My Life Fruity Stripes Dress

I'm always looking for new patterns to try for the 18 inch dolls. You can find this free pattern here.

This pattern required a little adaptation as I really try to make my donation clothes as child friendly as possible. The pattern calls for joining the dress after round 4 and I found this made the dress next to impossible to get on and off easily. There just wasn't the room to get the arms in the arm holes. To fix this I continued to crochet in rows using the mirrow stitch suggested for round 3 until I was closer to the waist line and then I joined and continued in rows. This makes the dress easier to put on and take off. Others may not consider this to be a challenge but I figure if I have trouble getting the clothing on and off I don't want a child to become frustrated with the effort.

The top of the dress starts in a unique way and it makes for an interesting top patterns. I ended up adding finishing stitches for the back as I left more of it open. I also did sc stitches around the sleeves to finish them off as well.

These are the shoes I make most often for the 18" dolls and it comes from a Sweet Silver Creations pattern Sailor Dress you can purchase here. Just a note to myself the H hook is the correct hook for these shoes. The dress pattern called for an I hook and for some reason I forgot to change hooks when I made the shoes. They are a slight bit larger than needed.

The pattern doesn't have a catchy title so I went with the Red Heart Stripy yarn color. I do enjoy working with bright colors on grey days. It cheers me up a bit.

My Life Doll Dress, Hat, and Shoes

This has long been one of my favorite 18" doll patterns. It works up easily and requires only one button or in my case I use a snap to close it in the back. This pattern uses the Red Heart Fruity Stipe yarn but I've made it with a variety of colors. I even use this pattern for the 16" baby dolls as it easily adapts to their needs as well. You can find the free pattern here.

I've used the Bates Bamboo hooks for years, but recently I've been having some hand issues so I'd ordered a couple of the Bates Ergonomic soft handled hooks to use in making the doll carriers as those are the most taxing projects on my hands every year. I decided to test out the Susan Bates Ergonomic Crochet Hook 5.5"-size H8/5mmfor this project. It has a slightly different feel but I've been using the same set of hooks for years so I wasn't surprised. I did like the feel on my hands. These hooks are longer than my Bates Bamboo. I still like my Bamboo best which is good as the Bates Ergonomic seem to be disappearing like my Bates Bamboo. I don't think it hurts to switch up once and a while and work the muscles a little differently. I'm looking forward to seeing how they work on the carriers.

Back to this project the hat was just a throw together. The shoes are one of my favorite shoe patterns part of a paid pattern set that can be found here.

While I already have the Our Generation dolls purchased for the 2021 doll donation, the My Life dolls have proved to be more elusive. I was able to get a great deal on the Our Generation dolls around Thanksgiving, but not only have there been no deals on the My Life dolls they've just been sold out at the low price end that I buy for the donation. Not a huge issue as I have until next fall to get the two I need but I like to get them early. I ordered the 10 inch Lots to Love doll and an extra for next year from Walmart and was also able to buy the Lots to Love 14 inches Baby Doll around Thanksgiving so that is also ready to go.

I still need to get two small baby dolls and one "toddler" doll. The toddler and the one of the baby dolls are on back order. I was hoping the last baby doll might go on sale as well. I'll be watching the post Christmas sales to see. I have the 16" dolls after stocking up last year. However, if they drop in price I'll be putting away a few of those as well.

American Girl Dress

I saw a free pattern for an American Girl Wrap Sweater Dress here. I love the blend of a variegated top and a solid colored bottom. I downloaded the pattern, but struggled with the skirt. Not terribly surprising, I had another pattern similar to this I've never gotten to work. I always end up with a ballooning skirt instead of the beautiful webbed skirt you can see in the pictures provided by the designer.

I tried the pattern twice during the Super Bowl game and then once on Monday. When I realized it wasn't working for me, I decided it was time to move forward and add a dc skirt instead. I love the color contrasts in this dress. The picture sadly doesn't do them justice. I may try something like this with a few other variegated colors.

I'm working on a dress with an underskirt pattern at the moment. I ordered the yarn I need for the Redheart Redcross Nurse pattern and I'm hoping to get to work on that when it arrives.

American Girl Dress, Poncho and Hat

My DH bought me this pattern as one of my Valentine's day gifts. It is called Gray & Burgundy, Hat, Poncho & Shoes and you can find it here.

The picture doesn't do it justice. This was one of the best patterns I've worked on in a while. My guage matched perfectly. The only challenge I had was I used a lighter Lion Brand yarn for the red dress portion so I needed to add a little to the closing in the back. For this reason I chose to use buttons instead of snaps. I'm also running low on snaps and have a healthy supply of red buttons, so it also worked out well as a trade off. It's not clear in this shot, but the bows are great accessories for this outfit. This will be on my list of outfits to repeat.

The shoes and socks pattern is one of the best fitting I've made to date. I had to make no adjustments to get it to fit the doll. I love the way the socks look with the black shoes.

I'm currently working on ami's and some dishcloths for swaps. Then I have to get busy on my Easter and birthday projects. I hope to get back on track with my doll projects after that. I found the 12" doll I was looking for, so I may even have a shot at including that in this year's donation.

Barbie and American Girl Doll Free Patterns are listed on my blog at these locations:

Barbie Crochet and Sewing Page

Barbie Knitting Page

Ken Page

Kelly/Skipper Page

American Girl Doll Crochet and Sewing

American Girl Doll Knitting

Doll Blankets and Pillow Patterns

Baby Doll Patterns:

Baby Doll and Cabbage Patch

Additional Doll Patterns also Available on the Holiday Blogs:

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving