Lace Cable Summer Dress for 18-inch Doll

Free Doll Dress Knitting Pattern

This little summer dress was inspired by women's tennis outfits. It's great for your American Girl Doll's athletic pursuits, or for casual wear.

The dress is knitted from the top down and features raglan-style sleeves. There is a decorative lace cable motif on the front. The top of the dress is knitted back-and-forth and has a rear closure. The skirt is knitted in rounds.

Skills Required/Techniques Used:

-Knit & purl, cast on & bind off

-Increasing: yarn over (yo), make 1 (m1), knit front and back (kfr&b)

-Decreasing: knit 2 together (k2tog), slip-slip-knit (ssk)

-Working in the round on double pointed needles

-Picking up stitches

Materials: Gaia by Filati (affiliate link) Bertagna 100% wool fingering weight yarn 100 m (109 yrd) /25g Color lemon – 2 balls

Notions: 5 small buttons or sew-on snaps, 6 stitch markers.

Needles: circular US 1.5 (2.50 mm) and double pointed needles (dpn) for sleeves , OR SIZE NEEDED TO OBTAIN GAUGE

Gauge for stockinette stitch:
30 sts x 40 rows = 4” x 4” (10 cm x 10 cm)

Abbreviations:
k – knit
p - purl
ssk – slip, slip, knit (left slanting decrease)
k2tog – knit 2 together
kfr&b – knit front and back
pu&k- pick up and knit
yo – yarn over
RS - right side
WS - wrong side
Bb – button band
m1 - make 1 increase - I used the increase described by Elizabeth Zimmerman: make a backward loop over the right-hand needle and in the next row/round purl/knit as a regular stitch.

sm - slip marker

Pattern Notes:

Garter stitch in rows: all rows knit

Garter stitch in rounds: one round knit, the next round purl.
Repeat these 2 rounds.

Stockinette stitch in rows: knit on right side, purl on wrong side.

Stockinette in rounds: all rounds knit.

Lace Pattern: panel of 10

Row 1 (RS) : K2, k2tog, yo, k2tog but do not slip from the needle, insert right-hand needle between the sts just knitted tog and knit 1st st again; then slip both sts from needle together; yo, ssk, k2.

Rows 2, 4, 8 and 10 purl.

Row 3: k1, k2tog, yo, k4, yo, ssk, k1.

Row 5: k2 tog, yo, k1, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k1, yo, ssk. =10 sts

Row 6: p 4, work the double yo of the previous row: k1, p1, p 4.

Row 7: k2, yo, ssk, k2, k2tog, yo, k2.

Row 9: k3, yo, ssk, k2tog, yo, k3.

Repeat rows 1-10.


Dress

The dress is worked top-down, seamlessly, with raglan sleeves. The bodice is worked back and forth, the skirt is worked in-the-round.

Button band is worked on the back of the dress in garter stitch with button holes. You can also knit without button holes and use sew-on snaps instead of buttons.

Button holes are worked on the right (RS) button band in the following way: 1 edge st knit, k2tog, yo, k1. In the next row, all 3 sts of the bb, including yo are knitted, the edge st is purled.

Button holes are made in rows 1, 11, 21, 31, 41.

Raglan increases: increases are made before and after raglan lines using yarn over (yo) in every odd (RS) row, thus you increase the number of stitches by 8 in every odd (RS) row on the yoke. In even rows (WS), yo is purled.

The selvedge/edge stitches are worked as follows: knit the first st and purl the last one.


Yoke

Cast on 52 sts.
Work 2 foundation rows in garter stitch (both rows knit).

The stitches are: 1 edge - 3 right button band (bb) - 4 right back - 1 raglan (place a marker before this st)- 10 right sleeve - 1 raglan (place the second marker before this st) - 12 front - 1 raglan (place the third marker before this st) - 10 left sleeve - 1 raglan (place the forth marker before this st) - 4 left back - 3 left bb - 1 edge.

Row 1 (RS): k 1, k2tog, yo, k 5, yo before the marker, sm, k 1 (the first raglan line), yo, k 10 (sleeve), yo before the marker, k 1 (the second raglan line), yo, k 1 (place a marker after this stitch, this marker shows where to work the lace pattern), work the first row of the lace pattern on the next 10 stitches, (place a marker after these 10 sts, this marker will show where the lace pattern ends), k1, yo before the marker, k1 (the third raglan line), yo, k 10 (sleeve), yo before the marker, k 1 (the forth raglan line), yo , k 7, p 1. (=60 sts)

Row 2 and all even rows (WS): k 1 (edge), k 3 (bb), purl to the last 4 stitches, k 3 (bb), p 1 (edge). Exception is only for each 6th row of the lace pattern where you should k 1, p 1 the double yo of the previous row.

Work 24 rows, adding 8 stitches on raglan lines in every right side (RS) row and making lace pattern on 10 stitches on the front, and button holes in rows 1, 11, 21, 31, 41 on the right button band.

After row 24 you'll have 148 sts.

Divide for Sleeve and Bodice:

Row 25: k 21 sts, transfer the next 34 sts to a waste piece of yarn, cast on 3, work the next 38 sts as established (k 14, lace pattern on 10 sts, k 14), transfer 34 sts to a waste piece of yarn, cast on 3 sts, work as established the last 21 sts (k 20, p 1) . (=86 sts)

In the next row, purl the cast on sts.

Work as established 26 rows more to have 5 lace repeats on the front of the dress.

Skirt

The skirt is worked in the round. To join the work into a round, transfer the last 4 sts (left bb) onto a spare needle. Position the spare needle under the beginning 4 sts (right bb). Knit them together: insert the right needle in the first st on the left needle, then in the first st on the spare needle, knit both stitches together. Repeat for all stitches of the button band. Place a marker after the stitches of the bb, this will be the beginning of the round. (=82 sts)

Round 1: * p 1, kfr&b – repeat from * across the round. (= 123 sts)

Round 2: * p1, k2 - repeat from * across the round.

Round 3: *p1, m1, k2 - repeat from * across the round. (=164 sts)

Rounds 4 - 11 : *p1, k3 - repeat from * across the round.

Round 12: * p1, k3, m1 - repeat from * across the round. (=205 sts)

Rounds 13 - 19: *p1, k4 - repeat from * across the round.

Round 20: *p1, m1, k4 - repeat from * across the round. (246 sts)

Rounds 21 - 27 - *p1 k5 - repeat from * across the round.

Rounds 28- 32 work in garter st: purl rounds 28, 30 and 32, knit round 29 and 31. Bind off, Cut yarn.


Sleeve

Transfer 34 on dpn, pu&k 3 sts underarm. work 5 rounds in garter stitch, bind off.


Finishing

Weave in the yarn ends. Block the work. Sew buttons/snaps to the left button band.

Have fun!