Barbie Prairie Rose

I've been collecting Annie's Fashion Doll Crochet Club Patterns from second hand sites for years as I missed out buying them new. However, finding an actual binder of the pattern renewed my interest in focusing on using the patterns for the donation. If I was going to invest in finding a collection of the patterns I needed to commit to using as many as would work for this type of donation.

One of the ones I pulled out and put in my to do pile for this Spring was Pretty in Pink FC30-02 which has 2 different patterns that I hope to complete. As you may guess from the title of the blog this is the Prairie Rose pattern. The second is called English Tea Rose.

Notes:

A reminder to myself to read the pattern completely before beginning.

I'm constantly adapting patterns because often the older Barbie patterns don't fit the modern Barbies. They can be too big or too small depending on the year Barbie I happen to purchase for the donation. I generally can tell if there are arm holes or if not when the bodice is complete and you can see even without arm holes if the fit will work.

I generally start with the suggested fiber and try for gauge. In this case it was size 10 thread with a B hook. I tried the dress on Barbie and Skipper and the back wouldn't close on either doll. Not having size 5 in pink I tried size 3 but it was incredibly bulky. That's when a note on the pattern caught my eye right and left plackets. I googled the word as I was not familiar with it and then I had my answer to closing the back. These were panels for the back of the dress to close it so I could use the size 10 thread and the B hook.

I chose to use thread instead of ribbon for the ties. When I make this again I would reduce the number of rows for the apron as it is slightly long as written.

The dress fits Skipper rather well and I'm thinking of making it without the accessories as I don't think they would fit her as well as the dress alone does.

Ken A Nip in the Air

I found a binder of the Annie's Fashion Doll Collection patterns I'd been hunting for and promised myself I'd start working on the patterns that fit the donation this year. I've started and its been an interesting journey so far. This is the first Ken pattern I've worked on and there were some interesting challenges.

Hook sizes and fiber are always a starting place with older projects as what is listed isn't always available. In this case the older hook sizes have to be translated to modern mm thread hook sizes. A size 7 for instance isn't as helpful as it might have been when these projects were written.

One challenge I've found recently has been finding shades of thread for these projects. In this case I needed size 5 dark grey thread for Ken's pants. Grey is a challenging color at best but dark grey is even harder. My options for size 5 thread were limited to begin with but my amazing husband stumbled upon size 5 Pearl thread in the embrodiery section of Michael's. I had no idea if it would work but I had him bring home 7 skeins as I knew I'd need a significant amount to finish the pants with the smaller sized options.

Notes:

Trousers:

To my very happy surprise the thread made gauge and was easy to use with a crochet hook once I rolled it into a ball. I used a b hook for these pants. I'd consider going slightly smaller as the waist ended up larger than was helpful despite making guage. I would sew the belt shut and add the buckle after the fact next time. The pants should fit snugger than mine but I suspect they still can slide on and off. There is a snap on the pants to close them and I'd keep that but the two snaps are bulky and don't sit well together.

I needed 5 skeins of the size 5 Pearl thread to complete the pants for future reference.

I will need to reduce the wasit size the next time I make these pants either through using a smaller hook or reducing stitches.

I only needed 46 of the original 56 rows of the pants for this doll.

Sweater:

I believe this was made with size 10 Thread Art. I used a 1.8mm thread crochet hook. The original sweater, hat and mittens were made with red but it had a real Christmas feel to it. I wanted an outfit that would last through the fall and winter season as I don't tend to make many donation outfits for Ken.

I followed the body of the sweater as written. In the future I would make the sweater a little longer so it tucks better into the pants. I did have to change the arms as I found the arms as written to be huge.

Arms to row 21

Skip to row 27 completing 27-28

Skip to 34 completing 35-35

Skip to 38 completing 38-29

Repeat 39 to row 42

Mittens:

This was a different style of mittens than I've made before but they worked using a size 1.5mm hook.

Hat:

The hat was also made with 1.8mm thread hook with size 10 thread I used for the sweater and mittens. The white is Aunt Lydia's size 10.

Barbie Q and E Prairie Dress

This is one of Annie's out of print Fashion Doll Crochet Club Patterns Q and E Prairie Dress FC27-03.

The original could be a fancy dress western outfit but as I was making this for the donation it seemed more practical to move it towards a princess dress. Adding the sleeves and collar didn't seem like it would improve the dress and I really liked the look of the dress as I finished it. I mention the rest in case anyone decides to hunt down the pattern and realizes the picture of the finished item is different than what I decided to make.

Notes:

I'm really working with new thread sizes this year. I thought introducing size 20 and 3 was bold but this year it looks like I'm moving into size 5 and eventually 8.

This was made with Creative Yarn Source Omega Yarn Light Blue and White. I've been starting to research my options for where to buy my multiple sizes of threads looking at color options and price.

Note to myself for future projects I needed 3 light blue Omegas to make this outift. It is a heavy dress. The white trim requires a minimal amount of white. If I added the sleeves I might have finished the 3rd cone of light blue.

I used a size C hook for the blue and a 1.8mm hook for the white trim. A reminder for future projects don't forget to switch back to C hook after finishing section of white trim. Also don't switch from triple to dc.

I decreased around the top for a better fit as it was too big. I didn't finish under the arms or it would have been too tight.

Barbie Prairie Dress

I have been hunting for the binder with the Annie's Fashion doll crochet pattern for a bit and was so excited to finally find one. It wasn't complete but I discovered I didn't have too many duplicates with the patterns I've collected from used pattern sites over the years. I promised myself I would start to use the patterns that were practical for the donation this year. This was the first pattern that I selected.

I had tried this pattern about 15 years ago for one of my nieces before I was comfortable using thread. I also didn't do as much altering of patterns then as I do know to get an item to fit when the directions just don't seem to work for the doll. I wanted to try thread for this donation project and I was much more willing to change directions to get a finished product that worked.

Normally I will make changes directly on the pattern but the text on this pattern is pretty thick and I made substantial changes so I used the notes option on my phone and printed them out to include in the pattern for future attempts.

The pattern calls for size 5 thread. I don't remember the last time I used size 5 thread but I'm thinking it was a Christmas project as the only colors I had on hand were red, green, and white. That being said lately I've found I've had to decrease thread and hook size for most of my Barbie patterns to get them to fit the modern Barbie's. This was not the case with this pattern.

Notes:

For many Barbie, Chelsea, and Calico Critter patterns I have found myself using size 20 thread instead of the suggested 10.

I was hoping this meant I could use size 10 instead of size 5 but the pattern was too small in size 10 with a few exceptions. I ended up using size 3 as I had it on hand but I've ordered some size 5 thread to try as the 3 was heavier than I wanted for this outfit. It worked but I'm hoping the 5 will make the other patterns big enough but lighter in weight.

I used size 3 and 10 slate blue color 28 thread from Thread Art and Aunt Lydia's size 10 White for this project.

Dress:

B Hook

I didn't reduce after fow 12 staying at 21 stitches.

Finish row 30 and skip to row 33.

Arm:

One thing I'd remembered from making this pattern previously is the picture shows dainty sleeves but the pattern creates balloons. I first tried the sleeves with the size 3 thread and then with the size 10. Both were a problem.

I stuck with the size 10 thread and reduced to a 1.8mm hook and changed the stitch count.

I did 13 rows staying at the original 15 stitches. I didn't reduce at the wrists as the hands got stuck in the dress making it hard to put on and take off. I did a ss around the edges to reduce the hands catching on the sleeve and the risk of fraying the end of the sleeve.

Bonnet:

The bonnet convinced me to try buy the size 5 thread as it was hard to get it to fit Barbie's head playing with my make do options.

I used the size 3 thread and alternated hook sizes.

Size D hook rows 1-4

Size C hook row 5

Size B hook 6-7

Apron:

Size 10 thread

1.25mm hook

There is a decorative border for this apron. Don't reduce after row 12

There is a decorative border for this apron. I had finished it before I realized I'd missed the directions for it but I'd consider making it again with the border.