The toddler dress has been finished, buttoned, photographed and delivered. I wish I could take all the credit for having it all done in the space of one weekend, but I can’t – I had a lot of help. But let’s take it one step at a time. I have a lot to say about this project!
The yarn I used was Serenada by ISPE Padova, a 50-50 blend of merino and acrylic. While it is listed as fingering, I’d personally classify it as light fingering, and I worked it on 2.5mm needles to get a fabric I was happy with (with 3mm the fabric was too airy, I don’t like cobwebby knits).
When I washed the finished garment, there was a pleasant and an unpleasant surprize. The unpleasant was that the yarn was extremely dirty. I don’t know if it was from sitting on the shelf for too long (Croatian yarn shops do not have the fastest turnover in the world, to put it nicely) or from the dyeing process, but I had to change water (with and without detergent) 5 times before it stopped going all black from dunking the garment in it. On the other hand, when it was finally clean, it blocked out very nicely, looking almost as if I had ironed it. Some of my other experiences with acrylic blends showed them very resistant to blocking, so I was happy that it was not the case with this yarn.
The pattern is Little sister’s dress by Tora Froseth Design. There is a Big sister’s dress pattern too, in larger sizes, but as opposed to this one it is not free, so I chose to modify the free one instead.
I was knitting for a 2-year-old who wears clothes for 3-year-olds. This took a lot of effort. Even finding what the standard measures for a 3-year-old are was extremely difficult: what with different clothing standards and impenetrable size denotations, I was completely lost. After having the child measured, I finally settled on some modifications. I increased the number of cast-on stitches and increase repeats and hoped for the best. I adjusted things as I went along. Unfortunately, it was only after having knit the whole thing that I remembered to compare my target measures with the measures given in the pattern for a 2-year-old. It turns out the pattern writers were also counting on a big 2-year-old. Their measures came out to exactly what I was aiming for. Hello, wasted effort! I am happy, though, with the fact that my dress has a larger neck opening, this will surely come in handy as the toddler grows, and hopefully some day she’ll be able to wear it as a nice pullover without hurting her ears in the process of getting it on. So some good came of it after all.
The pattern itself was very straightforward, easy to memorize and carry around with to work on during commutes and travels. I was pulling it out every chance I got and that was definitely a big plus, since there was a lot of mindless stockinette on tiny needles to be done!
The buttons were custom-made, by her own design, by my friend Maja. She made a bunch of different ones to choose from and I can tell you it took us a while to decide. When I say a while, I mean A WHILE. I’ve already reserved some of the ones we didn’t use for other projects and told her that she’ll need to make more of the ones we did use. I love both the idea and the execution of these, and I’m sure the little girl will love playing with them too!
I learned some crochet techniques with this project too. Firstly, I learned to make a simple crochet edging, which I used on the button band – it looked a lot untidier before the crochet treatment, and I’m happy to now have this technique at my beck and call. I also made little buttonhole loops out of crochet chains, which was super-easy, though of course the most annoying part was sewing them in and securing them. I do hope they stay put.
Finally, the photographs were done by another friend, more of whose work you can find here. This won’t be the end of our collaboration, and I’m looking forward to sharing more soon…
Still here? Well, I told you I had a lot to say! At least no one can tell me now that my blog is all photos, hehe! ;) Have a good week everyone!
Very, very sweet. I love the buttons you went for in the end.
Thank you :)
That color combo rocks! Very modern and sassy for a 2 year old. Well done!
Thanks! And btw, I just added your blog to my rss feed… I miss London so much!
Love this pattern! I have made this too and it was fun to do. If you want to see mine I can be found under kramarsic on Ravelry. I think I like yours better with the solid yarn- I used variegated.
I was dealing with very toned down parents here so variegated was not an option :) but I do love the solid look of it too. On the other hand, your version makes for one very bright child, I bet the recipient loved it!
I love all your knits, but this is my favourite so far. i might even steal your idea and knit it for my daughter. And the buttons really match your nail polish! Great combo :)
Hehe, that’s what happens when the person making the buttons from scratch reads your blog… :) You should totally make it, I think it’s the perfect play dress, just be ready for lots and lots and lots of stockinette… :P
I don’t mind the stockinette, I’m in the mood for something mindless to knit :)))
I am finishing the dress and I’m supposed to crochet the edges tonight. I haven’t done that before. Where did you find the instructions? Did someone teach you how to do it or, better yet, have you got a link for the instructions?
I got it out of a book, I’ll send some notes to your email!
very nice project and buttons…I’m happy with popping by your blog and will come back soon :)
Thanks for stopping by, I always love it when new readers make their presence known :)
I love the combination of colours. One of my favourites!
Thank you! We had a more muted button colour as an option as well, and it was really hard to decide, so I’m glad people are liking this one! :)
It is beautiful. I’m glad you managed to make it work, even with the weirdo kids sized (what’s up with that?! I’m trying to knit for a 6 month old who wear 12-18m clothes because she’s so tall. It’s been a nightmare)
Those buttons really finish the dress off. You’ve got some amazing friends!
Uh, good luck with that! It’s so hard, especially when you don’t have kids around and have no way of estimating…
Wow, that is cute!! I love the button choice, that colour combination is gorgeous :)
Thanks! I think it really livens up the grey :)
Very nice !
I’m thinking, maybe wool wasn’t dirty, but the color was going out of yarn ?
Well, as I said, I can’t be sure which of the two it was, but I’ve never had that much colour leaking… Perhaps it was a combination of both!
So adorable! Just love the button color with the gray.
Thank you :) I was told the parents were very much into muted colours, but we couldn’t resist this bit of brightness to finish it off :)
I love it! The color combination is great.
That IS adorable!!!!! I want one too! Lol.
LOVE this pattern and the choice of buttons!!! I’m hoping my next grandbaby is a little girl so I can knit one (or more!) of these. Oh…am I getting ahead of myself?? ;-)
Hahaha, maybe don’t tell your daughter this yet… let her recover a little bit first ;)
This is so cool and modern looking – the colour combo is inspired :). Well done! Any 2 year old should be proud to rock this look!
Hehe, she better be! :)
E zbog ovoga vredi imati devojčicu! Ovo je predivno!
Ili biti djevojčica :) Gdje su bile ovakve mustre dok je moja mama meni plela… :)
That dress is so pretty!! and those turquoise buttons- perfection.
Thank you! After how much eveyone was cheering for red buttons (in the previous post on this dress), I’m really relieved that people like these :)
Aww, so very cute! Bookmarked in case I have some girl baby knitting to be getting on with!
Yay, that makes me happy :) I can only recommend the pattern, really.
So very very lovely! Great job.
Your dress turned out beautifully. I wouldnt have guessed it was knit from acrylic.
Well, it was a good blend. I’m usually happy with 50-50, but this one behaved even better than that!
Beautiful dress – and the buttons are fantastic! Don’t you think it was just excess dye you saw in the washing? It is grey after all :)
Yeah, maybe. But I’ve NEVER seen that much excess dye, it was crazy. My mom looked at it too and we just couldn’t figure it out. If I ever work with another colour of the same yarn, we’ll have a better clue :)
I just found your blog, and I love it! This dress is beautiful. I might have to make one for my friend who’s expecting!
Oh, I love knitting for friends who are expecting – you don’t have to worry about the size at all! The baby just grows into it eventually :)
beautiful! and i love the color!
I love it so much that I want to make one for myself…It would take a while, since I have a lot of projects waiting to be done.
I adore this buttons!!!!
I think I saw one on Ravelry, where someone made an adult sweater based on it. You could give it a try! :)
What an awesome dress, love those buttons! Hope we will eventually get to see the recipient in it?
That’s the plan, though I can’t guarantee anything – it doesn’t depend on me…
Amazing!!! The buttons look great, I love the colors, it’s perfect!
Thank you :) I have to pass all these compliments to my friend :)
it’s beautiful. I wish it was all crocheted, and not just the button loops. There are so many more patterns out there for knitters!
I want a grown-up size one, too! : ) It’s just lovely. The buttons are perfect with the gray!
This dress is amazing!