Amidst hectic preparations for a short visit to Manila, the crocheted dress is now finished. At a certain point in the process – where I have completed motifs in an inverted triangle shape at the front and back of the dress – I decided to use the various large motifs completed earlier, to occupy areas at the sides of the dress, in free-form technique.

The dress before attaching the large motifs.

The large flower motifs are based on patterns found in two Duplet magazines: The Swimsuit Edition #3 and Duplet Issue #112. The crochet symbol chart in the Swimsuit Edition was easier to understand, thanks to the use of shading to identify rounds in the pattern.

Flower motifs following Duplet patterns

Attaching the motifs to the dress proved difficult. I used a combination of crochet stitches and needlework. I used the 5-chain mesh and in certain areas, a join consisting of dc, ch 3, dc. Two motifs on each side of the dress were attached first (one is shown here) with the chain mesh. After 3 rows of chain meshes, I completed the edging with a simple “(ch 3, 3 dc) in loop, sc in next loop” pattern repeat.

Attaching one of the motifs to one side of the dress

Attaching the motifs - work in progress

Smaller and larger motifs follow, some overlapping the mesh. Most of the work in this case were done on each side of the dress.

Detail of one side of the dress using motifs in natural and lavender colors

One side of the dress uses motifs tinged with lavender thread, and the other side I decided to keep on the natural color.

Detail of the other side of the dress using motifs in natural cotton

And here is the finished dress, showing ether front or back. I have not decided which should be the front or back of the dress. Either way the dress can be worn

The finished dress

The dress is rather short, just above the knee, and thus can also be worn as a top over jeans or a skirt. I was hoping to wear this to my mom;s birthday, but there isn’t enough time left to block and dry it.

The finished dress

Making this dress wasn’t easy. A lot of design decisions had to be made and errors weren’t easy to rectify. Near the waist of the dress I used an alternating row of motifs with 3D flowers. That was a decision that proved wrong when I finished the dress because the flowers appeared oddly asymmetrical across the waist.  I like asymmetry but this was a bit off, looking like funny unbalanced buttons on the dress. Removing those motifs would’ve ruined the dress so I had to rectify the problem by attaching similar 3D flowers arranged at an angle in between the motifs. The intention was to break the uncomfortable asymmetry.

I learned a lot of new things completing this dress and I feel relatively happy with it – not very happy but enough. I think that there is still something lacking because I feel that I could’ve done this dress differently. Perhaps after some time I will see it.