I’m a crochet grandma and I love every minute of it! I know you all can relate to how fun it is to make for the grandbabies. I was so excited to fly into town for Nora’s blessing day, and also dress her up in this little top. I thought it would be a little big on her, but she surprised me by growing so much in the past few weeks. 

I made this following the 6 month pattern, and I really could have followed 9 months, just to give her more time to wear it a few more times. Nora is almost 3 months old in this photo. We are big people though, I’m 5’11 and Hannah is 6 foot, so I think Nora is going to be a tall girl!

This post will be all about how I constructed this top, it is way easier than it looks, and uses patterns from the Yarnspirations website.  

I am using Bernat Softee Cotton with an H-5.00mm hook. I used 2 skeins of Golden, and then barely one each of Clear White and Petal. I use this yarn a lot so I have a lot of scraps to make the flower squares. The color Petal is under the label Bernat Softee Baby Cotton. 

I used the Free Bernat Party Cardi pattern for the top’s bodice portion. I followed the instructions through “Divide Body and Sleeves Row 1 and Row 2.” I left the bottom portion off and attached the flower squares instead. 

I also then turned the sweater around and made the front the back for my top. Here’s a photo of the back of my top: 

Instead of making the placket for the buttons in the original sweater, after I made the collar, I simply trimmed the opening with single crochet and made a loop at the neck and then attached a button. 

I made the sleeves according to the pattern, but shortened them and folded them up so they are more like a half sleeve. 

Tap here to download the free Bernat Baby Party Cardi pattern

Then I made seven squares following the Free Red Heart Field of Daisies Crochet Blanket Pattern.   

I previously have used this pattern for the Field of Daisies Crochet Shrug I made for baby Kate. That pattern has a video tutorial if you need it. These squares are so fun to make and I have experimented with a bunch of different colors with Bernat Softee Cotton and an H – 5mm hook. 

Here is the baby shrug I made for Kate, tap here for the Field of Daisies Shrug pattern. 

If you are making a larger size for the top, you may need 8 or 9 squares for the bottom portion of the top. You want them to gather just a bit. 

Attach the squares together in a giant circle using the zig zag join. I use that join method and demonstrate it in the video for the Field of Daisies Shrug pattern. 

I also used that zig zag join method to attach the skirt portion of the top to the bodice portion. You need to work one row of single crochet around the top portion of the skirt, reducing the number of stitches to match the number of stitches of the bodice. 

The Yarnspirations pattern for the Party Cardi gives you a stitch count just before dividing for body and sleeves. You are looking in the pattern where it says – All sizes: 103 (107-115-123) hdc- For the 6 month size, you want to work 103 SC around the top of your 7 squares. This pattern goes up to 24 months so you’d work 123 SC around the top of your squares and that’s why I’m suggesting you make more squares for the larger sizes. 

Work one more row of SC around the top of the squares and then use the Zig Zag join to join the skirt to the bodice. Also, before you join, I made sure I centered a square to the front of the bodice since I was using an odd number of squares. 

Follow the pattern for the collar as I explained above. 

After I attached the skirt. I then trimmed the bottom of the skirt portion with a round of shell stitch. I made it really small though using 3 DC into one stitch and then slip stitch into the next. That gave it just a little look of a small ruffle. 

And that’s all! I think making the squares took the longest amount of time, the top portion really was so quick. And once I joined it all together I was so excited to get it to Nora! 

Those chubby cheeks are to die for! I couldn’t stop kissing on them. She is so precious and I am so in love with her. It’s like holding Hannah all over again. 

The blessing day was beautiful and I did make sure we took a 4 generations photo of my mom, me, Hannah and Nora. I hope Nora will know someday how much she is loved by all of us! 

For details about Nora’s Blessing Blanket tap here. I re-created Hannah’s blessing blanket that my mom made for her. 

Thank you all for stopping by, I hope that if you are interested in how I made the top, I’ve given you enough information to make it work. The Yarnspirations Pattern for the Party Cardi was really well written I thought and easy to understand once you get used to the symbols. The collar was pretty easy to, just trust the process lol! And if it doesn’t work the first time, take it out and just do it again. 

Oh, and I loved pairing the top with jean leggings. Such a cute look! 

Have a wonderful crochet day! 

XO, Tiffany