16 Inch Baby Doll Summer Dress

Every year I promise myself I will get to patterns I've bought but never used. Some are modern and some are long out of print treasures I've found from various pattern hunts.

The dress and hat for this outfit come from a 1981 House of White Birches newsprint leaflet Baby Doll Fashions to Crochet by Margaret Funk. The booklet has a nice table of contents that outlines what patterns are available for what size dolls. I've long realized this is just a suggestion as a 16 inch baby doll is not always the same depending on how it is designed but its a good starting point.

I used the Summer Dress pattern designed for the 16 inch doll and adapted the hat pattern for a 13 inch doll also found in the leaflet for this outfit.

Notes:

This outfit was made with Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn Meringue.

To get this to fit the JC 16 Inch Baby Doll I started with an E hook and repeated row 5 once. Thus rows 3-6 follow the original directions for 3-5 moving each row directions down one. For the original row 6 now row 7 that starts the skirt I moved to a D hook to decrease the skirt size as it was too large with the e hook.

I started the directions for the 13 inch Baby Doll Bell hat and increased the rows prior to creating the brim to account for the larger 16 inch baby doll head.

Some of you may recognize my go to shoe pattern. The shoes are part of a free pattern called Peachy Keen found here. I used an I hook and a ball of worsted weight yellow yarn I found in my bag of left over yarn from previous projects. I'm trying to attack this pile of yarn when ever I get the chance before starting on new skeins of yarn.

This pattern is going to be on my go to list for donation patterns. I will hopefully be making another one for the second donation doll prior to November. It's a quick set but it looks quite nice.

There are several other patterns in this booklet I hope to try out to see how they will work for the various baby dolls.

Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll Sweet Baby Doll Romper with Sweater

I pick up Amy Carrico's doll patterns any time her store is open on Etsy, always finding one pattern I missed the last time she was open. This title of this pattern is Sweet Baby Boy Romper for the Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll and sadly her shop is not currently offering any doll patterns so I can't provide a link to the pattern.

Notes:

I used the suggested e hook for this pattern.

The pants for this outfit actually seem to fit better than the one for the previous romper. I've yet to compare patterns so I'm not sure why that is the case, but this second pair did fit better.

This sweater is closer to a coat as I ended up adding an additional set of rows. I'd go back to the original shorter length when I make this again. The "coat" is still cute but the sweater is a better look.

The outfit is made with Bernat Baby White and Purple. For the time being I've still been able to get the purple at Walmart. I find color selection in baby weight yarns can be challenging so I try to stock up when I find something other than pink, blue, and white.

I keep coming back to this pattern each year because I love the texture in the sweater. It has a wonderful look to it. The feeted pants in her patterns are an adorable addition and eliminate the challenge of booties falling off the dolls.

16 Inch Baby Doll Bathing Suit

I'm continuing on my quest to send all the dolls off with a swim suit. This pattern is one of Char's patterns you can purchase here. This pattern was designed for the smaller AG Bitty Baby so some adjustments are required to help it fit the larger JC 16 Inch Baby Doll.

I went with fall colors because I enjoy the fall colors and was in the mood to celebrate the change of weather.

Notes:

I used Herrschners worsted 4 for this outfit instead of Caron Simply Soft for the main portion of the dress. The trim was made from Red Heart stritpes Tuity Fruity.

I used a K hook for the upper portion of the outfit as the doll body is wide. I think when I make this again I'd try the J hook first to see if it would be a better option as it was a little large with the K but too small with the I. I used an I hook for the trim.

For the Hat I did row 1 of the pattern. Then I did 5 dc chain 1 rounds followed by sc rounds. I then followed row 11 to the end of the hat pattern.

I made the sandals with an I hook.

Our Generation Boy Shirt Pants and Shoes

I've added the Our Generation Boy Doll Daniel to the donation this year. I'd been working on finding patterns that would fit the doll and this week I decided to take one of Adoring Doll's Christmas patterns and turned it into a more daily wear shirt, pants, and shoes set. You can purchase the original pattern here.

This is an adorable Christmas themed pattern but while I have lots of daily wear patterns for the girl dolls I don't have as many for the boy.

This one was easy to adapt. I am actually thinking about turning this into a summer outfit with shorts and perhaps using a sweater pattern in combination with the hat, boots, and pants from this pattern to make more of a winter set for the doll. We will see what I get to before the donation date.

Notes:

I used an I hook for the shirt. I chose not to go with a striped shirt as I wanted something simple for this first outfit. Instead of a sc border I went with reverse sc as it just provides a more interesting look.

The pants took me a bit to figure out an appropriate hook size. I have weird guage at times but I needed a K hook to get the waist to fit the doll. Anything smaller with the stitch count and the pants would not slide up and down the body. Since I was not going for a holiday look I did not trim the bottom of the pants.

The shoes are designed to be boots and I do intend to make a winter outfit at some point and will be back for the boots. However, I wanted more of a shoe pattern for this outfit so I finished off the boot pattern after finishing row 7 and I found it made a nice shoe. This could be my shoe pattern for the boy. I used an I hook to get the shoes to fit the feet.

I hope to return to make the hat when I make a winter outfit. If I have time I'd love to include some holiday outfits. For now my focus is gettig some regular wear outfits as I suspect they will be used more frequently.

Chelsea Summer Play Set

Last year I found a free Amelia Thimble doll crochet pattern here that adapted rather easily for Chelsea.

I stuck to taking the top and making it into a dress. The pants were a more complicated transfer.

Notes:

This pattern is primarily a starting point for the dress but it is important to acknowledge the designers work and credit it as I'd never have tried this without her pattern.

With that said I did quite a bit of rewriting to get this to fit Chelsea and took my advice from last year to make an additional change.

The pattern calls for size 30 crochet thread to make it fit Chelsea I used size 10.

I used a 1.8 mm hook.

Rows 1-4 are done as written with the changes to thread and hook.

I added an additional 4 rows to lengthen the top prior to adding the skirt section and joined after finishing row 8.

This time I followed my suggestion from last year and began with a 2dc ch1 2dc v-stitch after finishing row 8 to start the skirt. This created a better skirt. I continued this pattern until the skirt went past the knee. I didn't count the rows. I finished the back and added a snap to close.

Lots to Love 14 inch Baby Doll Sweet Little Romper

I've been rotating through the baby dolls trying to make sure each has enough outfits for the donation. Today we have the Lots to Love 14 inch Baby doll.

Amy Carrico is one of my favorite baby doll pattern designers but unfortunatly she is not currently listing her patterns on Etsy so I can't give you a link to where I purchased the pattern. I will update if the pattern becomes available. I made a point of picking up all the patterns she had available for the dolls I donate the last time I found her online as I find her stuff easy to make with readily available yarns.

Notes:

I use an E hook for the outfit and an F hook for the headband. I did a sc 3 dc for the waist as I found this time the pants were just a bit large at the waist. I also added a reduction row in white to trim the sleeves with a sc picot sk stitch sc picot.

This is made with Bernat Baby Sport Pink and White. For those of you hunting for baby weight yarn I foud it recently at a reasonable price at Walmart. Our local store doesn't generally have a great selection of yarn but I was pleased they had some of the Baby sport colors that were harder to find online and they were cheaper than I had found online. Every Walmart seems to have a different yarn supply but its worth a check.

Lil Cutesies Swim Suit

I can take the Lil Cutesie doll off my in need of swim suit list after finishing this outfit. My Swim Suit Challenge of 2023 is coming along as I'm slowly checking them off my list. The suits are generally pretty quick projects to complete so I like to squeeze them in while I'm working on other projects.

This is the same pattern from Char Caywood I used with the Lots to Love 8 Inch doll that can be purchased here.

My 1.75mm hook had gone on a couch vacation while I was working on this so I used my 1.8mm. Generally one would think not a huge difference but it felt like this suit was larger than the one I'd made previously. Since the 1.75mm has returned from its vacation, when I make this again I'd use the 1.75mm hook over the 1.8.

I believe the pink for this outfit is Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet thread in French Rose. The contrast color I belive is Hobby Lobby's size 10 Artiste but I couldn't find the color on the website. Variegated colored thread can be harder to locate so I tend to stock up when I find colors I like but it can take me years to go through it so I'm not surprised colors disappear.

Chelsea Simply Bluetiful

I was fortunate to stumble upon Rebeckah's Treasures website last year where I discovered a pattern set that I've been adapting to fit the female fashion dolls for the donation. You can find the free Chelsea pattern here.

This is a quick simple project if you don't mind using crochet thread which is pretty hard to avoid when crocheting for the smaller fashion dolls.

Notes:

I know this isn't Aunt Lydia's size 10 thread but which alternate brand it is I don't know. I'm going to have to develop a method for tracking them once the labels are removed. I keep the sizes separated but rarely the brands. This becomes an issue when I want to replace a specific color so perhaps its time to work on a system.

The pattern suggests a 1.7mm hook I used my 1.8mm and the size was fine.

Row 7 starts a decrease and I chose not to decrease as the dress was too tight when I tried this last year and I noted it to prevent me from making the mistake this year.

I did a ss hem rather than the suggested trim.

I made a romper from this last year and am considering trying that again but I have other Chelsea patterns I'd like to try first and then maybe come back again if I have time.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Dress with Full Skirt

I'm starting to build quite the wardrobe for the Lots to Love 10 inch baby doll donation. Thanks to a coupon from an Etsy vendor I picked up several new crochet patterns for the doll. You can purchase this one here.

These patterns have been a wonderful addition to my doll pattern library as they work up quickly and haven't required many adaptations to get them to fit. This is a major time savor as I'm often adapting as I go with patterns.

Notes:

I used an H hook for the dress portions and the suggested G hook for all other parts of the outfit. I found after making some of her other outfits this was a good match.

The pattern calls for Caron Simply Soft, I substituted Herrschners worsted from my stash. I don't currently have variagated so I chose a solid blue green for the skirt instead of the Robins Egg Caron suggested but I liked the outcome. I'm looking into ordering some variagated for future doll projects as this yarn just works up better without splitting and piling I've had issue with from the Simply Soft.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Summer Dress

I haven't seen many patterns over the years for the 10 inch Lots to Love Baby dolls. I have a an older leaflet from Annie Potter but it just isn't as common a doll so fewer patterns seemed to be out there.

Recently after getting a coupon from an Etsy vendor I started searching her patterns and discovered a selection of patterns for this doll I hadn't found on previous trips. I likely just missed them but I decided to grab them as previous experiences have taught me that Etsy vendors come and go so if a pattern designer makes doll patterns that work up quickly and easily, I tend to stock up now as I find them. You can purchase this pattern here.

Notes:

I mentioned on the previous post that I'm not a huge fan of Caron Simply Soft. I just find it splits and then it tends to pile. These are not my favorite attributes for doll clothes.

A while back I had purchased some Herrschners house brand yarns in baby and worsted weights. While I'm not a fan of the yarn for afghans and human wearables as I've had issues with it, I do find it is great for doll clothes. With inflation the cost has risen dramatically but my stash was created when the yarn was far cheaper than most "brand" yarns. I find it to be lighter than traditional worsted weight which again often makes it a great fit for some of my doll projects like this one which are between sport weight and worsted weight yarn. Where possible I will be substituting Herrschners for Caron in these patterns.

I started with a G hook for the top but switched to a H hook for the bottom. In the future I might actually use an H hook for the dress in full. The g hook worked well for all the accessories.

The panties fit well and would work well for an outfit that lacked them.

Reminder for the skirt mark the chain spaces with markers in the first row of skirt. It took me a couple of trys to get this to work out for some reason and once I marked the spaces I had no further trouble. I sometimes come back to a pattern a year later and wonder why it possibly made sense then and not now. It is because I forget to write stuff like this down.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Sweater Set

I've been trying to acquire more patterns for the smaller baby dolls to give myself some variety in what I send for the donations. This is Char Caywood's Christmas Sweater pattern you can purchase here.

I chose not to got with Christmas colors for two reasons. The first was I don't have time to make many outfits for the smaller dolls so while I do make an occasional holiday themed outfit I try to make most of the outfits somehting that would work year round for dressing up baby.

The second is a more practical one. I promise myself every year I will focus on shopping from my stash for my doll projects. A bright sunny sweater set was in the stash, a Christmas one was not. I don't tend to keep lots of Caron Simply soft on hand and this is what was available when I did a quick search. For my own notes in the future I'd likely go with Herrschners Worsted for this project. I have more color options in my stash and the yarn doesn't split or pile as badly.

Notes:

I used the suggested G hook for this outfit. While I needed to make adjustments in certain areas changing the hook size would have made the outfit big in other areas.

I added two rows to each of the trim panels of the sweater and then did sc chain 3 button holes to make it easier for my buttons to fit.

I did not decrease the final hdc row of the pants as they were too tight when I tried the suggestions for decreases but fit by keeping the previous row's stitch count.

The shoes fit as written but I changed colors in the final row and did a sc chain 3 at the top for fun.

I'm currently working on a bathing suit for the Lil Cutesies doll and trying to adapt some fashion doll patterns for the various Barbie dolls. I just can't believe how fast fall has advanced on me and before I know it the drop off date will have arrived!!!

Lots to Love 10 Inch Bathing Suit

Last year I adapted a pattern I'd previously used with the Lots to Love 8 Inch Doll From Annie Potter Presents Sweet Baby Doll Layette to give this doll a swim suit.

It was cute but I really preferred the look I got making Char's swim suit for the Lots to Love 8 inch doll this year. It just had a better fit.

I hadn't seen one for the larger doll and I really didn't feel like trying to adapt a thread pattern when I received a coupon from Char's Etsy store and decided to see if there were any patterns that would be of use for the donation.

Sure enough she had the pattern in the larger size for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby Doll and Berenguer Baby Steps Doll. I've seen pictures and patterns for the Baby Steps doll but I've never actually seen the doll. However, the directions for both dolls are included along with a baby bikini pattern. You can purchase the pattern here.

Notes: I used Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Thread 3 Soft Mauve for the primary portion of this pattern.

The contrasting color is two strands of DMC size 10 thread used together I can no longer locate.

The pattern suggests an f hook I went with an e hook as I missed that in the directions and I've traditionally used an e hook with this thread. In the future I might try the f to make it just a tad loser on the swim suit and the cover. I'd stick with an e for the sandals and the hat.

This pattern includes a beach blanket and a bag along with additional bikini patterns. I chose to make the blanket but a bag for the baby seemed odd. I used Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport yarn in Pink and White for the blanket with a G hook. She has a really fun interesting pattern for the blanket that creates a neat texture.

Just a note for those who might be interested the smaller Lots to Love dolls are not widely available for in store or even online toy store purchases. However, since they are a good size for families who may not have room for the larger dolls I've continued to seek them out. Education stores that sell to non-school markets still often have the Lots to Love 10 inch dolls. Some online craft stores still sell the Lots Love 8 inch dolls as people still use them for holiday decorations. The Lots to Love 14 inch and the JC 16 inch dolls are still pretty widely available online. I rarely buy dolls in store any longer with the exception of the 18 inch dolls which are sometimes cheaper when I can get them in store.