Barbie Spring Princess Dress

Bonjour,

I’m back (sorry about the long absence), and I have a bunch of new patterns to post!

Ever since I posted the Winter Princess Dress, it has been my most popular post.  I wanted to try and make a more popular design.  My goal is to eventually have Barbie Princess Dresses for each season, as the first one went over so well.  I’m halfway there!

This edging is not my pattern, it’s from Attic24.  I thought it looked cute and spring-like, perfect for this dress.

I decided to make an Easter bonnet to go along with it, complete with miniature flowers and leaves, also from Attic24.

So, let’s get onto the pattern!

Materials (Dress)

Worsted-weight yarn in the following colors: white for dress, two colors of green for edging, flower colors – you can use whatever colors you desire, I did light pink, dark pink, purple, burgundy, light blue, and white.

Size I (5.50 MM) crochet hook for dress, size G (4.00 MM) for dress edging

Scissors, yarn needle, possibly a stitch marker for the skirt

The edging is optional, of course.  If you’re going to skip it and perhaps do a different edging (a picot would look cute), then you’ll only need white yarn and a size I hook.

Bodice

The bodice is very similar to that of my Simple Doll Dress.  If you’re having trouble, you can look there for help.

Note – ‘inc’ means ‘2 sc in the same st’.

Leaving a long starting tail for sewing, ch 8.

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hk and in each ch across.

Rows 2-12: Ch 1, turn, sc in each st across in back loops only.

You can add more or less rows if you need.  The bodice should fit around your Barbie’s torso very snugly, since it is very stretchy.  We’ll sew up the back later.  DO NOT FASTEN OFF.  We will be continuing the skirt from here, crocheting along the longer side.

Skirt

1: Ch 1.  Sc 12 across the long end (AKA, not across the row you just did.)

2: Ch 1, turn.  *sc 1, inc* across.

3: Ch 1, turn.  *sc 2, inc* across.  Join w/ sl st to first sc to start working in the round.

There is a very noticeable seam that you can see in the picture above.  I think it looks cool, but if you don’t want it, you can work the skirt in a spiral amigurumi-style.

Directions for Joined Rounds (creates the seam) – At the beginning of each round, chain 1, which will not count as a stitch.  Start in the next stitch and work the pattern for the round.  Your last stitch will be made in the slip stitch of the previous round.  Finally, slip stitch to the first single crochet to join.

Directions for Spiral Rounds – After you’ve slip stitched the bodice together, you won’t be making any more slip stitches for the rest of the skirt.  Without chaining, start single crocheting in the next stitch, and continue the round pattern around.  Your last stitch will be made in the slip stitch of the bodice-joining.  Place a marker around the loop on your hook and move onto the next round, moving the marker after every round.  At the end of the skirt, slip stitch into the next stitch to even it out.

To save space, I will not be writing these in the actual pattern.  You can refer to the directions above.

4: *sc 3, inc* around

5: sc around

6: *sc 4, inc* around

7: sc around

8: *sc 5, inc* around

9-10: sc around

11: *sc 6, inc* around

12-13: sc around

14: *sc 7, inc* around

15-16: sc around

17: *sc 8, inc* around

18-19: sc around

20: *sc 9, inc* around

21-22: sc around

23: *sc 10, inc* around

24-25: sc around

26: *sc 11, inc* around

27-28: sc around

Fasten off white.

Edging

These are the directions to do edging like I have.  You can, of course, vary the colors or do an entirely different edging.  I used a size G hook to keep the stitches tighter.

First of all, go to the awesome edging pattern here at Attic24.  We will only be working the last 3 rows (the chain-loops, leaf buds, and flower buds.)  You might have to do a bit of winging to get the stitch count to work out, so it helps if you start in the back.

For the flowers, I did them in every leaf bud instead of every other.  I also crocheted in one end as I went to make the weaving much more tolerable.

My color sequence was this: light pink, light blue, burgundy, dark pink, purple, with white in between all of them.  It took a bit of winging since the buds weren’t quite divisible by 5, but it turned out fine in the end.

Finishing

Weave in ends.  Sew up the gap at the back of the bodice, going through both loops of the starting chain, and the back loops of the bodice ending row.

Join the yarn to the top of the dress and work one round of single crochets to give it a nicer edge.

Add straps if you like, I chose to keep it strapless.  This might change if it starts to get droopy, if so, I will edit this post to inform you.

Materials (Bonnet)

Worsted-weight yarn in main color A (white), and band color B (dark green).

Size H (5.00 MM) crochet hook

If you want to do flowers you will need size 10 crochet thread and a 2.1 MM crochet hook. (Or a similar size.)

Yarn needle, scissors, sewing needle (I borrowed my sister’s embroidery needle so the crochet thread could fit through it without a long battle), stitch marker (or peace and quiet so you can count undisturbed)

Bonnet

With A, 6 sc in a Magic Ring.

2: *inc* in each st around.

3: *sc 1, inc* around.  Sl st to 1st sc to join.

4: ch 1.  Starting in next st, sc around through back loops only.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join.

5: Ch 1.  Starting in next st, sc around.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join, changing to B.  (You don’t need to cut Color A, you can carry it up the side so there are less ends to weave in.  It also helps if you crochet over the short tail of Color B.)

6: Ch 1.  Starting in next st, sc around.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join, changing back to A.

7: In front loops only, ch 1, starting in next st, sc 2, inc.  *sc 1, inc, sc 2, inc* around.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join.

8: Ch 1, starting in next st, sc 3, inc.  *sc 2, inc, sc 3, inc* around.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join.

9: Ch 1, starting in next st, sc 4, inc.  *sc 3, inc, sc 4, inc* around.  Last st will be made in sl st of previous rnd.  Sl st to 1st sc to join, FO, and join to next st with Invisible Join for neater finish.

Embellishment

I used size 10 crochet thread and a 2.1 millimeter hook, and added some flowers and leaves.  The patterns were all from Attic24 – May Rose Leaves, and Japanese Quince Flowers.  I sewed them onto the hat with the ending tail.

A few last things that are unrelated to the crochet pattern – my blog is under renovation, as you may have noticed.  There are no pattern links in the pages, and my background keeps changing.  Hopefully it will all be done and improved soon.

Thanks for viewing, and happy crocheting!

~ The Cogaroo ~