The original crochet pattern called for a variegated yarn, which I wasn't too impressed with, but I did like the pattern itself. So, I set to work to change it into a more updated color block pattern.

In general, I like this silhouette for a dress pattern because if you choose the right colors it can be worn as is in Spring and Summer, and with a long sleeved top underneath in Fall and Winter. And as the child gets taller, as long as it still fits in the arm area, it can still be worn as a top over jeans, leggings, and pants.


I used the Girl's Lace Pinafore free crochet pattern and followed directions for a size four. (Sizes for 18 months, 2 years, 4 years, and 6 years are included with the pattern.) The only modifications I made were to the colors of yarn used. I made the entire dress with yarn that I inherited, so I don't know if these exact colors are still available. The colors I used are Red Heart Soft Coral, Windsor Blue, and Shocking Pink. I changed colors only in the last 12 rows of the pattern, working 6 rows of blue and then 6 rows of pink.

Instead of finishing the pattern with decorative buttons as recommended, I completed a Ginormous Flat Detachable Flower free crochet pattern using more of the Shocking Pink yarn and sewed two decorative buttons to the center. 


This flower pattern is great because it creates a tab on the back that allows you to move the flower on your finished piece. AND it means that you don't have to wash the flower every time you wash the dress! 

Really genius! I will use this pattern again. Take a look - here's the flower on the shoulder of the dress instead of the center as pictured above.


You can add these patterns to your Ravelry queue here:


Two thumbs up for both of them.

Note: For those of you having trouble accessing the pattern on the Bernat site (first link), please try this link instead: Girl's Lace Pinafore Free Crochet Pattern on Joann's.

This post contains affiliate links.

7 comments:

  1. I love the dress but the link to the pattern comes up empty. So sad, would love to make one like this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for letting us know about the link, Anonymous! The Ravelry link listed at the bottom of the post was still working, so I have relinked the top link from the one provided there. They should both be working now. Good luck on your project! ;-)

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  3. I am confused when trying to make a size 2 pinafore,after completing 6th round , next part states
    Size 6 only, and shows the sc increase round, so I skipped this
    for size 2, then All sizes next round: did not follow the stitch progression..... Please help, thanks.....I'm probably missing something since others did not mention having a problem

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Crochetmama - I completed this pattern for a size four and did not run into the issue that you are describing here. But in looking at the pattern, I believe this is the row where you begin to make the sleeves. So when you chain and then skip shells, you connect again to the next shell to sort of draw up the pattern to create the arm hole. It won't make a lot of sense while you're doing it, but you'll need to work through it to see what happens. The chained part will form part of the arm hole if I remember correctly. Of course, I did not complete this for a size 2, so it is also possible that they have their stitch counts listed incorrectly. In that case, I would try contacting Bernat to see if they have an errata that they can post for this pattern. Good luck!

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  5. Hi Madeline, I checked all of the links just now, and they seem to be working for me. Both links for the dress are a pdf file. However, I was able to find the same pattern on Joann's.com. I have revised the post to include that link as well in case others are also having trouble downloading the pdf. The Joanns.com link provides the instructions directly on their website rather than in pdf format. Hope this helps and good luck with your project!

    ReplyDelete

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