TNNA Fashion Show - My "Little Black Dress" on the Runway (San Diego, Ca)

My daughter, Jamie, wearing the "Little Black Dress" that's on the front cover of Crochet That Fits

The YouTube video I'm posting is from the 2009 TNNA Fashion show in San Diego, California. My publisher (F+W) asked me to come there to do some book signings, and of course I was thrilled. But what was even more thrilling is that they wanted to feature my "Little Black Dress" from Crochet That Fits in the fashion show! I can't tell you how exciting this was for me. It was a time in my life that I needed a jump start to get back into designing, and of course I took advantage of this opportunity.

Back of Dress

Here's the LINK to the video. (or you can scroll down and see the You Tube video at the bottom of this post) If you put your curser on the little round spot that moves along to show how much of the video has played, numbers will show up. If you don't have time to watch the whole video, my dress comes out at about # 447. (it's after the model wearing the Fedora hat and the felted shawl)

My dress got the biggest applause of the show! I guess the knitters in the audience didn't know crochet could look like that. (not stiff and boxy) Hope you enjoy watching it!

The amazing thing about this fitted and flattering dress is that there are absolutely NO increases or decreases in the whole pattern, but the dress fits like a glove! Since the rows are vertical and worked side to side, you can add or delete rows, if the size you are following does not fit exactly the way you want it to.

This way, you can get a perfect custom fit.  The stitches are worked in the back loop only (blo), making the dress not as thick and bulky as crochet can sometimes be. The pattern calls for a DK, # 3. medium worsted weight yarn, and the finished garment is lightweight, soft and drapable.

The dress is shaped without using increases or decreases, because of a method I came up with called  the "Graduated Stitch Method". You work short and tall stitches on the same row to get the shaping. Don't let this intimidate you if you are a beginning crocheter. The skill level is actually labeled Advanced Beginner. It's very easy and all you have to do is know sc, hdc, dc, and trc. Watch the video now. (below) You can see the dress in the background here before the video starts.Once it starts, don't forget that the dress comes out when the video is about half way finished. The fashion show was much longer than this video. This shows only groups 5 - 8, but there were 90 garments shown in all!