Skipper Tennis

I mentioned when I wrote about Barbie's tennis outfit that I was working on one for Skipper as well. I finished up the skirt from the 1995 Leisure Arts Fashion Doll Leaflet Vacation Fashion Doll Wardrobe but the top was proving a more difficult fit. I put Skipper aside and finished off some other projects.

After finishig Ken's tennis outfit I decided it was time to take a crack at finishing off Skipper's outfit and made a very simple top alternating HDC and sc rows measuring to make sure the top fit and adding increases and then decreases to make sure the shirt was a good fit. I added chains for the arm holes and then crocheted into the chains into the next row and finished off with crocheting around the ends to finish off the top. I used snaps to close the back of the shirt.

I used the same method I did for Ken's head band I measured the distance around her head, cut 1/8" elastic, sewed it together and then crocheted around the elastic finishing off with a second row of slip stitches.

Barbie Beach Accessories

When possible I try to add accessories as well as clothing to the doll donations. I think it just adds some fun to the doll experience. Giving Barbie and Ken beach bags and a beach ball seemed like a great idea to add to their swim suits.

The pattern for the beach bags, towel, and beach ball are found in the same Summertime Blues Fashion Doll pattern set designed by Lori Zeller and found in Crochet World June 2009 that I used for Ken and Barbie's bathing suits.

The added white stripes in the beach ball made it easier to join the pieces together. I tried another beach ball from Annie's Fashion Doll His and Hers and without the additional seems mine didn't end up round and I decided to frog it and move on to other projects. Ken, Barbie and the rest of the family will have to share. I'm still hoping to get the rest of the siblings into bathing suits before the donation deadline.

Barbie Tennis Skirt and Top

I'm working through a 1995 Leisure Arts Fashion Doll Leaflet Vacation Fashion Doll Wardrobe and decided to make the tennis outfit. I realize there are more modern looks in tennis these days but not necessarily more modern Barbie patterns.

Since I have this one I thought I'd send Barbie off with a vintage tennis outfit. I've got the skirt finished for Skipper so she'll have a matching outfit. I just need to resize the pattern for the top to fit Skipper so Barbie will have a partner to play tennis with when she reaches her new home after the Christmas donation. I'm trying to track down mini tennis racquets. I have a couple of leads and I'll post information if I find them.

I used my Tulip Etimo Rose Steel Crochet Hook-Size 0/1.75mm for Barbie's skirt. The 1.5 mm hook ended up working for Skipper.

The top was a bit more challenging. I needed to go down to a 1.25mm hook and drop some rows as the shirt was too long for Barbie. When I made the first shirt with a 1.5mm shirt it actually fit Ken but it didn't look good on him.

I still need to finish Skipper's tennis top but I am trying to finish the Ocean Play Tower so it can be mailed at the end of June for my July birthday box. I'm hoping to make more ocean creatures for the overall theme but this structure is close to being done and I want to have it ready to mail.

Barbie Bathing Suit Cover-Up

One of the lessons I've learned since I started back down the road of making Barbie clothes is when I start with a new pattern leaflet try a small item to work out guage before moving on to the more complicated patterns.

Now you might ask why not just use the pattern guage. Well I do that, but I've got two challenges with that. The first is my guage doesn't always match that of the designer. Sometimes I'm spot on and sometimes it feels like we are doing completely different crafts.

The second challenge is more practical. While I am honest about my lack of Barbie expertise, I have learned that Barbie has changed and continues to change in size despite retaining the 11 1/2 inch height. Therefore, when you look at an older publication you don't know precisely which Barbie or other fashion doll those clothes were sized to fit. While I might have a challenge if I had the same doll the designer used in matching gauge. I can guarentee I can't trust the guage will match when working on a modern Barbie. I choose to try a small project before jumping to a larger project. It generally helps me to work out some of the sizing issues before also adding more complicated construction issues.

This pattern comes from Lesiure Arts Vacation Fashion Doll Wardrobe 2716. This was another leaflet that was in my Barbie binder from my last round of doll clothes making that I didn't use because the patterns are all made with crochet thread. While I wasn't able to use them back then, they have proved a wonderful investment for my current projects. I have my own pattern library to pick through to find items to make that I'd never tried before.

This also reminded me of the extra clothes we used to need when visting the less than warm waters of Hampton Beach, NH in the summers of my childhood. While the air might have been hot your feet sometimes felt like they were frozen when you returned to the hot sand. So having warm to put on was essential to our beach outings. Barbie's coverup is a bit more fashionable than my beach clothing of those days, but it brought back some fun memories.

Notes:

To get the sizing I wanted I used a Tulip Etimo Steel -Size 2/1.5mm Crochet Hook with Aunt Lydia Crochet Cotton, White and golden yellow.

Stacie Short Set

I mentioned last week that I was working on patterns from an out of print Annie's pattern book, Fashion Doll Sister and Me 87D21 for Skipper. While working on a dress I wondered how the patterns for the 9" Skipper doll could be adjusted to fit Stacie a 7" doll.

While I liked the way Skipper's shirt fit in my original attempt at the short set I was concerned with the shorts. They seemed a little small for Skipper. I decided this would be a good place to start with Stacie. I tried the set on Stacie and while the shorts were a better fit for Stacie, the shirt was too large. I changed to the Aunt Lydia's Size 10, Wood Violet I used for Skipper's dress and used a 1mm crochet hook to get a good fit for Stacie's top.

I had added trim to Skipper's shirt to match her shorts so I needed to remake her shirt with Aunt Lydia's Size 10-Monet so they'd continue to match. I used a 1.5mm hook for a better fit. I joined the shorts after the fourth row and added a row before splitting the shorts for the legs. I also added a chain 4 for the split.

I missed the scarf when I made Skipper's outfit so I went back and made one for Skipper when I made one for Stacie. With Stacie's ponytail, the scarf fits Skipper better than Stacie but I was glad to add the accessories for both dolls.

I had fun getting some fresh air and taking some pictures outdoors of the girls. I try to get a picture of the doll wearing the outfit to include in each doll clothing bag so the child can see what the outfit is supposed to look like on the doll.

Barbie Barbeque

One of the advantages of working on this holiday donation project is I can do seasonal projects to add to the donation. It puts me in the mood for the changing seasons and it will give the child receiving the toys outfits for the dolls that fit that changing time period too. It also allows them to have their dolls travel to a warmer climates during a cold winter day or send them skiing as my sister and I did year round.

I found this July Fourth Picnic pattern in the August 2005 Crochet World. However, while looking for another pattern I also came across the pattern at Annie's free pattern site here.

The original pants pattern had 26 chains for Barbie's waist and this made the pants small. I experimented with hooks and went up to fine weight yarn and finally decided to chain around Barbie's waist and work the pattern from there. If I do this again I'd go a couple of chains smaller but with the snap to close the back it works. Decreasing by a couple of chains would make the pants fit better.

The pattern crochets the bodice to the pants. Since my pants were now larger than the original pattern I chose to make the shirt separate from the pants. This worked for a couple of reasons. First it allowed me to experiment with the size of the shirt without pulling stitches out of the top of the pants and potentially damaging them. Second by making separates it allows the child who will receive the doll to be able to mix and match outfits more easily. The pants can be used with any number of outfits and the shirt will actually fit nicely under some of the jackets I'm hoping to finish.

Notes:

I used a 1.25mm hook for the hat but I'd try a slightly smaller hook. The bottom was tight in the beginning but stretched over time especially as I added weight to the top.

I crocheted the thumb to the mitt on row 5 rather than sew it on after I made the mitts. It worked out fine and I think it is less likely to get caught or pulled during play. These mitts do not have actual thumb holes so Barbie's hand fits inside the mitt thumb included. The pattern only calls for one mitt but Barbie seems sensible and doesn't want to burn the unprotected hand so having two seemed wise.

The apron pattern is designed to be striped. I tried the stripes but I didn't like the look and opted for a single red color for the apron which was made with a .75mm hook.

This grill was part of the summer furniture I found for the donation at Dollar Tree. I've since picked up an extra set of the lounger and chair to continue using for display of new outfits once the donation heads off. I'm still looking for a grill as those seem to have sold out fast.

Chelsea

The last time I worked on Barbies this small the doll was Kelly and she and her friend Tomi were 4 1/2" high. The current small doll in the line is Chelsea and she is 6". This meant finding a new model. I picked the Chelsea Can Be a Builder Doll since I was able to pick up several on sale under $5 each. I'm using one as a model to fit the clothes and the rest will be donated. It also meant finding patterns that would fit the larger doll.

I've used Sweet Silver Creations 18" doll patterns for years. I never noticed her Barbie patterns as I'd not had an interest in revisiting Barbie clothes in years. However, when I went searching to find a starting point for Chelsea her name came up in my search. Instead of buying a pattern set, I decided to settle on one single pattern to get a feel for how clothes would fit this doll. While you can start from scratch and design your own outfits, sometimes I like having a skeleton to work from to learn how to make items fit.

With that in mind I purchased the Strawberry Shortcake pattern. You can purchase it here. While I've made her character patterns for the 18" dolls I really wasn't as interested in making the Strawberry shortcake outfit. What I wanted were the bones of a dress that could be converted into other pieces and played with and adapted.

For this project I made the dress and the apron to get a feel for how clothes fit this doll. While larger than the original Kelly doll there still isn't a great deal of doll to dress so it is something to get used to, especially since I spend most of my time working with far larger dolls.

I used a size 5 1.65mm hook. The suggested size is 7 but there is no mm size listed so I'm not sure exactly what size hook was originally used. I found the outfit roomy with the 1.65 hook and size 10 thread. I added elastic to the waist of both the dress and the pantaloons. I went back and read old Barbie posts and one thing I noted was how often I added elastic to patterns and how helpful I found it. I decided to start working more with it and I found it helpful in this outfit.

I've been experimenting with new methods for doing things and I did try crocheting the first arm and sewing it on as suggested. I didn't like the look. Instead I crocheted around the open arm hole and reduced until I had the look I liked and continued to a 3/4 sleeve. It was worth the experiment but it just isn't a method I like using. I find it challenging to set the arm correctly into the arm hole and as a result it doesn't fit right.

The hat is made with beads so I skipped the accessory. I also skipped the shoes. My focus is on making some basic outfits. If I have time I'll work back towards accessories.

One challenge of this pattern is there are no stitch counts. It is one of the things I depend on when working on a pattern that helps me check to make sure I'm following directions I may not be sure I understand. If I get to the end and my stitch count and the designers match, there is a good chance I've followed the directions correctly. However, if my count doesn't match the directions there is a high probability I need to go back and fix my mistake.

Barbie Fashion Doll Thrills

One of the vintage crochet pattern sites I frequent was having a sale on crochet magazines recently and I looked searched the offerings to see if any had fashion doll patterns. I was able to pick up some new offerings for my Barbie binders.

This pattern comes from Annie's Quick and Easy Pattern Club April/May 1991 Magazine. The original pattern used a variegated purple size 10 thread that I couldn't match. If I do find something similiar I'd pick it up for another donation doll as the shading was quite pretty. Since I resumed working with thread I've been picking up a variety of solid and variegated thread colors and weights to use for toy and doll projects. For this project I pulled Aunt Lydia's Size 10 Crochet Thread, Monet Multi from my stash. While it isn't purple I think it makes a nice substitute color pattern.

As I mentioned with the previous Barbie pattern steel hook sizes listed in older fashion doll patterns don't always match your current steel hooks so it is best to try the outfits on as you make them. Barbie sizes have also not stayed the same over the years so this too can be a factor as you work with older patterns. Trying on and adusting as you go can help work through these challenges. This pattern called for a size 7 steel hook. I used a Tulip Steel Crochet Hook-Size 4/1.25mm for all but one row of this project. For the first row of the bodice I used the Tulip Etimo Steel Crochet Hook-Size 0/1.75mm to increase the size of the waist as it was just a little tighter than I'd hoped. I'd previously started the project with this hook but the dress was too large. It can be a bit of a Goldilocks situation sometimes when working with these patterns to find just the right fit.

Notes:

I added two rows of sc finish to the back to create a better place to add snaps and to make the back close better on the dress. Not part of the directions but it made the dress fit better. Note for hat make sure you add the chain 1 after the shell. This is different from skirt pattern and easy to forget.

Barbie at the Office

Back in 2009 I had a niece and a great niece that were into Barbies and American Girl dolls and I decided I wanted to learn to crochet to make clothes for those dolls. I soon came to realize Barbie posed the most challenges for me as the tiny steel hooks required to make the thread outfits were torture. When the girls outgrew their dolls I continued to make doll clothes to donate but I dropped Barbie in favor of baby dolls as they were larger and thus didn't require the steel hooks. I swore it would require another young family member for me to consider picking up the hooks to crochet for Barbie again. However, I've learned the lessons of never saying never.

After working on some thread projects I got the desire to work on Barbie clothes again. I have almost 2 full binders of patterns left over from my previous Barbie endevours so I don't lack options.

However, I had read that Barbie had changed sizes since I had bought my cheap model to fit the clothes I made prior to passing them on to my nieces. With that in mind I decided it was time to pick up a new family of Barbies. I had no idea how much they had changed. When I left there were still limited versions of Skipper and Kelly. When I went back to search for the family I realized Skipper was back and Kelly was gone. Stacie had disappeared when I was making clothing, now she is back. Chelsea seems to have replaced Kelly. I don't claim to be at all knowlegable about Barbie or her history. I just try to make sure I have models that will help me make clothes that will fit the dolls I donate.

With that in mind I picked up the Barbie Sweet Orchard Farm Ken and Barbie. I have different sets for the rest of the Barbie family and will discuss them as I get to making clothes for them. I mention Ken now because I found him and Barbie in the same "setting." In the past I'd purchase the bathing suit dolls and dress them but I was having trouble finding one that had a removable suit rather than a plastic suit attached to the doll. This seemed like an alternative I could manage.

I did have an older Barbie from the days of making clothes for my now adult nieces but as I mentioned I was concerned that the sizes might have changed over the years so I bought two of each doll, one to use as a model and one to donate.

I mentioned to a friend either my skills have gotten better or the newer Barbie is closer in size to the fashion doll used in the older Barbie patterns. When I'd made Barbie clothes previously from the older patterns I always had to make them a little larger to fit the older Barbie pictured here. After taking the two top pictures with the Orchard Barbie I pulled out the old Bathing Suit Barbie to compare and I wasn't wrong. The dress was tighter in the back. It did fit but if I was making this outfit for this doll I'd have made the dress larger.

Two major difference I noticed between the dolls are the older doll has signifcantly larger feet. The newer doll has a much sharper bend in her arm. I must say so far I am preferring the newer doll. I'll have to see how she stands up as I continue to work from older patterns.

The At the Office pattern is a free pattern found here. Notes: One challenge of these older patterns is many will list a steel crochet hook size without any mm to go with it. Sadly sizes are not standard across steel crochet hooks. To make this dress fit I used the Tulip Etimo Steel Crochet Hook-Size 0/1.75mm as the suggested hook made the dress huge. I used Red Heart Crochet Crochet Thread, 10, Orchid Pink and Red Heart Crochet Thread, 10, White to make the suit.

I'd crochet the top of the dress together next time rather than trying to sew the top of the shoulders together. I'd consider leaving the collar off the jacket and just sc around the outside of the jacket to create a smooth ending. I'm not crazy about the collar. This is a really quick and easy dress if you need one for Barbie. If you don't want to change colors it would work up fine as a single color dress.