"Winter Snow" Barbie dress and cape/wrap

This is my first attempt at designing a dress for Barbie.  I wanted to make it super-simple.  This meant no sewing seams, no working in the round if I could help it, no shaping, and weaving in as few ends as possible.  Pretty tall order, but I think I did it.  My plan is to make a total of three Holiday dresses, each with an accessory.  This first one is for the general winter holiday, the second one will be a red Christmas party dress and the third one will be a black New Year's Eve party dress (although working with black is a real pain so it might end up being silver or some other color).

Please keep the following in mind while crocheting this outfit.  This dress is worked in a flat, almost square piece.  This piece will SEEM to just barely meet behind the bust, be too big in the waist and too small in the hips, BUT the ribbing around the bust will have enough give to overlap for a snap and the pattern stitch (along with the edging and seaming) around the hips will have enough stretch to get the dress over the hips.  This still leaves the waist a little too big since Barbie's waist is ridiculously small compared to her hips! So, there are two options.  1.  You can sew the snap on in such a way that you pull the waist in a bit or  2.  You can gather the waist at the back like I did (I will give a step by step as to how I did that).

 

Materials

Size 10 thread in white
Size 6 (1.8 mm) steel hook
2 sew on snaps
1   9/16th" white button (or any size button you like)

Gauge

10 sc = 1 inch, 10 sc rows = 1 inch

Directions for dress

Note:  The easiest way I found to sc evenly along a piece is to fold it in half and mark with a stitch marker, then fold the half in half again and mark the quarter sections with a stitch marker.  Take the amount of stitches needed and divide by 4.  Then make sure to crochet that amount in between each stitch marker.

V-stitch = (dc, ch 1, dc) in stitch indicated

Bust

Row 1:  With white, ch 8, sc in second ch from hook and each ch across, turn.  (7 sc)

Row 2:  Working in BACK LOOPS only, sc in each st across, turn.  (7 sc)

Rows 3-?:  Repeat row 2 until piece measures 5" long.  DO NOT TURN at end of last row.

Working around edge of piece, ch 1, 44 sc evenly spaced along first long edge, ch 1, 7 sc across first short edge, ch 1, 44 sc evenly spaced along second long edge, leave remaining short edge unworked, turn.

Skirt

Row 1:  Ch 1, [sc in first (next) st, sk next st, v-stitch in next st, sk next st] across, turn.  (11 sc, 11 v-stitches)

Row 2:  Ch 1, [sc in first (next) ch 1 space of v-stitch, v-stitch in next sc] across, turn.  (11 sc, 11 v-stitches)

Rows 3-?:  Repeat row 2 until piece measures 4" total length, DO NOT TURN at end of last row

Working in ends of rows around edge of piece, ch 1, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc up to ribbed bust, sc in each sc along ribbed bust, turn, ch 1, sc in each sc back down to bottom of dress working 3 ch in last st, working along bottom of dress, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc across, working up other back, 3 sc in first st, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc up to ribbed bust, sc in each sc along ribbed bust, turn, ch 1, sl st in first 20 sc (back opening), holding seams together sc rest of back seam tog, turn dress right side out, but DO NOT FASTEN OFF.

Ruffle section

Round 1:  Working in FRONT LOOPS only around bottom of dress, [sl st, ch 2] in each st around, join to first sl st, do not turn.

Round 2:  Working in BACK LOOPS of previous round, sl st in first back loop, ch 4 (counts as first tr), tr in each back loop around, join to top FRONT LOOP of beg ch 4, do not turn.

Round 3:  Ch 2, [sl st, ch 2] in each FRONT LOOP of st around, join to first sl st, do not turn.

Round 4:  Working in BACK LOOPS of previous round, sl st in first back loop, ch 4 (counts as first tr), tr in same st as joining, 2 tr in each st around, join to top of first ch 4.  Fasten off.  (Finally!!!  lol)

Finishing

Sew 2 snaps to back opening, sewing one snap to back of waist so that the waist gets pulled in.  If you don't like the look this creates (like I didn't), sew both snaps even with each other and gather waist in back.

I gathered waist as follows.  Sew snaps where you want them first.  Turn dress inside out and place on doll.   Starting at side of waist, take needle and thread and run thread in and out of rows almost up to back seam.  Gather lightly (not to tight or dress will not get over hips) and tie off.  Repeat for other side of waist.

Directions for Cape/Wrap

Row 1:  Ch 21, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across, turn.  (20 sc)

Row 2:  Ch 1, [sc in first (next) st, sk next st, v-stitch in next st, sk next st] across, turn.  (5 sc, 5 v-stitches)

Row 3:  Ch 1, [sc in first (next) ch 1 space of v-stitch, v-stitch in next sc] across, turn.  (5 sc, 5 v-stitches)

Rows 4-?:  Repeat row 3 until piece measures 6" long.

Working around edges, ch 1, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc across first short edge, ch 1, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc along first long edge, ch 1, sc in each sc along second short edge, ch 1, 2 sc in each v-stitch and sc in each sc along second long edge, ch 1, sc in each sc along first short edge AGAIN (this will make it even because the other short end has two rows of sc) to last st, ch 5 for buttonhole (or ch amount that will slip over your selected button), join to beg sc.  Fasten off.

Sew button opposite of buttonhole.