Today's pattern is a little gown with a soft shell stitch ruffle on the skirt. Very simple to do but the end result looks great!
This gown made as I did will fit 18-22 weeks gestation, however you can easily upsize it by using larger hooks and/or yarn. If you make this gown larger, add more repeats of rows 8 and 9 to increase the length.
You will need to know how to crochet in the back loop only, this is so we can use the unworked front loops for attaching the shell ruffles.
3.5mm hook
3-4ply (fingering/light fingering) yarn
2 small buttons
1: ch24, dc in the 2nd st from hook, 2dc in the next st, *dc, 2dc in the next stitch*, repeat across (33)2: ch2, turn, *dc in the 1st 2 stitches, 2dc in the next stitch*, repeat across (44)
3: ch2, turn, *dc in the first 3 stitches, 2dc in the next stitch* repeat (55)
4: ch2, turn, dc same and next 7, ch2, sk 12, dc 15, ch2, sk12, dc last 8 (35 including chains)
5: ch2, turn, *dc in the first 4 stitches, 2dc in the next stitch* Repeat across
6: ch2, turn, dc in each stitch across
7: ch2, turn, *dc in the first 5 stitches, 2dc in the next stitch* Repeat across
8: ch3, turn, dc in the back loops only in each stitch across
9: ch3, turn, dc in each stitch across
Repeat rows 8 and 9 four times.
End of and weave in loose ends.
With the gown right side up (the unused front loops from your row 8's are the front) and the top facing you:
10: Join your yarn to the 2nd unworked front loop stitch on the 1st row 9 with a sl st, *skip 1 stitch, hdc 5 times in the next stitch, skip 1 stitch, sl st in the next stitch* Repeat across until you have 3 unworked front loop stitches left. Finish off and weave in ends.
11: On the next row of unworked front loops, join your yarn to the 3rd unworked front loop stitch with a sl st, *skip 1 stitch, hdc 5 times in the next stitch, skip 1 stitch, sl st in the next stitch* Repeat across until you have 2 unworked front loop stitches left. Finish off and weave in ends.
Repeat 10 and 11 for the next 2 lots of unworked front loop rows.
For the last row of unworked front loops, repeat 10, but replace the HDC's with dc's
Weave in all ends