I don’t know how it is n other countries, but it is extremely difficult to find a mid-length skirt for a girl here in France. The short ones are way too short, in my opinion, or they are too long. So I wanted to make a knee-length skirt for my 6-year-old.
I had some sashay yarn I bought a couple of years by mistake, so I wanted to use that – together with some matching cotton at the top. I ended up ordering DROPS Muskat, and started looking for ideas on how to incorporate ruffles. I have to say, I had no idea, how much variation was there in using sashay yarns, and enjoyed my learning process a lot.
I realised that the very ruffled tu-tu look I saw most often was not what I was looking for, I was more after gyspy style, soft and flowing. Finally I saw the Sophia’s shawl. However the instructions there were not very clear, so I also watched this video and finally I had a better idea of what I needed to do. If my explanations about the ruffles are not very clear, I recommend watching the above video.
I started my skirt in the middle, because I did not want to swatch – so I just chained approximate length, knowing that I can then decide how much to go down with increases and how much to go up with decreases once I had a couple of rounds done. Plus I did not want a possibly tighter chain right at the waist.
I have to say I have regretted ordering a thicker yarn. If I do it again, I might go for a much thinner yarn, and a tighter pattern, so that top part is not see-through (won’t be able to finish it off in two evenings though – this was a super quick project).
Yarn and materials:
Drops Muskat (100% mercerised cotton, 100m/50g)
Filatura di Crosa Fancy Maya (10m/50g) – it creates a band of appr. 14cm wide.
80 mm elastic band – a couple of metres
4 mm /G hook
Gauge: 13 sts and 12 rounds = 10 x 10 cm in dc.
Finished measurements: waist circumference – 66 cm ( without the elastic bands, smaller with), length – 38 cm. Fits my 6 year old, I buy her 8-10 year sized clothes, though.
Pattern
Ch 102, join in round ( I actually did round 1 and then joined, using the tail to sew the gap, much easier that way, then making sure your chain is not twisted).
Round 1. Dc all around (100 dc) (dc US / tr UK terminology)
Rounds 2-6. Dc all around, increasing 5 sts per round (130)
Round 7. Sl st the sashay yarn through the top loops, skipping every other one.
Round 8. Sl st another tier of sashay yarn to the bottom of the previous round through top loops again. I did for this row each loop of the new band, and alternated between the regular bottom loops and half loops (so that the ruffle is doubled again).
Now work up from the cast on edge.
Rounds 1-3, 5-7, 9-10, 12 and 14 – dc in every stitch
Rounds 4, 8 – decrease 5 sts per round
Rounds 11, 13 and 15 – sc around (dc in UK terms).
Finish off and weave in ends. Measure the length of the elastic band to fit the waist (plus a bit to sew it together in the round) and cut, cut off another piece of the same length. Weave in the elastic bands between the dc stitches of rounds 12, and 14. Sew together.