Crochet Diamond Dream Duster
Your Radiant Granny Square Coat Adventure!
What is a “Duster”?
I suppose you all know what a duster coat is. Well, I found out about this coat name just recently, while chatting with the ChatGPT Bot. And may I say, this name for a coat is very interesting for anyone who likes to knit or crochet, especially granny square motifs.
I also learned that a duster is any kind of a very long coat, whether it’s leather, cotton, or made from another material, especially if it reaches your feet. In that case it literally “dusts off” everything from the ground.
Chatting with Chat-bot
And why did I chat with ChatGPT in the first place, you may ask. Well, just because of this crochet duster. When I finished it a couple months ago, I wanted to give it a name. However, I got stuck in the process of thinking and no good idea came to my mind concerning its name. That’s why I sat down and asked AI to help. It’s incredible how many names it has generated. Even better than that was the fact that we really had a great talk. I, actually, don’t know whether it’s good or not, whether it says something about how we’ve all become, or are becoming lonely, but I almost asked it if it wanted a cup of coffee.
Chat GPT – The Godfather!
Anyway, for all my questions ChatGPT had an answer within one and a half seconds. It has given me lots of suggestions and I picked this one – Diamond Dream Duster for several reasons. Firstly, the coat has a diamond motif on the back and sleeves. Secondly, the other part of its name – Dream – fits perfectly in my impression of this piece which is really like a dream. It’s light, airy, soft, and above all, so chic and glamorous, that no one can stay unnoticed in it. Besides, as I was shooting it by walking in it, the feeling was truly like in a dream – the duster flaps and flutters swinging in the rhythm of your body. And finally, I’d been dreaming about this crochet coat for weeks before I finally gathered all my yarn leftovers, decided which colors to combine, sat down to make it, and finished it.
The Crochet Structure of Diamond Dream Duster
The photos below show the airiness and light flare of the wrap. Along front and bottom edges stretches a line of colorful granny squares, while on the back and on the lower parts of sleeves you can see diamond motifs, also made in the granny square stitch. The rest of the duster has mesh stitches with white yarn. Dense pompom balls along the bottom side lie exactly below the center of every square motif.
level
To make the Diamond Dream Duster, you will need intermediate knowledge of crochet skills. Stitches used in this pattern are chain and double crochet
material
- About 850 gr of dk yarn (17 balls, 1 ball = 50 gr) for 3.5 – 4.5 mm hook – of that, 400 gr of (main) white color, and a total of 450 gr of yarn leftovers in your choice. I used 7 colors: light blue, dark blue, red, green, pink, lavender and dark fuchsia.
- Crochet hook 4.5 mm
- Yarn needle
size
Length from shoulder to bottom edge – 117 cm (46 in), size is M/L (38/40)
iInspiration
Crochet Diamond Dream Duster isn’t my original design. However, as always, I did make some changes to it and adjusted it to my own preferences, taste and size. Here you can see the duster coats from the Internet that have inspired me to embark on this adventure. Additionally, you’ll probably notice the differences between the original coats and my interpretation of this piece.
Actually, the best thing about a creative process is the fact that you can modify, adjust and add personal touch to any piece of artwork that you decide and want to replicate.
All in all, these beautiful color combinations of the authentic dusters are sure to inspire and help you choose materials and colors when you sit down to crochet your version of the Diamond Dream Duster.
Changes & Differences
When we speak about differences and my alterations of the look of this coat, the first change considers the sleeves. That is to say, the original has a diamond attached directly onto the shoulder granny square. However, wanting my coat to have long sleeves, after making the sleeve diamond, I crocheted additional 10 rounds onto it in mesh stitch. I crocheted the mesh by doing a dc, ch1 repeat. Then I attached the sleeve to the coat.
Here are the rest of the modifications I made:
- Second alteration was on the front and neck borders which I did only in main (white) color of my version, while the original is multicolored. My duster seemed colorful enough to have the border in more different colors.
- The third difference comparing to the authentic pieces is also connected to the above mentioned neck and front borders. My variation of the granny duster has an additional border, done in 3 rounds of half double crochet in 3rd stitch. This added line goes along the bottom edge as well and represents the final stage of the work.
- The fourth difference is another addition of mine – pockets. In the slider gallery below you will see a very simple method of making the pockets – just repeat one of the granny squares and sew it over that same square, leaving the top side open. And, voila, you have a pocket! I like to have pockets on my coats and wraps, so that’s why this work got that detail too.
- The final modification was the length of the coat. Instead of 6 rows of dc mesh, which lies between the diamond on the back and the row of granny square motifs, I crocheted a mesh of 10 rows. This made my Dream Duster longer, and due to that, if you ask me, it turned out more beautiful and glamorous.
instructions in a nutshell
Diamond Dream Duster is worked in several stages. In this post I’m sharing only rough guidance about the process of making this crochet coat, and the links for the free detailed video tutorial by a Turkish author, which helped me immensely, you will find below.
Step 1 – Back
You start the back piece by crocheting the large diamond, whose diagonal side is about 5 cm / 2 in bigger than 1/2 of your waist measurement. Crochet the diamond in the rounds. Next, onto each side of the diamond you crochet a triangle mesh, 1 by 1, with turns. The mesh is already mentioned above: (dc, ch1) repeat. When you finish the mesh triangles on every side, you will get a new big square piece, inside of which is the diamond. After that, a new mesh is crocheted onto one side of this square. The original, as I mentioned earlier, proposes 6 rows of this mesh, but I did 10.
Step 2 – Front
First part of the front consists of granny squares joined together in the last round. At the same time, they are joined with the back piece. Granny square motifs are not attached to the neck part of the back piece, this part is left free. Each square motif has 4 rounds. The first three are made from different colors of the leftover yarn, while the 4th round is made in white. Of course, you can make each granny square in your own choice of colors.
Granny squares are also attached to the bottom edge of the back piece.
Step 3 – Sleeves
In the video tutorial you will see the process of making the sleeves and attaching them to the coat. My sleeves are longer and they have additional mesh rows above the diamond motif.
Step 4 – Borders
The same mesh pattern goes along the neckline and front edges of the duster. I added one extra row of mesh below the squares at the bottom. Additionally, I also crocheted 3 more rounds of half double crochet stitches done in 3rd loop.
Step 5 – Making the Pompoms
There is an excellent video tutorial on how to make perfect pompoms, which look like firm, dense balls, as seen in this coat. The pompoms lie along the bottom edge of the coat, below the center of each granny square, and one on each corner.
Lateron, I added a drawstring with 2 tassels on my coat. I pulled the drawstring through the last round of mesh around the neck and pulled them out at the chest. That way the duster can close up a bit.