Summer Mesh Shirt Dress- Crochet Pattern
Your Crochet Faerie is back with another tutorial, but with a twist. Before I evolved into my current craft, my primary artistry was up-cycling. Crochet pattern designing turned out to be a stronger calling, but I still love the process of combing crochet with other pieces. I hope to share this fun with you by starting a mini up-cycle series, full of simple projects for people who want to add a little something special to what is already in their wardrobe! Crafting a special piece out of something that might’ve been thrown out is such a satisfying feeling. Today we will be taking a cotton T shirt from your closet to fashion a cute ‘Summer Mesh Dress’ which can be used a swimsuit coverup or even thrown over jeans or shorts <3
Materials:
Yarn, hook, scissors, darning needle, measuring tape
Embroidery Needle
T-shirt – Cotton (loose fit)
Yarn – Lace Weight Yarn – Cotton
Hook – 8mm US
Gauge – 8DC x 2 rows = 4″ x 2”
Size – Made to Measure
TIP: You can use up to weight 1 or 2 yarn thanks to the made-to-measure instructions of this pattern, but don’t go above that!
Abbreviations:
Chain – Ch
Stitch – St
Slip Stitch – Sl St
Single Crochet – SC
Double Crochet – DC
Right Side – RS
Yarn over – YO
Process: First, figure out how long you want your shirt to be and cut along the bottom accordingly. Next, mark out where we will be sewing along the border, and chain stitch all around the bottom of your garment. Crochet directly into the chain stitches, and continue working in the round until you reach your desired dress length.
Chain Stitch Embroidery Instructions – Read Before Starting Project
- Bring the needle up through the back of the fabric
- Push needle back down into the same hole, but don’t pull the thread all the way through (leave a loop)
- Bring the needle up through the back of the fabric again, working through the center of the loop you made from before
Tighten up the stitch and repeat steps 2 – 3 to continue making chain stitches
Now that you know how to make a chain stitch, let’s proceed to our project 🙂
Shirt Preparations
Try on your shirt and mark where you want the bottom to be – plus an extra inch to account for fabric shrinkage
Next, using a ruler or measuring tape, draw an even line across where the bottom of your shirt will be (make sure this line isn’t lopsided) and then cut along the line. SAVE THE SCRAP FABRIC FOR NEXT MONTH’S UPCYCLE PROJECT! 🙂 Proceed to Embroidery <3
Embroidery
Mark half an inch up from the bottom of your shirt. From there, mark every half inch all the way around the bottom border of the shirt. These marks are what we will be sewing into. (You could technically skip this step but I personally can’t handle uneven stitches. Also, your stitches NEED to be half an inch long so that you can fit an 8mm hook through them)
Using your embroidery needle, chain stitch across the bottom border of your shirt, directly into each of the half inch markers we made from before. Once finished, proceed to Crocheting the Dress.
Crocheting the Dress
We will be working in the round, so do NOT turn work after each row. Attach yarn to the RS of one of the embroidered chain stitches (I usually do this under an arm pit so the seam isn’t noticeable)
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as a DC + Ch 1), *DC in next St (do not skip any stitches), Ch 1** repeat from * to ** all the way around until you reach the beginning of this row. Sl st into the 2nd Ch of the Ch 3, do NOT turn work
Row 2: Ch 3, skip Ch space, *DC in next DC, Ch 1, skip Ch space** repeat from * to ** all the way around until you reach the beginning of this row. Sl st into the 2nd Ch of the Ch 3, do NOT turn work
Repeat Row 2 until you reach your desired dress length! After that, cut and fasten your yarn, weave in all ends, and you have yourself a lovely little mesh t-shirt dress <3
Thank You!
I really hope this pattern was easy to follow along, but if you have any questions or even just want to say hi and share your experience, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I love love love hearing from you beautiful people and seeing your creations!
Until next month’s upcycle….
Love,
Eleanor Jane <3
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