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How to knit a woman’s dress

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woman’s-dress
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Yarn - Red Heart / medium 4 / Net Weight - 198 g / 364 yds (333 m) / 2 balls needed
Needles - Circular US 5 and double pointed US 3 (3.25 mm)
Dress Size - US 4 - 6
Complexity - Intermediate

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women’s-dress-knitting-pattern
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Women’s dress knitting pattern
Step-by-step knitting instructions
Step 1
Cast on 123 stitches (for the pattern you need multiples of 9 + additional 6 stitches).
Step 2
Begin to knit in round. Mark your starting point.
Step 3
1st row – knit 2 (k2), make a loop (yarn over (yo)), [k2, 1 slip decrease, knit 2 stitches together (k2tog), k2, yo, k1, yo] repeat that to last 4 stitches, k2 and 1 slip decrease
2nd row and all even rows – knit to end
3rd row – k2tog, yo, k1, yo, [k2, 1 slip decrease (sd), k2tog, k2, yo, k1, yo] to last 3 sts, k1 and 1sd
5th row – k2tog, k1, yo, k1, yo, [k2, 1 slip decrease,k2tog, k2, yo, k1, yo]to last 2 sts, 1 sd
7th row – k2tog, k2, yo, k1, [yo, k2, 1 sd, k2tog, k2, yo, k1] to last 1 st, k1
9th row – k1, k2tog, k2, yo, k1, [yo, k2, 1 sd, k2tog, k2, yo, k1] to end
11th row = 7th row
13th row = 5th row
15th row = 3rd row
17th row = 1st row
Repeat the pattern twice or more.
Step 4
Knit all stitches for 50 rounds or more (if you want the dress to be longer)
Step 5
Reduce your number of stitches to 113 stitches
Step 6 (optional)
Knit all stitches for 25 rounds and decrease the stitches to 103
Step 7
Knit all stitches for another 25 rounds and increase the stitches to 114 or [(9 x 12) + 6]
After that, knit all the stitches for 7 more rounds
Step 8
Begin the pattern (repeat the step 3 for 9 rounds or more)
Mark closer the starting point of the pattern again
Step 9
Slide 57 stitches on the other circular needles, a long safety pin, or just yarn (whatever you have) to work the front later
Step 10
Bind off 3 stitches from both sleeve sides of the back circular needles. In order not to make any adjustments to the pattern, cast off last 3 sts before your marking point. You will work in round, so it won’t affect anything anyway.
Continue the pattern.
Step 11
Begin to shape shoulders, continue the pattern for just 10 stitches.
Work the pattern for few rows.
Cast off the stitches.
Cut the yarn leaving enough to connect the back and front pieces together.
Do not secure the yarn.
Repeat the process above for the other piece of a shoulder.
Step 12
Start to work the front shoulders.
Cast off 3 stitches from both sleeve sides.
Continue the pattern for 10 stitches as you did for the back shoulders.
Cast off the 10 stitches.
Cut the yarn and secure it.
Step 13
Connect both back and front pieces of shoulders.
Secure the end of the yarn.
Step 14
Cast on 33 stitches [(9 x 3) + 6] for the sleeve making big first loops. If multiples of 9 + 6 sts will be to tight or loose in your case, then ignore the pattern’s requirements and go will a number of stitches you need making some adjustments. Anyway, it may be necessary to add more stitches later on and by this point you should be comfortable enough with the pattern.
Gradually increase the number of stitches to 40 sts. To do so, you need to add one knit stitch at a time at the very end of a row after the pattern.
Step 15
Do not bind off, but join the sleeves to the dress using a hook.
The other option is to cast off all the 40 stitches and then sew them to the dress.
Cut the yarn and secure it.
Step 16
Shape the neck line, pick up additional stitches and use the existing ones.
Knit in round for few rounds.
Step 17
Cast off all the stitches.
Cut the yarn and secure it.

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Dress knitting pattern

Comments

Hi Miju,

Hi Miju,
Yes, you may adjust the pattern as desired. The are many ways to do so whether to knit more rounds and rows or work more rows of the pattern.

Tried and tried to knit this

Tried and tried to knit this dress but get hung up on Step 3...my circumference keeps getting smaller and smaller. Unable to finish one round :( any idea what I'm doing wrong??

Hi Bexster,

Hi Bexster,
There can be many reasons for that. If you want, you may attach the picture of your work and I'll take a look at it to know what might be wrong. Thanks.

Hi Charikleia,

Hi Charikleia,
I would advise you to make a small sample first to learn your gauge. For that, cast on multiples of 9 sts plus 6 additional sts and then make an estimate how many repeats/multiples of 9 sts you need to work to your hip circumference accordingly. For the bottom pattern you may knit any number of repeats. Then after the stockinette st, you need to adjust your number of sts to work an even number of repeats to be able to divide your total number of repeats by 2 or to one front part and one back part. If you give me more info, I would be able to give my suggested number of sts to start with. Happy knitting!