My Life Ready for Spring

I hadn't realized that it had been a while since I made this dress until I tried to pull up my notes from previous years for this project. With that in mind I made more detailed notes for future projects. This is one of my older 18 inch doll patterns from Maggie's crochet and it still can be purchased here.

Notes:

I used Caron One Pound Lilac for the main portion of the dress and Herrschners Worsted Baby Tiara for the contrasting color.

The gauge was a bit tricky for the dress. I made gauge with an H hook but the dress was still snug with an I hook. I'd consider making the dress with a J hook next time and reducing to a H hook after passing the hips for my next attempt.

In the past I've used contrasting kitchen cotton but I didn't have any of the appropriate colors on hand so I went with the Herrschners yarn. The outcome works but if I have the cotton in the future I'd go with the cotton it rests better.

I used a G hook for the shoes. They are a bit large. I added a chain 5 skip 1 ss trim around. Then I took a long piece of yarn and using a yarn needle threaded it around the top of the shoe starting from the front so I could tie it off in a bow in the front. I knotted the ends to keep them from fraying..

I played with the basket pattern a bit. I used one of each of the colors with an H hook. When I got past the bottome section I worked a dc in the back loop and started reducing in each row until I was happy with the shape. At this point I made a simple handle.

The headband was made with the above listed colors and a G hook. I'd consider an F hook for the next attempt.

Collar works best if the sc are worked so they face the back side of the dress as this helps when you turn to add the chains. I tried putting the sc in the standard form and I couldn't get the collar to lay flat.

American Girl Easter

I'm slowly working my way through the holiday donation outfits for the 18 inch dolls. I haven't even started on the baby dolls yet.

This Easter outfit is Maggie's Crochet Ready For Spring pattern and it can be purchased here. When it was originally published on Annie's Attic I had the hardest time getting it. It was sold out and back ordered before I even had a chance to get my order in for it. At that point I wasn't much for digital copies. However, I did eventually get my copy.

I tried making this a couple of times and until I finished Cinderella's outfit this year I never realized why I was unable to finish this outfit. My mistake was in confusing the many types of shells. This pattern also uses multiple shells. In fact I still had to pull it out once when I realized I'd mixed up the 5 stitch shell with the 3 stitch shell making for a much smaller skirt.

There is no brand color cited for the trim. The yarn for the dress, trim, and headband was TLC and I don't even know if it is still available for purchase. I couldn't find it the last time I tried to make the outfit. I originally tried acrylic variegated in a shade close to the picture, but I didn't like the way it looked. I had some pastel kitchen cotton and I used that and thought the look was better. I also used the cotton to make the headband and I liked the way it turned out.

For the basket I used two strains of my friend's acrylic that I've been trying to finish off. It's a little larger than I needed but it worked.