I thought of this design one cold March morning while waiting for my bus. For years I had wanted to design something for my little sister. She was 22 years old and 2,5 months pregnant with her first born and my first nephew at the time.
She was due in august, so this would be just perfect to her in the summer I thought.
My nephew is now taller than me.

This was originally designed to be a maternity-tank, but turned out to look good even without the belly!

Yarn
Fingering weight 400 m (437 yards) / 100 grams.
34, 5, 6 skeins

Needles
80 cm long circular needle size 4.5 mm (US7) or size needed to obtain gauge

Gauge
16 sts and 20 rows = 10 cm (4 inch) in stockinette st in the round, after blocking.

Notions
Crochet hook 4 mm (G)
10 Stitch markers or scrap yarn to mark sts.

Sizing
S [M, L, XL] to fit under bust 70 [75, 80, 90] cm (27.5[29.5, 31.5, 35.5] inch)

Cup sizes
A [B, C, D, E]
The difference between bust and under bust measurements 14[16, 18, 20, 22] cm (5.5[6.25, 7, 7.75, 8.5] inch)

Notes

• Stitches made on “Bottom Setup round” are to be dropped at the second row of “Hem”. Mark these sts with a removable stitch marker or a string of scrap yarn that follows each stitch all the way from creation to drop off.

• When stitches are dropped, let them unravel all the way to the “Bottom Setup round”.

Construction
The dress is worked in two pieces. First the skirt piece starting at what will be the under bust and working towards the hem. The back is shorter than the front and the back stitches are bind off earlier than the ones for the hem.
The front of the skirt piece consists of knit and purl panels that are separated from each other with drop stitches. The hem is bind off 5 stitches at the time to create a curvy effect that give room for the belly.
The top is worked later by picking up sts from the cast on edge. The stitches for the back are picked up normally, for the front stitches the skirt piece is first folded so that the knit panels are entirely visible and the purl panels just partly showing between the knit panels.