Red Carpet

Red Carpet Knitted Doll Dress by Sharon Mooney

Project Overview

Red Carpet is a charming knitted dress designed by Sharon Mooney, created specifically to fit 11½" female fashion dolls. This downloadable knitting pattern produces an elegant garment measuring 9 inches long from the top of the collar to the bottom of the ruffle, making it an ideal accessory for doll enthusiasts and miniature fashion designers.

What Is Being Made

This project creates a complete knitted dress for fashion dolls, featuring a structured collar at the neckline and a decorative ruffle at the hemline. The dress is designed in a striking cherry red color that evokes formal evening wear, hence the "Red Carpet" name. The garment combines classic knitting construction with thoughtful design details suitable for 11½" dolls.

Knitting Techniques Used

The Red Carpet pattern employs fundamental knitting techniques appropriate for small-scale garment construction. The pattern utilizes circular knitting on double pointed needles, which allows for seamless construction in the round. This technique is particularly effective for doll-sized projects where minimal seaming creates a more refined finished garment. The pattern incorporates increases and decreases to shape the dress, including make-one increases for gradual shaping and knit-two-together decreases for fitted sections.

Stitches and Stitch Techniques

The pattern is worked primarily in stockinette stitch, the most fundamental knit fabric, which creates a smooth, refined surface ideal for formal doll clothing. The gauge is established at 6 stitches and 7 rows per inch on stockinette stitch using circular gauge measurement. Key stitch abbreviations in this pattern include:

• K (Knit) – the basic knit stitch forming the primary fabric
• P (Purl) – the reverse of the knit stitch, used for textural variation
• K2tog (Knit 2 Together) – a right-leaning decrease that reduces stitch count by one
• M1 (Make 1) – an increase technique using the horizontal strand between stitches, creating an invisible increase when worked through the back loop

The pattern also employs bind-off and cast-on techniques to begin and finish sections, along with stitch marker placement to track pattern repeats and construction points throughout the garment.

Materials and Tools

The Red Carpet pattern requires minimal materials, making it an economical project. Approximately one skein of Schulana "Angora-Fashion" yarn in Cherry Red (color 9) is needed. This yarn composition of 80% Angora and 20% Nylon provides a luxurious, soft hand with practical durability, totaling 112 meters and 25 grams per skein. The yarn weight is DK (Double Knit), a medium-weight yarn suitable for detailed doll-sized garments.

Essential tools include a set of four US size 7 double pointed knitting needles, which enable the seamless circular construction technique. A split ring stitch marker helps track pattern repeats and construction points, while a yarn needle or large embroidery needle is necessary for weaving in ends and finishing the garment.

Pattern Details

This is a downloadable PDF pattern created by independent designer Sharon Mooney, copyrighted in 2010. The complete pattern spans three pages and includes comprehensive abbreviations, terminology explanations, and detailed construction instructions suitable for knitters familiar with basic garment shaping techniques.