Winter Fun Dress for 18-inch Doll

Free Doll Dress Knitting Pattern

Get your doll ready for the winter season with this sporty long-sleeved dress that features faux-Nordic decoration and raglan-styles sleeves. A full length closure on the back allows for easy on and off.

Skills Required/Techniques Used:
---Knit & purl, cast on & bind off
-Increasing: make 1 (m1), knit front-back-front (kfr&b&fr)
-Working in the round on double pointed needles
-Picking up stitches

Size: fits 18-inch dolls like American Girl, Our Generation and other dolls with similar body.

Materials: Lamb’s Pride Superwash Sport by Brown Sheep (affiliate link) Co.(100% wool 50 gr 180 yrds/165 m) 3 colors: white, red, green. small amount of each.

Needles: circular and double pointed needles (dpn) US #5 (3.75mm) OR SIZE NEEDED TO OBTAIN GAUGE

Gauge: 24 sts x 32 rows -= 4" x 4" (10 cm x 10 cm) in stockinette st.

Notions:
yarn needle, 4 stitch markers, 5-6 metallic or invisible plastic sew-on snaps, sewing needle and thread of matching color, small embellishments of your choice (optional).

Abbreviations:
k - knit
p - purl
kfr&b&fr - knit into front, then back and then front of the same stitch, thus you have 3 sts instead of 1.
pu&k- pick up and knit
m1 - make 1 increase - make a backward loop over the right-hand needle and in the next row/round purl/knit as a regular stitch.
RS - right side
WS - wrong side
sm - slip marker
pm - place marker
rm - remove marker


Pattern Notes:

Stockinette in rows:
Row 1 (RS): knit
Row 2: purl
Repeat 2 rows.

Stockinette in rounds: All rounds knit

Garter st in rows: All rows knit

Broken Rib in rounds: number of sts multiple 3
Round 1: knit around
Round 2: *p3, k3 - repeat from * around

Raglan increases: in every right side (RS) row, work till the marker, make 1 st (m1), slip marker (sm), k1, m1. There are 4 raglan lines, repeat on each raglan line, thus the number of sts in each RS row will increase by 8.

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

Button Bands (bb) are worked in garter stitch on 3 stitches in the beginning and in the end of each row.


Short Overview of the Pattern:

The dress is worked top-down, seamlessly, first back and forth till the hip line, from there - in rounds. The yoke is worked in stockinette with button bands in garter stitch and raglan increases. The sleeves are worked in stockinette in rounds on dpn. A-shape of the dress is achieved by increasing the number of stitches on the side lines.

Dress

Cast on 46 sts: 1 edge – 3 right button band - 4 right back - 1 raglan (place the first marker before this st) - 8 right sleeve - 1 raglan (place the second marker before this st) - 10 front - 1 raglan (place the third marker before this st) - 8 left sleeve - 1 raglan (place the forth marker b fore this st) - 4 left back - 3 left bb - 1 edge

Row 1 (RS) : k45, p1.

Row 2 (RS): k1, p45

Repeat rows 1-2 two more times.

Row 7 (RS, increase on raglan lines): *knit till marker, m1, sm, k1, m1 - repeat from * 4 times, knit till last st, p1. + 8 sts =54 sts

Row 8 (WS): k4, purl till last 4 sts, k3, p1.

Repeat rows 7-8 nine more times. At the same time, work rows 13 & 14 and 25-26 in green, rows 15 and 16 and 23-24 in red. Rows 14, 16, 24 and 26 are knit sts: knit to the last, p1.

The number of sts after
row 7 = 54
row 9 = 62
row 11 = 70
row 13 = 78 (green yarn)
row 15 = 86 (red yarn)
row 17 = 94
row 19 = 102
row 21 = 110
row 23 = 118 ( red yarn)
row 25 = 126 (green yarn)


Divide for sleeves and bodice:

Work with white yarn.

Row 27 (RS): k19, rm, transfer the next 28 sts to a piece of waste yarn, rm, co3, k32, rm, transfer the next 28 sts to a piece of waste yarn, rm, co3, k18, p1. = 76 sts

Row 28: k4, p68, k3, p1.

Repeat rows 27-28 one more time. Count 20 sts, place marker, count 35 sts and place another marker.

Row 31 (RS, increase row):* knit till marker, m1, sm, k1, m1, - repeat from * 2 times, knit all remaining sts to the last st, p1. . + 4 sts = 80 sts

Row 32 (WS): k4, purl to last 4, k3, p1.

Row 33 (RS): k to last st, p1.

Row 34 (WS); like row 32

Repeat rows 33-34 one more time.

Row 37 (RS, increase row): like row 31, + 4 sts = 84 sts

Work rows 38-42 as established: RS rows like row 33, WS rows like row 32

Row 43 (RS, increase row): like row 31, + 4 sts = 88 sts

Work rows 44-48 as established: RS rows like row 33, WS rows like row 32

Closing the work into round:

Row 49/round 1: knit till the last 4 sts, transfer the last 4 sts to a spare dpn needle, fold the working piece and position the spare needle over the first 4 sts on the left needle. With the right, working needle, insert it in the first st on the spare needle and the first stitch on the left needle, knit both sts together. Repeat for the remaining 3 sts of the bb. The worke is closed into round. =84 sts. Place a marker between 2 and 2 sts of the former bb to mark the beginning of the round.

Round 2 knit around.

Round 3, change to red yarn and continue in red: knit around

Round 4: *k3, kfr-b-fr - repeat from * around = 123 sts

Round 5 (and all odd rounds: 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23: * p3, k3 - repeat from * around

Round 6 (and all even rounds:8, 10,12,14,16,18,20,22,24) - knit around

Bind off, cut yarn.


Sleeves

Sleeves are worked in white yarn. Work one sleeve at a time.

Transfer 28 sts from waste yarn to 3 dpn, pu&k 3 underarm sts = 31 sts.

Work 33 rounds, all rounds knit. Bind off, cut yarn.


Finishing:

Weave in all yarn ends. Sew metallic or invisible plastic snaps on the button bands.

Have fun!