Crochet dress

This brioche crochet jumper by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk of Lilla Bjorn Crochet kept appearing in my Facebook feed on various crochet pages, but it was only when I saw this dress variation by Lisa Khoo I decided I had to make it!

Original pattern can be purchased via Ravelry – https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alma-sweater

I decided to use the wool as per the pattern, as I haven’t actually made a crochet garment before, and wasn’t sure what other wool would give the same tension etc. I have made a blunder though, and ordered the amount specified for the jumper, and haven’t scaled up for a dress – oops. Oh well, Black Sheep Wool will get another order from me shortly. I think I will need more again, before they can re-open.

I have made The Spirit of the Orchid wrap by Tatsiana in the past which is beautiful, and was my first experience of mosaic crochet, and I imagined brioche crochet was quite similar. https://kariscraft.space/wp-admin/post.php?post=792

I think it is a little similar, in that you alternate the colour for each row, and work in front of chain spaces in the previous row of the other colour. The main difference, I felt, was that mosaic is very straight. The chain spaces of one row, and corresponding longer stitch in front with the opposite colour are very specifically placed to make a geometric pattern. The brioche is one stitch, one chain space, with dc2tog (a dec) or dc chain dc in a single stitch (an inc) to create the pattern. The regular chain spaces combined with the above ‘pull’ the direction of the pattern, making it swirl. I don’t know how else to explain it – you have to do it to see it.

The garment is crocheted from the neck down, and no sewing joins anywhere – yipee! Here are my early photos.

It is now just alternating row of sc (RS), turn row of dc (WS). I am not sure on the need to turn when working in a round, but I am doing what the pattern tells me!!

According to Lisa Khoo’s dress modification notes, I have decreased 2 stitches on each side in the dc rows to shape to the waist. I did 9 rows of decreases – trying on regularly. A few rows straight, and am now increasing 2 stitches each side for the hips. It’s a bit less exciting now the main bit of pattern is finished, until I get to adding some pattern at the bottom of the dress, but is easy to pick up in front of the tele in an evening!