Chelsea Summer Play Set

I've been working on a few more complicated doll outfits so to give myself a break I've been throwing in a quick Chelsea outfit when I reach a "milestone" on a bigger project.

I found this free Amelia Thimble pattern a few years back and while the outfit wasn't a complete match for Chelsea, I was able to turn the top into a dress for Chelsea. It has become a great quick project and adds another item to Chelsea's donation bag.

You can find the free pattern here. Notes:

This pattern is the base for the Chelsea dress but do to the differences in dolls I've made significant changes.

The pattern calls for size 30 thread I use size 10 for Chelsea with a 1.8mm thread hook.

I follow rows 1-4 of the pattern as written with the changes in thread and hook size.

Following row 4 I continue row 4 for an additional 4 rows joining after completing 8 rows.

I changed the pattern's written row 5's V stitch to 2dc ch1 2 dc instead of dc ch1 dc I kept the skip stitch in place.

The dolls are different sizes and I never counted the skirt rows. I continue until the dress fits passed the doll's knees.

To close the back I use a snap after finishing the back with sc.

Chelsea Variegated Dress

I mentioned after fininishing Rebeckah's Treasures free Simply Bluetiful pattern for the Chelsea donation I was going to try to adapt it to expand my wardrobe donations for this doll for 2022. You can find the free pattern I used as the basis for this project here.

While working on the original dress I had thought the dress would also be cute at a shorter length. I'm continuing to work from my stash and I thought a variegated look would be fun for this dress so I chose Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread Size 10-Monet for this project.

As with my previous use of this pattern I used a 1.8mm hook to make the dress fit and did not decrease the stitch count as this Chelsea is slightly larger than the previous doll this pattern was written to fit.

I finished the back closing and used a snap to close the dress. I'm hoping to make a romper splitting the dress into short legs. I'm also considering a shorts and top outfit from this pattern as well. I struggled mightly to find something easy that fit Chelsea last year so I'm going to stretch this as far as I can take it so she leaves for the donation with a decent wardrobe.