Girl’s Dress with Lace in Schachenmayr Catania - S6937 - Downloadable PDF

Girl's Dress with Lace Pattern in Schachenmayr Catania – Pattern S6937

This free downloadable knitting pattern, S6937 from Schachenmayr, provides instructions for a charming girl's dress featuring an openwork lace pattern. The design is worked in Schachenmayr Catania, a sport-weight yarn, and is available in three sizes to suit growing girls. The finished dress combines delicate lace detailing with smooth stockinette sections and a neat ribbed waistband transition, making it a beautifully structured garment suitable for special occasions or everyday wear.

Design Overview

The dress is a single cohesive design that showcases the elegance of lace knitting combined with classic stockinette. It is constructed seamlessly in the round from the hem upward, transitioning through distinct textural zones before being divided at the armholes and finished flat for the front and back bodice sections. The result is a lightweight, airy skirt flowing into a fitted bodice — a timeless silhouette for a girl's knitted dress.

Construction Method

The dress is worked in the round in one piece up to the armholes, which is a technique that minimizes seaming and creates a smooth, continuous fabric. A twisted cast-on (Kreuzanschlag) is used to begin the work, providing a firm and elastic edge at the hem. The cast-on begins with 182 (202/222) stitches on a circular needle, accommodating three sizes. Once the armholes are reached, the work is divided and the back piece is completed flat in rows, with armhole and neckline shaping worked by binding off stitches at regular intervals.

Stitch Patterns and Techniques

• Stockinette stitch (glatt rechts): Used for the side panels of the skirt (15 stitches on each side of each lace panel) and for the entire bodice section above the waist. Stockinette creates a smooth, flat fabric that contrasts beautifully with the textured lace.
• Lace pattern (Lochmuster): The central feature of the skirt. Each lace panel consists of 61 (71/81) stitches, worked over a 10-stitch repeat, repeated 7 (8/9) times plus the final stitch of the chart. This openwork pattern creates the decorative eyelet holes characteristic of lace knitting, adding lightness and visual interest to the skirt.
• Ribbing / Welt pattern (Büchenmuster): Introduced at approximately 25 (27/29) cm in height, this section acts as a transitional waistband, providing gentle elasticity and definition at the waist before the bodice begins.
• Decreases (Abnehmen): At the start of the bodice section, 34 (40/46) stitches are decreased evenly across the first round by knitting two stitches together (2 M rechts zusammenstricken), reducing the stitch count to 148 (162/176) stitches. This shaping creates the fitted silhouette of the bodice.
• Armhole shaping: Beginning at 38 (42/46) cm in height, stitches are bound off at each side to form the armholes. The back piece is shaped by binding off 2 stitches once and then 1 stitch four times on each side in every second row, resulting in 56 (63/70) stitches remaining for the back bodice.
• Neckline shaping: Begun at 48 (53/58) cm in height, the neckline is shaped with further bind-offs, though the full detail of this section extends beyond the provided excerpt.

Needle Sizes and Yarn

The pattern calls for two circular needle sizes, which is a common technique used to achieve different fabric densities within the same garment:

• Circular needle size 3–3.5 mm: Used for the lower skirt section, including the lace pattern and stockinette side panels, to create a slightly looser, more flowing fabric suited to the decorative lace.
• Circular needle size 2.5–3 mm: Switched to for the bodice section, producing a