16 Inch Baby Doll Dress for Summer

I believe with this last outfit made from the free Dress for February pattern found here I'm done with the pattern for this donation year. The La Baby 16-inch Baby Doll is the fourth outfit made from this pattern this year so I've gotten quite a bit of mileage from a pattern that wasn't designed to fit any of the dolls.

I'm still targeting yarn in the stash that needs to go. The green is Michael's Craft Smart yarn. I bought a few colors on a whim shortly after AC Moore closed and I've never been crazy about the feel of the yarn. I've promised myself to finish off my supply though and this dress was a great time to work on that goal. The pink is Red Heart Super Saver, Pretty n Pink I had left over from the Lil Cutesies Doll Moses Basket. This is the second outfit I've used it on since than and I still haven't finished it off yet. The yellow is Joann's Big Twist.

The free pattern for the shoes is the one I'm always writing about and can be found here. The hat is a work in progress. I don't quite have a pattern mastered yet which is why I've been taking the extra brim shots. I used the pictures from the Fall outfit when I was working on this hat. At some point I'm going to have to get around to writing down the actual pattern.

16 Inch Baby Doll Dress, Hat, and Shoes

In looking at my donation post I realized I needed more outfits for the JC Toys - 16-inch Baby Doll and decided to get to work on the task. This is a free crochet pattern from Linmary Knits designed for a 14 inch doll but I've used it for the 16 inch dolls for some time. You can find the pattern here.

One of the things I love about working on this pattern are the different textures it features. There is a lovely flow to it as you work on the dress.

I used Bernat Baby yarn for this dress with a G hook. The hat called for a smaller hook and I missed it and continued on with the G hook. When I make the second one for the other donation doll I'll want to remember to use the smaller hook for the hat.

I used my favorite free shoe pattern to add shoes to the outfit. They are part of the Peachy Keen free pattern found here. The shoes require worsted weight 4 yarn and an I hook.

16 Inch Baby Doll Sundress

This is always one of the first doll patterns I turn to every year because it is simple and adds a finished doll outfit to the donation bags quickly. The pattern is still available through the Wayback machine here but that can change at any time so if you want the pattern I suggest you download it right away.

In order to get this pattern to fit the JC Toys 16-inch Baby Doll I use a K hook and worsted weight yarn. I join after the first row to avoid having to sew the dress together at the end. The trim on the hat and the bottom of the dress are added. I use a sc chain 3. I used an H hook for the hat and added a few rounds to the brim to make it fit.

Last year I started adding shoes from the free Peachy Keen pattern and I decided it was time this outfit got shoes, too. The free pattern is a complete set I hope to make later but I constantly add the shoes to other patterns as it is one of the few shoe patterns I can find that fits this doll's feet. You can find the pattern here.

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.

Baby Doll Dress and Hat

While I've been busy working on the holiday boxes I am trying to keep my focus on the doll donation project as well.

This is a free pattern crochet pattern available from Linmary Knits available here.

You may recognize the pattern as I previously used this pattern to make the Red Riding Hood dress. I love patterns that don't require buttons or snaps so I was determined to add this to the doll donation this year. I plan on making a second one so each donation doll will have one.

For my own notes I needed used an e hook for the dress. While this was a great chance to finish off a skein of Bernat Super Saver I had left over from holiday projects at some point I do think I'd like to experiment with doing this pattern in sport yarn. I just think the worsted weight is a little heavy. However, right now I need to work from my stash. I ended up using an I hook for the shoes.

The shoes are not included in this pattern but are from another free pattern Peachy Keen found here.

Trina 16 Inch Baby Doll Dress

As I mentioned earlier I've been adapting a variety of patterns to fit my 16 inch doll project to get a wider variety of patterns. I saw this free pattern here and decided to see what I could do to make it fit the 16" baby doll. As written the pattern is too small so I frogged it and based on previous experience I used worsted weight yarn and and I hook to get the size I needed.

Additional notes for myself:

I changed rows 6 and 7 to increase rows following the established pattern. I did begin the back stitches in row 8 as prescribed. I used ties for this dress rather than a button. I just found it easier for my purposes.

Kalia 16 Inch Baby Doll Dress

I've been working on projects while helping family out with homeschooling via Skype. I find having a simple project to work on during wait times allows me to relax and I'm amazed at how much work I can get done. What I've found is projects that have predictable repeats are the easiest to use and I got most of this project finished during those break periods.

Over the years I've adapted various types of gowns for the baby doll projects as there aren't lots of patterns designed specifically for this type of doll. I've been following a blogger for years who designs patterns and makes gowns for preemies and others. I've been adapting her gowns for use with my doll project. You can find the free pattern for this outfit here.

This pattern works up rather quickly. To fit the 16 Inch doll I used an I hook and worsted weight yarn for the pink. I had some lighter weight worsted weight green yarn that I've been trying to use up so that was perfect for this project. I used ties to finish off this project.

16 Inch Baby Doll Sundress and Hat

I think this is one off the patterns I've been using the longest for the doll donation. Sadly you need the wayback machine to find it as the blog is gone. However as of writing this it was still there. As always I'd suggest downloading it and saving your copy as these links can go any time. You can find it here.

One of the reasons I like this outfit is that it isn't only just easy to make but it is also easy for little hands for to take the outfit on and off.

For my own notes I make this with worsted weight yarn and in order to make it fit the rounded soft bodied doll it requires a K hook. In order to avoid sewing I join after the first row