Even though boho style isn’t entirely my bag, I bloody love a crochet dress. Always have. I spent most of my early 20s dressing like an Alannah Hill store threw up on me and while that’s not my style anymore, my severe crochet habit is causing a rather swift turn around in my sartorial expression. I made this dress in March this year and it’s been getting quite the workout, despite the fact that it’s no where near warm enough to wear it yet. I’ve combatted that by layering under it like a mofo. No one needs to see my nips popping out of my dress, amiright? It’s going to be AMAZING in summer though. It’s made of 100% cotton and it’s basically mesh so it’s super cool and breathable for warm days.
Wearing
Crochet dress made by me – the pattern isn’t available because I made it up but if you want to get started learning to crochet you totally do that here
Crochet shawl made by me – the pattern is available in the crochet coach hub!
Belt from Etsy – the store closed down so you can’t get it anymore. This clothing list is starting to appear quite useless now…
Boots from Ecco
Sunglasses from Randolph
Bangles from Dinosaur Designs
Tights from Big W
Here are a few tips for wearing a crochet dress…
1. Let the dress be the star of the outfit
It can be tempting to try to ‘style’ lacey, girly outfits but often they’re speaking loud enough on their own. I know I’m wearing a crochet shawl as well but it’s FREEZING! I think with crochet clothing you need to go under the top or over the top. There’s no room for middle of the road with crochet clothing.
2. Add your own style
If you like chunky boots, wear them with your crochet dress! If you’re more of a minimalist, wear your favourite streamlined origami style jacket over the top. I once saw a girl wearing an amazing crochet dress in San Diego and she was wearing it with Converse sneakers and she looked spectacular. Just because crochet looks kind of fancy and dressy doesn’t mean you need to pop on your best heels and go hard glam on it. Dress it down – crochet is amazingly versatile.
3. Treat it with respect
Things not to do with a crochet dress
– wear a charm bracelet with it. So catchy, many rips.
– Wear it to a grungy Melbourne pub that will inevitably have rusty nails and broken door fixtures along each wall at exactly bum height. So catchy, many rips.
– Eat tomato sauce. Ever tried to scrub a food stain out of string? #impossible
Crochet can easily get caught on things so less than active days are the best times to wear crochet items.
4. Dry it flat
Crochet bounces back beautifully when you wash it, just make sure you hand wash in cold water (I use the hand wash setting on my washing machine) and dry it flat in the sun. If you hang it up, it will pull down with the weight of the water and get it all out of shape.
5. Go full boho on that situation
If you are struggling to style a crochet dress, just embrace the boho! Silver and turquoise jewellery, head scarves, strappy sandals. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with it. I say boho isn’t my style but I definitely steal bits and pieces when it suits me. Like head scarves, hoop earrings and crochet dresses.
Extra tip: If you wear crochet items around anyone who was born between 1950 and 1960, they will tell you they owned a skirt/dress/top ‘EXACTLY LIKE THAT!’ in the 70s. Crochet takes everyone on a trip down memory lane. It’s quite lovely really.
This dress was worn for an insane day of client work, meetings, pattern writing, having a lesson with a master crocheter online (Edie Eckman – she’s a genius), trying to resurrect my poor podcasts after our shows become independent. We lost all our ratings and reviews on both of them. It’s so sad, it’s like starting from the very bottom again.
If you’re a fan of either podcast Straight & Curly or Sweet Teen Club – please do leave a review. Just search for the podcasts in iTunes and leave a review. It would be an amazing help.
Do you own any crochet clothing? Or lace? How do you style it?
P.S Also you should totally sign up for my newsletter. It’s full of cool stuff.
P.P.S Don’t forget Crochet Coach has a free trial offer period at the moment (that’s disappearing for good soon!) so make sure you sign up!
9 Comments
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I love that dress! I wish I could pull something like that but I’m too fat for it. I suppose I could learn to crochet so I could make something in my size. I need some quality tights as well so I can wear more boho clothing. I’m so lazy by nature that the boho style of clothing is easy for me to wear.
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Author
Oh you’re never too fat for anything! I promise. There some excellent plus size crochet clothing books out there and once you learn how gauge (it’s pretty easy!) you can make stuff in any size you like. I’ve got a free-size summer kimono pattern coming up that would be great practice. Quality tights are totally the go. Witchery actually have some fantastic ones – really thick and warm.
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Dress looks great on you. 🙂
But I can’t wear crochet clothing… it just reminds me too much of what was in fashion in my high school years in the 90s. Which I know is back now… but yeah, I can’t go back.
I had this olive coloured crocheted tank I used to wear all the time (olive and earth tones were very big in the 90s).
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Oh my god they so were! I was talking to Stacey about this the other day and I think the 90s only ruined vests for me. Crocheted vests were a whole thing.
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I love lacy and crochet items. I have a nice crochet top I never wear and a lot of lacy skirts and shorts I should wear more of.
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Oh you should! I give you full and hearty permission!
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I’m in the process of making a crochet skirt. It’s been a long process, not because I crochet particularly slowly when I’m actually doing it, but because I forget to do any for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Anyway, it’s going to be made up of granny squares and so far it’s all black, but I think the squares in the bottom row will have different coloured centres, maybe red and cream. I love the dress in the picture, but I don’t think I’m quite ready to crochet something that advanced!
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That skirt sounds lovely! I have a similar plan to make a granny square dress – the problem is when I crochet things, my crochet students all want the pattern and sometimes I just make things up.
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[…] I have people ask me where I find the time to do things. Like crochet my own clothing or cook healthy meals every night. I don’t have kids so that’s a good start but […]
[…] I have people ask me where I find the time to do things. Like crochet my own clothing or cook healthy meals every night. I don’t have kids so that’s a good start but […]