"Carlota Dress" - Dress Knitting Pattern For Girls in MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino

Carlota Dress – Knitting Pattern for Girls by MillaMia

The Carlota Dress is a vibrant, colour-rich knitting pattern for girls designed by MillaMia. Rated as a Beginner / Improving skill level, this pattern is an ideal project for knitters who are building confidence and want to explore working with multiple colours in a structured, manageable way. The finished garment is a generously sized, comfortable, and loose-fitting dress featuring a bold multicolour stripe sequence and charming striped patch pockets as a standout design detail.

Sizes and Fit

The Carlota Dress is sized to fit girls aged 1–2, 2–3, 3–4, and 4–5 years. Because the dress is described as generously sized, MillaMia recommends checking the actual garment measurements carefully before casting on to select the most appropriate size for your child.

• Chest: 58 cm / 23 in — 62 cm / 24½ in — 67 cm / 26½ in — 72 cm / 28½ in
• Length to shoulder: 45 cm / 17¾ in — 50 cm / 19¾ in — 56 cm / 22 in — 64 cm / 25 in
• Sleeve length: 5 cm / 2 in — 6 cm / 2¼ in — 7 cm / 2¾ in — 7½ cm / 3 in

What Is Being Made

The Carlota Dress is a children's knitted dress with short sleeves and a relaxed, comfortable silhouette. Its most eye-catching feature is an exuberant, clashing multicolour stripe sequence that runs the full length of the body, complemented by separately knitted striped pockets. The overall aesthetic is playful and bold, making it a joyful wardrobe piece for young girls.

Construction Techniques

This pattern uses a bottom-up, worked flat construction method, meaning the knitting begins at the lower hem and progresses upward toward the shoulders. The pieces are worked flat on straight needles and then seamed together to complete the garment. This traditional approach is well-suited to beginner and improving knitters, as working flat on straight needles is generally easier to manage than working in the round, and seaming provides a neat, structured finish.

• Bottom-up construction — knitting begins at the cast-on edge and works toward the shoulders
• Worked flat — pieces are knitted back and forth on straight needles
• Seamed finishing — individual pieces are joined together after knitting
• Stripe technique — colour changes are made at regular row intervals throughout the body and pockets

Stitches Used

The Carlota Dress is primarily constructed in stocking stitch (stockinette stitch in US terminology), which creates the smooth, classic knitted fabric surface that shows off the stripe sequence to its best advantage. The tension and gauge for the pattern is set at 25 stitches and 34 rows to a 10 cm / 4 in square over stocking stitch using 3.25 mm (US 3) needles.

Stripe Sequence

One of the most distinctive elements of the Carlota Dress is its detailed, size-specific stripe sequence. The number of rows in each colour stripe varies depending on the size being knitted, so MillaMia recommends making a separate note of the stripe sequence for your chosen size before beginning. The full sequence works through the following MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino shades in order:

• Petal (122)
• Scarlet (140)
• Lilac Blossom (123)
• Daisy Yellow (142)
• Midnight (101)
• Grass (141)
• Fuchsia (143)
• Seaside (161)
• Claret (104)
• Plum (162)