Stitchcraft Freebie: Dropped Waist Dress with Buttons

Not that I think you are all going to run out and make a knitted dress, I really just thought it was a darling dress and that this pattern should see the light of day.

This pattern comes from the March 1948 edition of Stitchcraft:

Isn’t it so 40’s!?  I could see this dress being featured in a movie somewhere, couldn’t you?

To download this pattern as a free pdf: March 1938 Stitchcraft’s Drop Waist Dress

Click here to add this pattern to your Ravelry Queue or Favorites.

This dress is knit using a fingering weight yarn and is designed to fit a 34-36 inch bust with a 36-38 inch hips.

There is an interesting stitch design on the royal blue parts of the dress.  It looks like a cable design but it isn’t.  The design is created using some slip stitches and some yarn-overs; there are 12 rows that make up the pattern repeats.

What is an informative part of the pattern is the construction details.  All pieces of this dress are worked separately and later joined together as you would imagine.  But firstly, the lower round edges of the yoke is given a row of double crochet before it’s stitched onto the bodice.  Once the bodice pieces are joined together (back bodice, and two fronts) you work a row of double crochet all along the lower edge; same thing goes for the top waistband of the skirt once the skirt sections are joined together.  The bodice is stitched to the skirt using the loops that is formed from the double crochet instead of using (stretchy) knit stitches.  Afterward you face the edges of the neck, bodice, and cuffs with some seam binding for a nice clean finish.  Neat huh?  I was always wondering how the heavy knit-skirts of the dresses don’t sag under their own weight.  Here they use crochet stitches to help stabilize this area.

So…..Is anyone now tempted to make a knit dress?  :)

In: Free Patterns Knitting

Blogger for 6 years and counting, I am a passionate creator who loves to tinker.

Comments (3)