The straps are way too long. Refer to the chart on this page for how long they should be for age of child. The straps turned out to be at least an inch too long (per side) for the size I made. They also really stretch under the weight of the skirt. I cut and re-seamed the straps to be 1.5” shorter. That wasn’t fun at all.

I purchased this pattern from Annie’s e-patterns central on Feb 5th 2016. Apparently there were mistakes in the pattern previously that were fixed in this version so there is no longer an errata available. However, I am still finding a few mistakes or problems for working the size I need. I’ll be keeping notes about those things as I go.

I am making size 6-9 months.

Rnd 2: The instructions here are correct if you are making the newborn to 3 months or the 3-6 months size. If you are making a larger size than you will have 8 total chains under arms so just make sure you start out like they say but work 4 stitches (1 in each chain for the 1st half of underarm ch) and alternate dc and v st around making sure not to mix them up so you will have the right number at the end. The stitch count is correct. I had a difficult time finding the right spot to work the stitches so I would hold it at eye level so I could see both loops of the slip stitches and then the bump you see right behind the top loop is the one you need to work into. I usually had to use a darning needle to loosen the loops before I could work into them. Just make sure you count the right number for each side. For the size I am making there were 23 on each side not counting the underarm chains.

Rnd 9: The stitch count for the size I am making says 248 sc but if you work in the top of the beginning ch-3 you would have 249. I ended up not putting a stitch in the top of the chain 3 to get the count of 248 because the extra stitch is not needed in the next round.

Round 10: Since I had a stitch count of 248 last round I ended up with 313 on this round instead of the stated 315. It takes 8 stitches to make a repeat of the pattern for the round 11 so you would end up with 39 repeats. You only need 312 stitches to complete 39 repeats so there will be an extra stitch. You could change one of the “2 dc in next stitch” into just one to end up with 312 but I can’t even tell where I have an extra stitch.

Rnd 11: In all of the rest of this pattern when they say to work a special stitch in the next stitch they say “see Special Stitches” and you go to the first page of the pattern to see the instructions for that stitch. Here they write out the stitch instruction “4 dc in next st, ch 1, 4 dc” and then also say (Lg Shell - see special stitches). So it reads like they want you to do it twice but the previous directions ARE the special stitch instructions so you already did it. There are 39 large shells not 35 as stated.

Rnd 12: At the end of this round when you dc in same ch-1 space as beginning ch-5, then you need to chain 3 (not 2) before joining in the 3rd ch of beginning chain 5.

Rnd 13: I didn’t like the way the starting large shell was looking. It said to start with chain 3, 3 dc in same ch space of lg v-st… and after you get back around to join it says “ending with 4 dc in same lg v-st, ch 1, join in 3rd chain of beg ch-3” That just looked really squished up since the chain 3 started right at the beginning edge of the space where this shell was to be worked and didn’t move at all than adding 4 more dc into that space. That means you actually working over it a bit and all the stitches are just squished up and all on one side of the chain space. All the other shells are worked on the chain 3 so they are centered and look nice. I ended up slip stitching into the center chain (not just over the chain. you want it to stay in the center) then I chained 3 and worked the 3 dc. When I came back around to finished it looked much better and not scrunched up.

Rnd 14: when you go to work round 12 again you are not in the same place in the pattern as you were the first time. You are starting at the top of a large shell instead of in the valley between large shells. You will need to turn after the last round and then chain 1 and sc in chain 1 space right there, ch 2 and then work a lg v-stitch in next ch 1 sp, ch 2, sc in ch 1 space in top of large shell and around.

Rnd 15: Again here when you go to repeat round 13 you are at the top of a large shell so you’ll need to sc into the next ch 2 space, work a large shell in the next large V stitch, sc in next chain 2 space, ch-1, sc in next ch-2 space around… when you get back to the beginning you’ll just need to sc in last chain 2 space, chain 1 and slip stitch to first sc. The next time you repeat rounds 12 and 13 you will be back in the valley again instead of the top of a large shell so you can just follow the instructions as written.

Rnd 18. This round starts off saying to “ch 1, sc in same dc as beg ch-1” then it says “sc is next dc…” There are not enough stitches to do two single crochets there, only one. The next stitch should be hdc.

I’m on the last portion for the 6-9 month size Rnds 21-24 for that size says to repeat rnds 17 & 18 alternately.
I’m putting my v stitches in the space between shells and then in the middle of the shells to keep it even. I realized later that it wasn’t necessary to keep them centered.

I’m really worried about the length of the straps. The little one I’m making this for doesn’t live close by so I can’t really measure. I think I will sew some ribbon to the underside of the straps to give them more stability. The skirt part of the dress is so full and heavy that it stretches the straps.