Note: In the Crochet Me book, the Bust Circumference and Finished Measurements are switched, so what should be 34” circ. to fit a 36” chest is listed the other way around.

Here are some notes I posted recently in the forum about up-sizing the bodice of the dress… Marly who asked about it was going for a 54” bust, but the same method applies for any kind of custom resize:

Hi Marly–this is a great question… It’s pretty easy to modify this pattern because the bodice is worked modularly. There are three places where you can add to the width: the neck opening (center front and center back); the shoulder section; and the underarm section. I would recommend doing a little math and adding rows in all three places to keep balance–don’t make the shoulder section or the neckline too big or it will start to look odd, but then again, you don’t want to add all of the width under the arms either…

So if you began with the largest size…

The shoulders in the large size are 4 inches, I think you could take it up to 5 1/2 inches wide and it would look ok. There’s an extra 6 inches of width right there…

Add an 1 1/2 inches to each underarm panel, and you’ve got an extra 6 inches… (we’re at 12 now, if you’re keeping track, we need 2 more…)

Add one inch to the neck opening at front and back, and you’re there!

You could probably skip the neck opening inches if you wanted because the top is supposed to have a bit of negative ease. You can also try on the piece as you go and make adjustments you’re making the top in two pieces left and right (the front and back are worked at the same time).

Then, after you assemble, you do a round of sc all the way around the bodice to get ready for the lace… Here you can adjust your stitch count to be a multiple of 6, (if you want, it’s not mandatory) then you’re good to go for the lace!

The sleeves are worked shoulder down and they’re worked onto the bodice, not sewn on later, so it’s easy to make them any length you want.

Hope this helps!