How to knit a baby top featuring a frill with the help of a simple tutorial by Creativa Atelier
Hello Creative People! I’m Marta from Creativa Atelier and I’m delighted to be sharing my knitted Alba Top tutorial, which shows you how to knit a baby top with a frill, on the Katia Blog. Although the final result looks very elaborate, the Alba Top (it gets its name from my daughter) is really easy to knit. You only need to know some basic stitches and you’ll have it knitted up in no time at all. Ready to impress!
When I started to form an idea about this project in my mind, it was clear to me that the material used was going to be key. There’s no doubt that the choice of material for a project can convert the simplest pattern into an absolute marvel. That’s why I decided to use the powdery Cotton-Cashmere colours from Katia Yarns. I wanted it to have this romantic, delicate look that you can only achieve by using natural materials. The perfect yarn to give form to this idea!
Baby Top with Frill
Materials required for knitting a Baby Top with a Frill for a Baby in size 12-24 months: 3 balls col. 66 (orange-salmon) Cotton–Cashmere from Concept by Katia; Size 3 (U.S.)/(3 mm) knitting needles; Wool sewing needle.
Stitches and techniques
- Cast on stitches.
- Moss stitch.
- Stockinette stitch.
- Single Increase: Insert the tip of the RH needle below the bar of yarn that lies between the stitch on the needle and the next stitch to be worked and knit it as if it were a new stitch.
- Increase by knitting into the front and back of the same stitch.
- Bind (cast off) stitches.
- Pick up stitches.
How to knit the Alba Top
1. Knit the upper bib part of the baby top. Cast on 34 stitches and work the first 10 rows in moss st.
Work the increases to shape the upper bib part. Only increase on the right side of the work (= when the stockinette stitch is facing you) as follows: 4 sts moss stitch, 1 single increase, work in stockinette stitch until there are only 4 stitches left on the needle, 1 single increase and the last 4 stitches in moss stitch. Continue working in this manner until there are 46 stitches on the needle.
Continue increasing in the same manner, but on all the rows (= right side and wrong side of work), until there are a total of 74 stitches. Work 6 rows without increasing (= 74 stitches), working the first and last 4 stitches of every row in moss stitch.
2. Work the front.
Continue knitting and work one increase at each edge (= knit in the front and back of the stitch) every 11 rows. As you have already knitted 6 rows since reaching a total of 74 stitches, knit 4 more rows in stockinette stitch and on the following row (= 11th) increase in the first and last stitch. Now there should be 76 stitches on the needle. Continue until 60 rows have been completed and there are 84 stitches on the needle. To finish, knit the last 10 rows in moss stitch.
3. Knit the back.
Knit the same as the front then join both pieces at one of the side seams.
4. Knit the frill.
To do this we need to, pick up the stitches that are just below the moss stitch. Pick up as many stitches as the fabric allows.
Once all the stitches have been picked up, knit the first row by increasing in each stitch (= knit in the front and back of each stitch). Therefore, we double the number of stitches so that the frill will have fullness and form a ripple effect. Continue by working 12 rows in stockinette st and 5 rows in moss stitch for the border edge. Bind (cast off) the stitches and join the other side seam.
5. Knit the straps.
Pick up 8 stitches at each corner of the upper bib part. Then work in stockinette stitch until the strap is long enough to tie in a knot at the shoulder. If you want to make a bow, make the strap longer. In this case they are tied with a simple knot and the length is 7 1/8” (18 cm).
As you can now see, the Alba top with a frill is really easy to make. In my Etsy shop you can find the knitting pattern (in English and Spanish) showing how to knit the set made up of the Alba Baby Top and the diaper cover pants in sizes 1-3 / 3-6 / 6-12 / 12-24 months. If you have liked this tutorial, please comment and share. And don’t forget, if you knit the Alba Top, show us your results on the social networks using the hashtags #topalba y #creativaatelier.
