Crocheted Party Dress: The Finale

It's done! I can't believe I completed the Crocheted Party Dress so quickly. I don't think I have ever (and I mean ever) finished a project in a month and a half.

And the best part is - the dress looks really cute. My behind is too big to fit in the dress, so we used a dress form to showcase our little gem.

I have to say, this was a great pattern:

• It was easy to follow.
• Easy to memorize the lace shell patterns.
• The shell patterns changed often enough to keep me from getting bored.
• There were no side seams. I can't stress how awesome this was for me.
• The finishing around the neckline and the sleeves was super easy. 

Finished measurements (all taken laying flat):

• Width at waist: 15.5 inches
• Width at bottom of armhole/bust:  18.5 inches
• Width at hem:  23 inches
• Sleeve length:  25 inches
• Length from neckline to hem:  33 inches

Hop on over to our Etsy store to find the pattern. It contains three different sizes allowing for customization of the pattern.

Partying On - Crochet Party Dress Update

Sleeves are complete! The skirt is coming along nicely. The pattern is easy. I find that I cannot stop in the middle of a row, otherwise I get turned around and head back in the direction I just crocheted - which makes the skirt a little lopsided - not a good look.

I was surprised at the waistline that showed up. I hadn't expected there to be much of a defined waistline with this pattern. But the waist pulls in and should look great when worn.

The top photo shows the dress with 67 rows completed on it. I have used all of the taupe yarn (all 315 yards of it) on the sleeves and the skirt.

A closeup of the waistline and top of the skirt. 

There are 9 more rows to complete the skirt. I'm really looking forward to finishing the dress. This has been a great project. It has gone fast - I haven't completed a project this fast EVER; it doesn't have side seams - I'm not great at seaming yet; and the pattern stitches change just enough that it is not a pain to memorize, but they hold my interest. 

I can't wait to have a finished project to show.

Happy Crocheting!

Crocheted Party Dress - Motivation

When Alison first sent me pattern for the Crocheted Party Dress, I knew I had to make it. But it was a big project - an entire dress - and I hadn't ever started, let alone completed, a big garment before. Still, I knew at some point I would make this dress. The best part is that is's a crochet pattern with worsted weight/light worsted weight yarn, so it would make up relatively fast.

25 rows completed. Once the bodice and skirt are completed the sleeves are added.

The dress is working up pretty quickly, even if I'm a slow crocheter. The lace pattern is easily memorized. I like that a lot!

I purchased a 1 pound mill end of off white Caron Simply Soft online for next to nothing. I knew at the time that I don't particularly like working with the yarn, but it looks so pretty made up that I had to buy it. That mill end turned out to be the perfect yarn in my stash to make dress.

Out shopping one afternoon, we were talking about the dress and how cool it would look if it were an ombre instead of a solid color dress. We picked up a skein of coral and taupe yarns. I am hopeful that I can get the dress to turn out like I envision it in my head.

I am using the postings of my progress as motivation. I want to be able to show my progress on the dress each time I post an update. I'm not always so good at completing projects, so I have to find motivation where I can.

The original dress.

Happy crocheting!

Project: Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan

 We asked our friend Michele, the speediest crocheter we know, if she wanted to make a "model" from one of the patterns in our stores. She picked a pattern from the 1930's - the Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan. It turns out that women in the 1930's crocheted a lot more than they do now and patterns relied on that innate knowledge gleaned when crocheting so much when they put the instructions together. These days, patterns contain a lot more detail. In fact, watching Michele right now, describing how much longer the pattern would be had it been written recently, is pretty entertaining.

So this is a picture from the pattern.

Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan

And, here is a picture of a single block from the afghan. It has taken the speedy crocheter (and mathematical genius) several attempts to convert the instructions to modern crocheting. We will be posting changes made to the pattern, and modern interpretations of the pattern over the next couple of weeks as she finishes the afghan. All of the changes will be added to the pattern.

The first change made was the yarn type. The pattern calls for Minerva Shetland Floss - a discontinued yarn. The Shetland Floss was a tiny yarn that was worked with a size 12 steel crochet hook. Michele decided that making 124 - 132 diamonds for the pattern would be too time consuming and not much fun.

The yarn Michele chose is Caron Simply Soft. Simply Soft is a light worsted weight yarn that works up easily and is really soft. The hook size she went with is a size 7. It was one size smaller than the yarn calls for because we thought it would make the diamonds a little more stable.

Using Simply Soft yarn made the finished diminished approximately 7 1/2" x 7 1/2".

More project updates will be posted - keep an eye out for them.


Spinning Wheel Cube Afghan listing on Etsy