Improvise Your Way Through This Dress Knitting Pattern

I occasionally find myself scrolling through new patterns on Ravelry just to see what’s out there that I might want to share with you, and it was on one of these occasions that the Black Cloud Dress by Julia Monning stopped my in my tracks.

I mean, you’re seeing the same picture. Isn’t it stunning? And while it shouldn’t be a difficult dress, that is a ton of knitting, with a full circle skirt the designer worked in mohair yarn.

The pattern is more of a guide than a strict pattern that will help you improvise your own dress to whatever size you need. The top can be worked with any yarn in the fingering, DK or worsted weight range. It’s a little hard to see in the photo but the top was worked with different patches that look like different yarns or yarns worked singly and held together.

The skirt calls for mohair yarn, but you could probably use anything light in a fingering weight. It’s just with that much knitting it will get heavy really fast and you don’t want it to sag on your body. It looks like the top of the skirt is worked with two strands held together while the lower part is worked with a single strand. The bottom I’m going to guess is hemmed, but it could also be worked with two strands to give a little weight to the base.

This pattern also calls for six different sizes of knitting needles, so that can also account for some of the transparency (and it makes the skirt get progressively bigger as you go without having to do as much shaping.

This looks like (is) a massive project but it also looks like it would be so much fun to wear. If you make one I absolutely want to hear all about it!

You can learn more and get the pattern from Ravelry.

[Photo: Julia Monning]

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The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.”

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them.

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits.

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves.

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit.

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy.

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]

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