Hey guys,
Today I’m sharing a brand new pattern with you called the Island Beach Dress! Click here to go straight to the pattern or continue reading for more info + a pattern coupon code!
This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own. Any purchases made will help support Knits ‘N Knots blog content.
About
This beachy piece was inspired by my love for shell stitches. I love the way shell stitches look in garment patterns because they always give off that mermaid-y vibe! Funny enough, when I first started crocheting this piece, it was actually intended on being a shawl/wrap. After I finished crocheting what is now a full dress panel, I decided it would look really great as a beach cover-up with an identical front and back. And here we are! This beach dress is meant to be a beach cover-up, but I’ve had people say that they were going to crochet it longer and sew in a lining to wear it as an actual dress.. which sounds amazing. This piece is so customizable, from length, to width, to border size, to how large or small you’d like the arm openings to be, to colour combo choices.. there are so many options!
If you love beachy crochet pieces like I do, you may also want to check out my other cover-up pattern called the Aloha Vest.
Construction
This pattern is written in US crochet terms, and is written for sizes S through 3XL. It’s a quick pattern (one of my pattern testers reported back that it took her exactly 4 hours to finish!) that makes really good use of simple stitches. Level easy – simple, repetitive stitches and minimal shaping (just some skipped stitches around the neckline). There are a few photos included to help make a couple steps a bit more clear.
It’s written for a length of 28″, although there are instructions on how to add length to customize it to your own body to make it as long as you’d like. I’m really excited to see some maxi dresses!
This dress is crocheted side-to-side, meaning your initial chain is equal to the length of the front (and back) panel. You will work two identical panels and join them together by crocheting the neckline in the round, and partially seaming up the two sides until the specified (or desired) height. The higher you seam, the smaller the arm hole openings. The bottom border is then crocheted in the round to match the neckline!
There is so much stretch to this piece, that your work will grow about 150% (or 1 and a half times as much) when blocking. In case you’re interested, I use these blocking mats when blocking my crochet work. The open stitch work allows for a lot of stretch, which helps it fit so nicely to your body when wearing. It’s meant to be fitted, but not uncomfortably tight. It’s loose enough to wear comfortably on the beach.
I stretched my work to the proper dimensions with my hands and then lightly steam blocked it into place with my iron on the steam setting. It helps it stay in place and lay a little bit nicer.
Skills needed: chain, double crochet, single crochet, slip stich, crocheting into ch-sp, treble crochet
Yarn
I used Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton in white for this project. I used just under 3 skeins of it for a size small, and the largest size (3XL) uses just over 4 skeins. You can click here to look through some of the colour options! If you’re in Canada, like me, then you likely have trouble finding this yarn in stores. I order mine online here. It’s affordable, and it’s one of my favourite cottons to work with. It’s a chainette-style yarn, which means your hook won’t accidentally split the plies. I could go on forever about why I love this yarn, but that’s all I’ll say about it for now – you can read more about why I love 24/7 Cotton at the link here.
This dress is so quick, and doesn’t take a lot of yarn to make. My testers also used Bernat Handicrafter, as well as Lily Sugar ‘N Cream and the results look awesome, so feel free to use these if you have some of these yarns in your stash! Any medium weight, #4, 100% cotton will do. As long as you match gauge, you’re good to go.
You can find the pattern in these places:
On my website here.
On Ravelry here.
On Etsy here.
(Use the code “PATTERN10” for 10% off all patterns)
I can’t wait to see your WIPs! Make sure to tag me @knitsnknotswpg and use the pattern hashtag #IslandBeachDress so that everyone can see your projects!
Happy crocheting,
Janine xo
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