Primary Sweater Dress, a Crochet Pattern
A new crochet sweater dress for girls!
This lovely pattern is my “Primary Sweater Dress”. I love this dress! We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and this dress is named for the children’s classes there, called “Primary.” My daughter, Lady Hops-a-lot, loves wearing this dress to church, as it is soft, stretchy, comfy, and cozy. The pattern is written in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10!
You can buy the pattern on Ravelry or Etsy.
The dress is made in 6 colors of Valley Yarns Valley Superwash dk, a favorite yarn of mine! I used the same yarn for my Sweet Little Mittens, Sweet Little Hat, and Edmond Sweater. I’ve also submitted dozens of designs to magazines in this yarn, however, the publishers have always changed it to something else. This yarn is so soft with a nice, smooth, smooshy texture, and it is machine washable. Love! If you want to use fewer, or more colors, be my guest. Just divide the total number of rows by the number of colors you are using to see how many rows to do in each color.
Choosing colors for your dress
One of the really fun parts of this dress for me, was choosing the colors! I have this yarn in almost every color, as it is kind of my go-to superwash for designing. Color selection used to be really hard for me, but I’ve done a few things that have helped me figure it out. First, I bought, downloaded, and watched an online color class by Laura Bryant of Prism Yarn
This helped me a lot! Also, I’ve followed the blog Attic24 and seen how the writer, Lucy, uses color in her projects. I am still a novice comparatively, but I did find that, in addition to what Laura teaches in her class, you can use colors that are a darker or lighter shade of one of the others in your palette, and have them look harmonious.
So, when you go to pick our your colors, find 5 or so that are all of a similar “weight” (degree of light to dark), and then you can choose one more color that is a darker shade of one of the first 5. I chose 5 of the lightest colors of Valley Yarns, Valley Superwash dk, and then the last color is similar to the light blue, but a darker version of it. You can start with 5 colors in the mid range, or 5 in the dark range, and then choose one that is lighter or darker, but a similar color to one of these.
I arranged my colors from lightest at the bottom, to darkest at the top. If you find it difficult to tell whether one is darker or lighter than the others, line them all up next to each other, take a photo (your smart phone will work brilliantly for this), and then change the photo to a black and white picture. It will be more obvious this way because you take out the complication of color.
Pattern notes
This pattern is really quite easy. The dress begins at the bottom with a few rounds of ribbing, and then continues up to the armpits with no shaping. It doesn’t get much easier folks. There is a little more work to make the raglan seams in the yoke, but this is not really very difficult either. If you aren’t familiar with the half double crochet stitch, or its decrease, I have a tutorial for you! And if you’ve never made a bottom-up raglan seam, I have a tutorial to help you with the first round of the yoke. You can do this!
Happy crocheting!
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