Drop Waist Baby Doll Gown

I didn't precisely set out to change this pattern into a drop waist dress, but I did want the top of the dress to be longer before I started the skirt based on my experience from making the first dress. I actually kind of like the look of this dress. When I attempt this again I might make the top a little shorter but I'd still stick with the dropped waist. I rather like how it looks.

For those of you interested in making doll clothes you can find a free pattern for the dress and hat here. The shoes are from another free pattern set Peachy Keen found here. Since they fit the JC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Pink Dollwith minimal challenges it has become my pattern of choice. I use an I hook to get the shoes to fit and I add a couple of chains to the strap and the shoes fit easily. I've tried several other patterns with varied success. I also find the strap helps keep the shoes on. Even when I can find a pattern that fits, the shoes still don't always stay on the feet.

This project helped me with my mission to wipe out the orphan yarn in my stash. This is another ball of sport baby yarn that thankfully is much smaller than the yellow ball. I've used it on several other projects over the years, but it takes a while to finish one off. I think I still at least one more doll project left before I can declare this ball finished.

Some notes for myself I used an I hook with the sport yarn to make the outfit fit the doll. I used a snap as a closure the fist time I made this outfit this year. This time I made the dress in the round allowing it to be slid on and off and it works fine. I would do that in the future as it is simple to make and for the child to dress the doll.

I write this during the last days of January and I can see my stash of baby doll clothes growing for the doll donation. I'm hopeful in February to have enough of a supply that I can start to turn to the 18 inch dolls and continue on my holiday boxes going out to family.

Yellow Baby Doll Dress

Every year I promise myself that I will attack my stash yarn. As I write this in January, I feel like I'm already making a bigger impact on that goal than I have in previous years because I'm digging in to yarn that has been living here far too long.

I mentioned in a previous post about this pattern that I wanted to experiment with making this pattern with sport yarn, but didn't want to buy any. So I went digging to see what I had on hand. This dress was a product of that goal. I found one of those big balls of baby sport yarn and found a matching Bernat Satin to use as trim. I'm going to continue to look for patterns to use up the yellow ball along with the endless purple I've got on hand.

Notes to myself. I started out following the pattern directions but the dress was too tight using the e hook. I ended up needing a g hook to make this fit using sport weight yarn. With the g it is loose enough for little hands to take the dress off on and off easily as it has no buttons or snaps and one must be able to pull it on and off. While this is a plus for me because I don't have to sew buttons, it does require a balance to make it loose enough to allow it to slip on and off but not so big that it hangs off the doll. I think I accomplished that by going to the g hook.

I used two free patterns to make this outfit. The dress and hat are from Linmary Knits here. The shoes are also from a free pattern set Peachy Keen available here.

The shoes are a darker color as I needed to make them from worsted weight and this is the lightest yellow I have on hand. I need an I hook to make these shoes fit the doll.

Peachy Keen Baby Doll

I've been looking at this set since it was posted and thinking I love it but I'll never get to it. You can find the free pattern here.

Well never arrived with the Big Sister project and I loved this outfit. I think what sold me on it was the jacket. It reminded me of the formal church coats from my childhood. We had play coats to wear outside and get dirty, but there was a "nice" coat we were supposed to keep clean and wear for special occasions like going to church. I doubt I ever owned one in pink or peach as the pattern called for, but I do remember them being more formal than the zippered jackets we wore most of the time. They generally were cloth, mostly wool and they buttoned.

I went with pink for this outfit because I am determined to decrease my stash and I had some that was perfect for this project that I really wanted to start using up. This is one of my favorite outfits of the Big Sister project. Partly because I stepped out and did something I didn't think I would do. The other reason is it brought back some happy childhood memories. My thanks to Darski as always for all her wonderful patterns that made this project so much fun.

For those of you following along, the baby has shoes.

Annabell Crochet Baby Doll Dress

Every so often I start out to make a pattern and it doesn't happen or only part of it works for me. I've learned not to push it too hard or it can break the crochet spirit so to speak. Sometimes a doll outfit isn't right for this time. I started to make a dress from petite designs which you can purchase here. The dress wasn't working for me, but I loved the hat. Where time was a factor I moved on to the next outfit.

I had printed Annabell's Crochet Dress and decided I had to attempt this as part of the doll project. You can find the free pattern here. It had such a dainty almost lacy look to it. When I first looked at the picture I wasn't sure if this was crocheted in thread or yarn. To ease your mind I will tell you the dress is made in 4 ply yarn. This was another great project to use up yarn. I had some left over yarn from a special project I'd made a few years ago for her and now her doll has a dress from the same yarn.

This dress is another that works up quickly. While I think it looks dainty and lacy, it was very simple to create. Again you will see no booties, although the pattern does have them if you'd like to try them for your doll. I did try but the doll didn't like them. This time they were too big and I couldn't fit them. I have a suspicion this doll is going to spend most of its life shoe less.

Baby Doll Dress and Hat

This dress was adapted from a free pattern for a 14 Inch baby doll found here. Thanks Recycle Cindy for providing the free pattern.

I used Red Heart worsted instead of Caron, which made it a little thicker. The pattern doll had smaller measurements to begin with and the Mary Maxim cloth dolls tend to be a bit beefier than some of the 15-inch baby doll patterns I have used. I decided to use buttons instead of Velcro to close the back. I had to make the straps slightly longer to account for the bigger body. I also started with a larger hook. However, as pattern adjustments go, this was one of the easier doll patterns I've adjusted for the Mary Maxim doll. I hope to make an additional one for the second donation doll.


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