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    May 25, 2020

    Willow Cardigan - Lacy Summer Crochet Cardigan Free Pattern

    A light and airy summer crochet cardigan featured on Make and Do Crew!

    easy crochet cardigan for summer free pattern

    I’ve been holding onto this secret for months (since August!) and I’m so happy that I can finally share the Willow Cardigan with you!

    Made with Mako Cotton yarn, the Willow Cardigan is soft, light and airy - the ultimate summer project! Simple crochet stitches and chains combine to create a drapey lace cardigan, that’s a lot easier to crochet than it seems!

    The cardigan follows a simple construction - a back panel and 2 front panels, that are sewn together and edged in single crochet.

    close up of easy crochet lace stitches in a grey cardigan pattern with a white dress

    With a relaxed, comfy fit, the Willow Cardigan pairs well over jeans, dresses or use it as a cover up at the beach!

    In the middle of last year (which feels like a lifetime ago!) Make and Do Crew was looking for guest crochet designers/bloggers and For The Frills was offered a guest post feature!

    If you’ve never heard of Make and Do Crew.com, it’s an incredible crochet blog full of modern and free crochet patterns. It’s run by one the original crochet bloggers, Jess Coppom and she has created such a wonderful resource for modern makers.

    light grey crochet cardigan cover up for summer free pattern

    Design Inspiration

    Working with Jess and her sister Jamie was so easy and I was pretty much given free rein to design whatever took my fancy! As I was looking through Lion Brand Yarn’s website one of their LB collection yarns stood out – Mako Cotton.

    It looked so incredibly soft, light and squishy I knew I had to crochet with it! After, swatching a few different stitches I decided to make a lacy, summer cardigan and thus the Willow Cardigan was born 🙂

    summer crochet cardigan free pattern in meadow

    Yarn

    Lion Brand’s Mako Cotton crochets like a dream! Unlike traditional 100% cotton yarns, Mako Cotton is pillowy soft which produces garments with incredible drape. You get such great yardage per 50g, you almost feel like you’re not wearing anything!

    There are 9 shades with a mix of pastels and brights (The cardigan is in the shade ‘light grey’) and the yarn is classified as an aran/worsted weight. However, I think Mako Cotton is a bit on the thicker side of a medium(4) yarn so make sure your yarn is suitable for at least a 5.5mm (US I) hook.  

    Looking for free summer crochet patterns?

    free summer crochet pattern light blue tank top pink tie strap tank top and green v neck tee

    1. Sea Breeze Tank Top / 2. Leila Tie Strap Crop Top / 3. Forest Breeze Tee

    MATERIALS

    Lion Brand LB Collection Mako Cotton – 10plyAran/Worsted/Medium(4), 115m/50g,
    94% Mako Cotton + 6% Nylon, Light Grey
    7(9, 11) skeins                           

    6.5mm (US K) Crochet Hook

    Darning Needle

    Scissors

    Add to your Ravelry queue here!

    You can find the ad-free, printable version here!

    Or the free crochet pattern on Make and Do Crew!

    Happy crocheting, Grace 🙂

    Pin me for later!

    pin of easy summer boho crochet cardigan free pattern

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Julie says

      July 16, 2020 at 2:13 am

      The math is wrong on the medium size. The front panels should be 41 chains to start and 38 stitches. I made the first panel and realized after I was done that there would only be a 1 stitch gap between the panels at the back. The other sizes have a 7 stitch gap between panels

      Reply
      • Grace says

        July 16, 2020 at 2:34 am

        Hi Julie,

        The pattern has a very specific stitch multiple so for the front panels you won't be able to crochet the same stitch pattern if you have 38 stitches. The gap isn't an issue as when you wear the cardigan the width of your neckline will stretch out the neckline anyway and it will still sit nicely on your body.

        I hope this helps,
        Grace

        Reply
        • Julie says

          July 19, 2020 at 4:21 am

          Thank you for your reply! I realized that row 4 wouldn’t quite work with my new stitch count of 38 but I liked the narrower panel, so I decided to do 1 extra dc at the beginning of row 4 on one front panel and at the end of row 4 on the other front panel. Then, I placed the panels with the “extra” dc at the seam so that they are hardly noticeable.

          This is a super cute pattern and I think my daughter-in-law is going to love it!

          Reply
    2. SD says

      May 08, 2021 at 8:52 pm

      How would I extend the sleeves by a few inches? Do I need to do it by a specific stitch number? Thank you!

      Reply
    3. Kelly says

      May 01, 2022 at 1:49 am

      Hi Grace!
      I’m currently making this beautiful cardigan but seem to have come at a crossroads with row 4. For some reason my stitch count is 85 instead of 83.. and was wondering what I did wrong! Is love to hear back from you!
      Thank you for your time!

      Reply

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    Hi, I'm Grace!
    An avid crocheter creating modern and wearable crochet patterns. I share my love for crochet designing here on this blog and on YouTube. Learn more →

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