A fun, brightly colored dress for a summer party! It also reminds me of the beautiful traditional costumes of various countries in South America. I really enjoyed the mosaic knitting…more than I thought I would. It was a nice change from the usual garter hem I use for a bunny dress.
I used a long tail cast on of 84 stitches and completed one round of the mosaic pattern “ Checker Square Garter” linked below.
https://www.mosaicknitting.com/2016/03/checker-square-gar...
(Please note that Color A will be the background color.)
I knit the remainder of the dress following the seasonal dresses pattern. For the decreases before the waist, I used the following two rows:
Purl 2 tog across (42 stitches)
(Knit 5, knit 2tog) 6 times (36 stitches)
I added small tassels attached at the waist. I also added a double stranded running stitch in every other knit stitch just above the border. This softened the edge where the two colors met. The boldness of the running stitch worked better for the thickness of the mosaic more than alternating colors using a knit row.
I do wish I had added an extra garter row at the bottom when starting the mosaic. Next time!
Second version:
(knit with Knit Picks Palette in Sagebrush and white)
For the mosaic border, I used a smaller needle, 2.25mm. I cast on 84 stitches, did a garter row first then followed the Checker Square Garter pattern through row 13. I added an extra white garter row at the top before beginning the stockinette. I also switched to my usual 2.5mm needle at this point to finish the dress. I also added purl stitches to give the stockinette skirt some texture. One purl stitch every sixth stitch alternating every fourth row.
The smaller needle size reduced the bulkiness of the mosaic. Since the last garter row of the border and the dress are white, there was no need to add a running stitch.
I think I prefer using this smaller mosaic border for dresses.