This dress was adapted from a pattern in the Knits for Barbie Doll by Nicky Epstein.
Two of the ruffles (around the shoulders and the top ruffle at the bottom of the dress) are
detachable. The pattern says to sew them to the dress but I like
having options so I put hook and eye closures on the ruffles. One of
them can also go around the waist.
The pattern is written to knit the dress flat and then seam it up the back but I
knit it in the round. I also ignored the ribbing pattern (sparkly yarn doesn't
need that visual interest) and shaped the dress so it curved to the
body. Knitting in the round helped this
process because I was able to try the dress on a doll every inch or so
to see where the decreases and increases should go.

This is the same dress but two of the three ruffles can be detached to change the look.
(left to right)
Dress with both ruffles attached
Dress with both ruffles attached
Dress with both ruffles removed
Dress with ruffle around waist

The lovely model is the FAO Ravishing in Rouge Silkstone.

This is the Knit-Cro-Sheen cotton/metallic yarn that was used to knit the dress.