This is a replacement dress for my goddaughter. I’d originally knit her another dress, but her Mom asked me to fix the stretchy strap problem. I came upon this pattern, and I really liked it, so I decided to adapt it into a dress.

I knit the 4/5 year size so it should fit her for a while. I cast on six extra stitches so I could knit together the two button plackets instead of knitting the somewhat skewed version as in the pattern, which would require a sewing together later. It really looks better that way. I also increased a few stitches ever so often so the dress would give her more room at the bottom - it still looks like a sweater dress instead of an A-line dress

The dress is too warm for the season, but come fall, she’ll be wearing it a lot more. She loves her dress, and her Mom loves this pattern way more than the original dress.

On the yarn - it was way stretchier than I expected, and the yarn was fuzzy. It’s soft, but next time I’ll use another cotton yarn. My pant was all fuzzy from knitting with this yarn. I expected better from this yarn. But you can stick it in the washer and dryer, which is a plus point.

I also knit the body for a bit, then knit the two sleeves so I could later knit the body until I used up all my yarn. Right now it’s a sweater dress that she can wear the dress with leggings, as a short dress, as well as a top over jeans. And later when she’s older she can still wear it as a top.

The buttons are custom made - they’re from Buttons by Robin, and they’re washer and dryer safe, an essential quality for kid’s clothing. Continuing the apple theme of the first dress, I asked for four different buttons - a red apple, a green apple, an apple with a worm and an apple tree. Love love love!