Merry Christmas from Maleficent! A free crochet dress pattern

I was lucky enough today to have a little girl of mine desiring so badly to give me her gift, that she wore Dad down, and I was able to open it! I am absolutely in love with this Maleficent doll, which I have been wanting for some time. I decided today that she needed a Christmas dress...
This dress does fit Barbie dolls, however, I would probably make the smallest waist area maybe 2 or 3 extra stitches, it was a little snug there to get on (though was still possible). The open back for Maleficent's wings is also fine on a Barbie, it does not look odd, simply looks like an open back dress, and does stay on just fine!

Created by paperdollmom, Copyright 2014

 

Materials needed: Red Heart Shimmer yarn in red, variegated Christmas colored crochet thread, and a size H and F hook.

 

Starting from the bottom of the dress, using the Read Heart Shimmer yarn and a size H hook:

 

-Chain 45, slip stitch to the first chain made to create a loop, now working in rounds

-SC in 2 rows around

-(one round of SC while decreasing a stitch, twice in the round---- then one round of SC across) complete this step 5 times

- (one round of SC while decreasing a stitch, three times in the round--- then one round of SC across) complete this step 5
*(This is probably where I would adjust for a better Barbie fit. I would probably continue on with decreasing only 2 sts in each of the designated rounds, but bump it up to 3 sts only in the last 2 of the designated rounds....so you will only be losing 12 stitches instead of 15. Then continue the rest of the steps as directed.) 

-one round of SC across while decreasing one stitch, twice in the round

-one round of SC across

-one round of SC across while decreasing one stitch, twice, at the back of the dress

-3 rounds of SC across

-Sc across, while increasing a stitch twice in the front of the dress, BUT do not SC in the last 3 stitches of that round, you will now be working in rows, however, you will always leave those same last 3 stitches alone for the rest of the dress...this will allow a space for Maleficent's wings. Now chain 1, and turn

-SC 1 row across (making sure to leave those 3 stitches alone), chain 1, turn

-SC in first stitch, chain 4, skip 2 stitches, SC across front while decreasing 1 stitch in the middle, then to create the second armhole, chain 4 and skip 2 stitches, then SC in the last stitch, chain 1, turn

-SC across, however, decrease 1 stitch before and after each armhole, and decrease one stitch in the middle of the front

-Finish off

 

Belt, using the crochet thread and a size F hook:

 

-Chain 26 (or however many chains it takes to fit around the dolls waist WITH the dress on)

-complete only 1 row of SC

-put the dress on the doll to find the placement of the belt, mark it with a piece of yarn or a crochet marker, remove dress, place the belt around the dress and tie the two ends together and finish off on the inside of the dress so that the ends don't show