Beautiful Red Dress

Maia’s new dress is finished… a beautiful red crochet yoke and a cotton skirt, Im feeling pretty happy with myself actually!

Because I love you guys, Ive included a tut so you can make something similar for a beautiful little girl in your life too. This dress is totally customisable, and can easily be made to fit any size or shape. No small person… why not make one for yourself?

Crochet Yoke Dress Tutorial

I used a 4mm hook and 8ply cotton to make this yoke. If you choose a different weight yarn choose an appropriate hook.

First up you need to make the motifs you are going to join together to make your dress yoke.  Ive drawn up a chart for the square I used for this yoke here… but any square you choose will probably be just fine. Once your squares are sewn together they need to measure the same distance as the chest measurement of the dress. This dress needed 10 squares joined to measure around Maia’s chest.  It’s simple to make this dress as big or as small as you like – just increase or decrease the number of squares you make.

You also need to crochet your straps.  To make these straps, chain 7 then single crochet in the second chain from the hook and in every chain across. Chain 1, turn and crochet back in each stitch across.  Repeat until the straps are long enough- about 20 rows. Fasten off leaving a long tail to sew the straps to the yoke.

Sew your squares together.  I left a gap so I could add buttons to the back to make getting the dress on or off easier, really I’m not sure you need this because the cotton has plenty of stretch… but you decide.  Check that it fits at this point, if you are a little out you may be able to add a row or two of single crochet to increase the size slightly- you definitely don’t want it to be too tight.

Single crochet all the way around the yoke (top and bottom). If you are going to add buttons crochet button holes on one of the ends by chaining two, skipping two stitches and then single crochet three, chain two, skip two stitches and single crochet to the end of the last square. Once you have finished, sew your straps on.  When the straps are in place single crochet another full round (including the neck line and underarm) and two rows of single crochet all around the bottom.

Cut out your dress – see the suggestions here. Use any fabric you like, I chose a cotton drill of a medium weight, a stretch would also be nice, and because a knit is unlikely to fray you could probably get away without over sewing your edges. Up cycle an old item of clothing- a dress of skirt which you love and is now out of date or too small, there are so many possibilities!

Sew your side seams together and over sew all edges to reduce fraying.

With right sides facing pin yoke to the dress top- if you’ve got the measurements right your dress top should be the same size!

I sew the two pieces together with the right sides showing so I can see exactly how it will look when its finished. I make small stitches on the diagonal.

From the fabric to over the top of the edge of the bottom single crochet chain.

Which when pulled tight are pretty much invisible:

Once you have finished sewing the yoke on, position and sew on buttons if you are using them.

Measure and pin hem.  When Im sewing girl’s skirts and dresses, I like to do this by measuring down all the way from the top of the yoke… this ensures I have the same length the entire way round.

Sew hem in place evenly using a seam marker on your machine- I used the 15mm mark. This gives the hem an even seam all the way around even if you are like me and the original cut was crooked.

Iron dress…

That’s it- all done!!

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done…

And find a small person to wear!Love!

I do hope you give this a go, its really very easy… leave me a comment if you get stuck and Ill try to give you a hand. Jxo