15 Inch Rag Doll Bathing Suit

Continuing on my quest for Spring I bring you the Rag Doll's bathing suit.

With her shoes the bathing suit may seem odd but it also works as a romper. This outfit was adapted from another of Darski's free patterns. This was one of her Dora the Explorer doll patterns Oceanside found here. I love the hat that comes with this pattern but with the big pony tails hats are not easy to keep on the doll so I tend to avoid them. I am considering it for one of the other dolls as it is adorable.

I used a J hook and Red Heart Super Saver Wildflower yarn for this project with the exception of the trims. I used white for the "skirt" and and I hook for the skirt and the arm trims.

The back works up a little differently which is why I wanted a picture of it for future reference. When you make the initial rows the back does not meet and this was a concern for me as I was adapting the pattern to a doll with a little different shape. I've used another one of her Dora patterns but the dress is less fitted. Since the top was a bit tight I found myself at the J hook but the back still didn't look like it would close. I decided to continue on to get a feel for how the suit went together since it might well fit one of the other dolls. That is when I realized the suit didn't need to close in the back it was designed for this fit.

Rag Doll Dress for February

This is a Dora the Explorer free doll pattern that I've adapted in the past for the JC Toys - La Baby 16-inch Baby Doll and I decided to see if it would work for the Rag Dolls. You can find the free pattern here.

I started the project with sport yarn but I quickly realized the dolls would require worsted weight yarn and the suggested I hook size to make the dress fit. I chose to join the dress earlier than suggested while still in the red rounds and I used a snap rather than buttons to close the outfit.

In order to make the arm holes fit I required a chain 8 rather than a chain 4. Skipping 10 chains still worked to make the dress fit, thus not changing the stitch count.

I plan on making a second dress in different colors for the other rag doll and following the adaptation directions to make this outfit for the 16 inch baby dolls as well. It's a quick way to add additional outfits to the doll wardrobes.