Siena Dress

Hi!!!!
As I told you, I wanted to write down the Yellow-Blue Dress Pattern... so yesterday I sat down and spend a while working on that...

And HeRe iT iS!!!!!

I named it "Siena Dress", because I made it for a girl named Siena...
It's my first time writing down a pattern, so I hope it's clear and understandable, but if you have doubts about anything, send me an email or leave a comment with your email and I'll do my best to help you.

It's important that you know that I made this dress without any girl close by to try it on, so I'm not complety sure that the initial number of chains is correct. I calculated them measuring the lenght of the chain acording to the average chest measures of little girls, so the dress can be made for 6-36 months size with this pattern. But I think that you can make it bigger just by crocheting the right amount of chains to round the girl's chest and following the rest of the instructions.

If you make the dress I would LOVE to see a picture of it, so please leave me a comment with a link to your blog, flickr, raverly or whatever you use, to show me!

SIENA DRESS
by Shanti Ordoñez

**The dress is worked top-down, with very few seams. The pattern is written in american terms.

Sizes: 6 (12, 18, 24, 36) months. Picture is 24 months size. Instructions are for smallest size with changes for bigger sizes in parentheses. But when only one instruction is given, it applies to all sizes.

Materials: 2 skeins of Cascade Sierra Yarn (one of each color)
                 Hooks: 6mm/K, 4mm/F

Measurements: The initial measure of the chest, should be 17 (18, 19, 20.5, 22) in / 43 (45.5, 48, 51.5, 55) cm

Stitches used: sc, hdc, dc, sl st, V-stitch, Thistle stitch, Magic ring.
Other abreviations:       sp: space

Directions for the Top Part
Using the 6mm/K hook Ch 59 (63, 67, 71, 75) loosely **here is where you can adjust the amount of chains to round the girls chest.

Join the chain in your hook with the first chain you made with a sl st, being careful in not to twist the chain. Now you can work in rounds. 

Row 1: sc in every ch.
Now you will do the top part working with V-stitch.
Row 2: ch 3 (count as a dc), ch 1, dc in same st (V-st), *sk 2 ch, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next sc (V-st made); rep from * to the end, sl st in 3rd ch.
Row 3: Ch 3, dc in same sp, (dc, ch 1, dc) in each ch-1 sp to the end, sl st in 3rd ch.
Repeat Row 3 until you complete the desire lenght of the top part, this should be measured from the underarms to the waist of the girl.

Next Row: ch 2, hdc in next ch-1 sp, *hdc in next sp BETWEEN two V-sts (that is the space between the V-st you are now and the next one), 2 hdc in next ch1 sp of V-st*; rep from* to the end, sl st in 2nd ch.
This is an increase row.

Next 3 (3, 3-4, 4, 4) Rows: ch 2, hdc in each hdc to the end, sl st in 2rd ch.

Directions for the Skirt
Change color.

Row 1: ch 1, 1 sc in same st,  2 sc in next st, *sk next st, 2 sc in each of next 2 st,* repeat to end, sl st in 1st st.
This is an increase row.
Now you will work with Thistle st, but using hdc instead of sc (you'd know what I mean if you checked the link, if you didn't no worries, just follow the instructions).

Row 2: ch 2, hdc in same st, *sk 1 st, 2 hdc in next st* rep to end, sl st in 2nd ch.
Repeat Row 2 until you reach the desired lenght for your dress.

Directions for the Straps
On the back part of the dress, join same color as top part, about an inch from the right border.

Row 1: ch 3, sk 1 sc, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next sc, sk 1 sc, 1 dc in next sc.
Row 2: ch 3, turn, (dc, ch 1, dc) in ch-1 sp, dc in 3rd ch.
Repeat Row 2 until the length of the strap is long enough to pass the arm through the armhole, once the strap is sewed to the dress.
Sew the strap to front part.

Do the same for the other strap starting about 2 inches from the left border.

Directions for the Flowers
Work in a magic ring with a 4mm/F hook in same color as bottom part.
Flower: ch 1, dc, sc, (sc, dc, sc) 4 times. Close ring and sew in a proper place on the dress.

Wave all ends. And enjoy!!

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ETA:::: I'm sorry, I had skiped the joining part before the first row!!! Terrible mistake! Luckily someone asked me so I noticed it and I corrected it already. Now you should be able to make the dress without problems. Feel free of contacting me if you have any problems! :o)