Mohair Glamour Dress with Ruffles and Detached Lace Collar for 18-inch Doll

Free Doll Dress Knitting Pattern

This doll dress features evenly spaced ruffles. I used a contrasting, fuzzy mohair yarn for these. I used the same yarn for the lace at the sleeves and the detachable collar.

The dress is knitted seamlessly, top-down, in stockinette stitch. It is worked back and forth to about the waist (forming the rear opening). After that, it is worked in rounds to form the skirt. It features raglan-style sleeves. The ruffles are added to the dress afterwards.

Skills Required/Techniques Used:

-Knit & purl, cast on & bind off

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

-Decreasing: knit 2 together (k2 tog), slip-slip-knit (ssk)

-Working in the round on double pointed needles

-Picking up stitches

Materials: Knit Picks (affiliate link) Palette fingering weight 100% wool yarn 231 yds (210 m)/ 50 g – 2 balls
Super Kydd by Ellan lace weight yarn (70% Super Kid Mohair 30% Nylon) 25 g 237 m/259 yds – 1 ball

Notions:
4 stitch markers,
2 pieces of waste yarn,
sewing thread of contrast color and of matching color,
sewing needle,
tapestry needle,
14” long piece of ¼” wide satin ribbon
sew-on plastic or metallic snaps

Needles: US # 1 (2.25 mm) circular needles and double pointed needles (dpn) for sleeves, and US # 2 (2.75 mm) circular needles and dpn for ruffles and collar, OR SIZE NEEDED TO OBTAIN GAUGE.

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

Abbreviations:
k - knit
p - purl
k2tog - knit 2 together
ssk – slip, slip, knit (left slanting decrease)
kfr&b - knit into front and back
pu&k- pick up and knit
yo – yarn over
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.
RS - right side
WS - wrong side
sm - slip marker


Pattern Notes:

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

Stockinette in rounds:
All rounds knit.

Garter stitch in rows:
All rows sts knit

Garter Stitch in rounds:
Round 1: purl
Round 2: knit
Repeat 2 rounds.

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

Raglan increases: Increase for raglan by making 1 st (m1) on each side of the marked stitch in every RS row. There are 4 raglan, marked sts, so the number of sts will increse by 8 in every RS row.

Dress

The dress is worked top-down back-and-forth, then in-the-round with raglan sleeves and button band on the back. The button band is worked in garter stitch.

The sleeves are worked on dpn in the round.

With smaller circular needles (2.25 mm) and main yarn, cast on 52 sts.

Yoke

Knit 2 rows

Distribute the stitches and place stitch markers:
1 edge, 3 button band, 4 right back, 1 raglan (place a marker before this st), 10 sleeve, 1 raglan (place the second marker before this st), 12 front, 1 raglan (place the third marker before this st), 10 sleeve, 1 raglan (place the forth marker before this st), 4 left back, 3 button band, 1 edge.

Row 3 (RS and all RS rows, increase rows): *knit all sts till the marker, m1, sm, k1, m1 - repeat from * 4 times, knit all sts to the last one, p1.

Row 4 and all even rows: knit 4 (1 edge and 3 button band), purl all sts to the last 4 sts, knit 3 (button band), purl 1 (edge).
Repeat rows 3-4 eleven times more.

Divide for the sleeves and bodice:

Row 27: k 21, transfer the next 34 sts to a piece of waste yarn, cast on 3, k 38, transfer the next 34 sts to a piece of waste yarn, cast on 3, k 20, p 1. = 86 sts

Bodice

Row 28: k 4, purl all sts including the cast-on ones, to the last 4, k 3, p 1.

Thread sewing needle with the sewing thread of the contrast color and pull it through all stitches on the knitting needles, do not pull off the needle. In this way, we are marking the row to which we'll later attach a ruffle.

Row 29 : k 4, *k 1, kfr&b - repeat from * 39 times, k 3, p1. = 125 sts

Rows 30 - 50 work as established - RS rows: knit, WS rows: k4, purl all sts to the last 4, k 3, p 1.

Row 51/round 1: transfer the last 4 sts (button band) to a spare needle, position them under the 4 beginning sts (button band), hold the left needle and the spare one in left hand. With the right needle: insert it in the first st on the left needle, then in the first st on the spare needle and knit both sts together. Repeat with the remaining 3 sts. In this way, we close the dress seamless into a round. Place the marker after the first 2 sts of the button band (that is, in the middle of the button band). This will be the beginning of the round. = 121 sts

Knit the round to the end. Insert thread of a contrast color into the stitches of the 1st round.

Round 2: *k1, kfr&b - repeat to the last st of the round. = 181 sts

Work as established 24 more rounds. Insert thread of the contrast color into the stitches on the 25th round.

Work rounds 27 - 41 in garter stitch : even rounds purl, odd round knit. Bind off.


Sleeve

Sleeves are worked on dpn:

Transfer 34 sts from the waste yarn and distributing them evenly, pu&k 3 sts underarm, place marker before the second underarm stitch, this will be the beginning of the round = 37 sts

Knit 45 rounds. Bind off.

Ruffles:

With larger circular needles and mohair yarn, pick up and knit (pu&k) the stitches in the first marked row. DO NOT pick up stitches of the button band.

Please note that in this photo the ruffles are knit with blue wool

Row 2 purl.

Row 3: k 1, *k1, kfr&b - repeat across to the last st, purl the last st.

Row 4: k 1, purl the rest.

Row 5: knit to the last, purl the last st. Bind off. Cut yarn.

Ruffles in the round

With larger needles and mohair yarn, pu&k the stitches in the marked rounds, hem and sleeve hems (on sleeves work with dpn). Mark the beginning of the round.

Round 2 knit.

Round 3: *k1, kfr&b -repeat across.

Knit 2 more rounds. Bind off.


Finishing
Weave in all yarn ends. Sew on snaps to the button band.

Collar

Collar is worked with mohair yarn on larger needles.

Cast on 9 sts and knit 2 foundation rows.

Row 1: k 2, yo, k2tog, k 3, yo twice, p2tog = 10 sts

Row 2: k 1, p 1, k 7, p 1 = 10 sts

Row 3: k 2, yo, k2tog, k 2, p 4 = 10 sts

Row 4: ssk (slip the first st, knit the second, put the fist st over the second one), k 7, p 1 = 9 sts

Repeat rows 1-4 until the piece measures 11". Work 2 rows in garter st. Bind off.

Finishing
Weave in yarn ends. Insert ribbon in eyelet row.

Enjoy!