Baby Doll Diaper Bags

Crochetville's Wishlist came through again to help me with my doll donation project. These doll diaper bags arrived from a Polish Fairy Godmother last Tuesday. Now I just have to make the items to fill them up before the deadline which usually arrives around Thanksgiving. This is such a relief as I really don't like making bags. These are so adorable and will make some little girls quite happy.

Baby Doll Carrier

After taking a break to let my hands heal up I tackled and finished the second doll carrier for the donation last week. Thanks to a thoughtful Fairy Godmother from Crochetville, I don't need to crochet a blanket for this set as she sent me one as part of our wishlist there. I am grateful as this has let me move on to other projects.

The doll carrier is a free pattern and you can find it here.

Now for my project notes. I fell in love with the color of the Big Twist yarn while at JoAnn's and thought it would be a nice break from working with the Caron Pounders or Red Heart. The yarn is softer and I liked the pale pink color. The softer should have been a sign I'd made the wrong choice. Softer is wonderful for MANY projects, but not the doll carriers, which are trying to create an almost basket to carry the dolls in by using 3 strands of yarn crocheted together. The yarn broke more than once and I've never had this happen with any other brand of acrylic I've used making the doll carriers. That to put it mildly was frustrating. So while I will continue to by Big Twist for other projects, I'm making a note to remind myself that no matter how tempting the colors are I must never buy it again to make the doll carriers.

I am thrilled that the doll carriers are finished for the year. I love the way these come out and next year am planning on sending an additional one to a family member so that will be three in a year, but I never ever find myself sad when I'm done making them as they are extremely tough on the hands and wrists. Three strands is just nasty.

Baby Doll Diapers

I like adding fun details to the doll donation. Baby doll diapers are always a cute extra. This is a simple free pattern I was able to retrieve using the Wayback machine here. I suggest if you have the remotest interest in this pattern that you print a copy as these links often only last for a limited time.

This is a wonderful pattern. It is simple but effective. It has worked for every baby doll I've used from the 12 inch to the 16 inch dolls I use now primarily by adjusting the hook size. For me I use an I hook with worsted weight yarn for the 16 inch doll. I also use snaps rather than buttons. I tried the buttons, but I found them hard to manipulate. The snaps seemed easier for little hands.

Another challenge I met this year that you can see from the picture is I completed 4 diapers, 2 for each doll. The doll can wear one and the child has a diaper to "change" the doll with in the diaper bag which I will eventually have to make. That was on my list of projects to complete last year and I only managed one diaper per doll.

I've been asked why off white for the diapers. I was gifted quite a bit of off white and I've been trying to finish it up. It fits with my yarn diet as I'm a bit low on solid white at the moment.

Baby Doll Bunting

I try to challenge myself with something different each year with the donation project. It keeps it interesting and it helps me to learn new things. This year I decided to try a baby bunting. This is an old out of print Annie's Attic Debbie Ann pattern Debbie Ann's Baby Bunting pattern number 87F48 for those of you who might be interested in locating. I believe the original Debbie Ann pattern came out when the Cabbage Patch soft doll craze was going. Annie's Attic had two soft doll patterns that you could crochet the soft doll patterns and then they offered several outfits you could buy separately. I'm no expert on the subject so if someone knows more feel free to leave a comment and I'll happily post it.

I've picked up a couple of the outfits and played with re purposing them. After failing with another baby doll bunting I thought I'd take a crack at this one. Sometimes patterns just work better for one person over another. Patterns are a matter of communication and when you have limited ability to have a conversation with the person who writes the pattern finding someone who writes the way you think about crocheting is always a blessing.

This pattern worked well for the JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Doll which has become my baby doll donation now that the Mary Maxim dolls are no longer available.

This was the second bunting. The one major change I made was to use the bonnet from the first bunting that didn't work out for me. The head of Annie's soft sculpture doll is significantly bigger than the store doll. The body fits is similar so the outfit fit well. However, after making the bonnet for the first doll I decided to use the bonnet pattern from the bunting pattern I'd abandoned here. This bonnet pattern just fit the doll better. The Annie bonnet design is just too big for this doll's head.

This was my first try at the Annie's pattern. It had a couple of challenges. First I promised myself, no yarn purchases until after the New Year. So, when I went into my yarn room these pinks seemed like they were all the same shade. Not so much. However, I was determined to finish this thing. So it has shades of pink. The second one I made sure I had enough of the same brand and color before I started so this wasn't an issue. We live and learn.