Dress Yolk DIY

I love making summer dresses with a little crochet top piece.  Here is an easy way to make a dress like this yourself!

You will need:
-About a yard of fabric, OR BETTER YET - an old midlength skirt that has a really cool pattern on it and is loose fitting... I found mine at Goodwill... I feel like there are cooler fabric prints on pieces of clothing in thrift shops than anything you find in the craft store these days...
-2 skeins of Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread size 3 OR a light (3) weight yarn... Patons Grace Cotton is great also.
-A small crochet hook like an E
-A needle and thread
-Pins

Begin with ch a multiple of 10 plus 2.   The amount you chain should be long enough to fit approximately halfway around you just under your arms and above your bust. (I chained 92, but I have super teeny shoulders and bust - you might want longer for yours.)
Row 1: 1 sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across. Turn.  (Making 91 stitches for me total.)
Row 2: Ch 1.  1 sc in each sc of previous row.  Turn.
Row 3: Ch 2.  *1dc in first  st of previous row.  Ch 1 and skip the next stitch.  Repeat from * across ending with a dc in the final st.  Turn.
Rows 4 - 8: Then I made the filet crochet pattern pictured below.

Make 5, 7, or 9 more rows just like Row 3, depending on the length you prefer your yolk.  I made 7, and wish I had made 5 because the yolk goes low enough that my undergarments show under the crochet piece... which is a little more scandalous than I like.
Then Repeat the Filet Crochet pattern you made in rows 4-8.
Repeat Row 3 once more.
Now repeat Row 2 twice more.
Now you can create a neck opening.
This involves a little math.  Take the original # you chained and subtract 51.  (So for me... 91-51 = 40.)  Divide that # by 2.  (For me, 40/2 = 20)
Neck row:  Ch 1.  1 sc in each of the next 20 (or whatever number you ended with) stitches.  Chain 51 and skip the next 51 stitches creating a large opening for your head.  1sc in each of the remaining 20 stitches (or however many you made at the beginning).  Turn.

Now Repeat what you just did, up until the neck piece, back down the other way to make the back piece.
(2 sc rows, 1 dc/ch row, 5 rows of filet crochet pattern, 5/7/9 dc/ch rows, 5 rows of filet crochet pattern, 1 dc/ch row, 2 sc rows.)

Now make the triangle edging pattern pictured below going up and over each side of the piece you have just made so this pattern will go up and over the shoulders.  For this pattern described in writing, check rows 9-12 of the LBD DIY.

I also added some little side panels to go under the arms.  I made 2 rows of 10 single crochet and attached them across the bottom so the made armholes on each side.

THEN...  I chopped the waist band off my old skirt.  I pinned the old skirt/fabric onto the crochet piece.   Since the skirt is very loose, I kept the fabric even by pinning it on one side under the arms, then stretching it out in half and pinning on the opposite side under the arms.  Then pinned it with little pucker folds starting from each side and moving toward the center on both the front and back pieces.  I sewed this on by hand so I wouldn't have to battle the puckers with my machine. 

And that's it!  Cut and weave in all loose ends of yarn and thread, and you have a super cute dress!