Ken Valentine Tank Top and Pants

I stumbled across a free Barbie heart Valentine's sweater pattern but my first attempt was clearly going to be too large for Barbie so I turned it into a tank top for Ken and then made him a pair of pants to make it a set. You can find the pattern here.

I haven't given up on this for Barbie I just need to find the right fiber. It suggested fingering weight yarn so I tried size 3 thread and a D hook which was suggested. This clearly was too big. I'd make this in the future for Ken as a fun Ken and Barbie set but I am considering if I want to join as with Barbie's bent arms it makes getting clothes on and off more challenging.

I did not use the white finishes for Ken as I went with a tank top rather than the Barbie sweater.

The pants are my standard go to of measuring and sewing a piece of elastic together waist size for the doll. I then single crochet around the elastic for the first row. The rest of the rows are in dc. When I reach the crotch I split with a chain 4 reducing I believe to 15 dc per leg.

Skipper Christmas Dress

I am always excited to find free pattern that I can make to use for the donation. This is a free Barbie Santa Claus pattern you can find here. It required little adaptation to make it fit the smaller Skipper doll.



Notes:

I used Aunt Lydia's size 10 Atom red and white for this project with a size B hook.

I changed the directions for joining and joined after row 6 of the bodice using only 2 snaps to close the back.

Skipper is shorter than Barbie and flatter chested so I only did 4 rows of the white trim on top. I originally added more but it was too overwhelming for the dress.

This is designed as a Mrs. Claus outfit but I decided to leave it as more of a Christmas dress as I thought if you took off the Santa hat it could be used for other dress up play.

Barbie Mermaid

I made this for both Barbie and Skipper for the 2024 donation and until there were crochet delays it was on my radar for the 2025 donation. With 2025 complete it was one of the first patterns I pulled out to start 2026.

This is a free Crochet Spot pattern you can find here.

The last time I made this for Barbie I used yarn left over from a Mary Maxim 18 inch doll mermaid kit. When I made the outfit for Skipper I used Caron Simply Soft Paint Oceana and I used that with Barbie this year.

Notes:

Do to the yarn change I used an e hook with Barbie as I had used with Skipper previously. I was able to follow the directions as written for Barbie. The only adjustment I made was to the fin. I don't reduce past 10 stitches it just works better for me.

I plan on making this for Skipper as I did before. I tried tail on Ken and I'm thinking about trying for a Ken Merman this year. I may try this in thread and see if it will work for Stacie. You never know until you try.

It would make for interesting play outfits. I rarely see the Mermaid Barbies that can then wear the regular clothes. This would let the child play Mermaid dress up and then move on to other types of settings.

Barbie Sleeping Bag

I am so excited to be posting the last of the Barbie family sleeping bags for 2025!!! Of course there is always 2026 but I am hoping not to be making these in the fall next year.

Barbie is also now ready to be packed the day before Halloween!!

It is a great gift when you find a free pattern site that gives you great items for your donation. Suzie's Stuff blog has given me the patterns for the sleeping bags and sleep sacks for all the dolls. It was and continues to be a great gift.

I combine two patterns for the larger Barbie dolls. The first is the fashion doll sleeping bag, found here, which is made completely with sc stitches. I've made this one and it works well. I just find with so many projects it is a bit mind numbing. However, if I combine the shell option she offers with her Beanie Bag sleeping bag I find these projects are much easier to get finished. You can find that one here.

Notes:

I believe this is Red Heart Perfect Pink. I keep several pink shades in stock for the 18 inch doll princess dresses.

This project requires an I hook.

Barbie Sleeping Bag

I'm quite excited to be able to see the end of the sleeping bags for the 2024 donation.

With this bag the fashion dolls all have their sleeping bags. I have three more to make for the 2 My Life Dolls and the Glitter Girl and I will be done with the bags for the year. It is a fun accessory to add to the donation and not terribly difficult to make. I just like finishing off the projects that go across multiple dolls as early in the year as possible. It prevents me runnig into the November deadline.

The free pattern for the sleeping bag can be found here. This however does not include the shells. The directions for the shell version work easily on all the sleeping bags but are found on the free Beanie sleeping bag variation found here. I like the texture the shells produce and it breaks the boredom of constant sc rows.

Notes:

I used an I hook with this sleeping bag.

Hunting through my stash I came across some Red Heart Ombres Jazzy that had the pink shades I wanted.

I don't count rows for these bags I keep a doll in my travel bag and keep measuring the doll in the bag until it feels like its a good fit.

I have started making a note on my phone about how many shells I'm supposed to have in each row as I found when I was making the Rag Doll I added shells. It wasn't as much of an issue with this bag but I still have the note on my phone so if I need to count it is there for future sleeping bags.

I have another round of appointments coming up so I need to get another one started before I head out. I prefer to get the pillow made and sealed before it leaves the house as the pillow has to be stuffed. I do have a closed pocket in my project bag with stuffing just in case I need to work on the go but it isn't my favorite way of working these projects on the go.

Skipper Easy Dress

I've come across some free Barbie patterns recently and decided to try some out for the 2024 donation. I've found over the years that some Barbie patterns will fit Skipper and as I'm making a gown I will usually try it on both dolls to see which doll it fits best. I had intended this for the Barbie Vet doll. This is her last year with the donation as she is no longer available. After trying this outfit on both dolls it was a better match for SKipper, so I added some stitches to the base row and have begun a second outfit for the Barbie Vet. You can find the free pattern here.

Notes:

One of my goals every year is to dig into my stash and start using old yarn that seems to have been forgotten. I used Red Heart Big Ball Sport Yarn for this project. I had honestly forgotten about this yarn as it had gotten buried. This was some of the earliest yarn I used for Barbie clothes and I believe blue is the only color I have left. I still have some small skeins of the Red Heart Sport Yarn and know have been using Hobby Lobby's sport yarn and Herschnerr's yarn for these outfits.

The e hook worked for this outfit along with the suggested starting chains. I needed to add two chains for it to fit the Barbie Vet and likely will need more chains for the Zoologist.

One thing I didn't do for this outfit but am doing for the Barbie version is marking the stitches as it is was hard for me to differentiate between stitches and chains. For the second outfit I've marked each stitch to see if I can get the same skirt pattern as the picture from the pattern. It was not enough of a concern to start again with the Skipper dress, but I do return to these notes when I start again the following year so it is helpful to make note of useful tools.

Barbie Mermaid

Last year I came across a Mary Maxim kit for an 18 inch doll Mermaid outfit that I'd never made and decided it was time to use. It set me off on making another outfit for the My Life doll from a different pattern. I ended up with left over Prism yarn of a color I I'm not sure they still sell as it didn't quite look like any of their currently listed colors. It got me thinking about other potential mermaid choices as I didn't have enough left for another larger doll.

I'm not quite sure how I missed this pattern in my previous pattern searches but I stumbled across this free pattern here.

Since I hadn't made anything for the Vet doll donation I had planned on making this for the her, but the top was big using the suggested f hook with this yarn. It did however fit the zoologist proving once again how happy I am that the new model seems to fit more of my "standard" Barbie patterns. I'm still thinking about adapting this pattern not only for the Vet but for Skipper as playing with hooks and fiber might give me some options for fitting it to both dolls.

Notes:

I pretty much followed the pattern for this outfit. The top will slide up over the doll. However with that in mind I did sc around the arm holes as with this yarn I found her hands catching the yarn even more than most of the acrylic and cotton yarns I usually use for Barbie clothing. I also finished the top as it gave it a better finished look.

Barbie Sleeping Bag

Last year I started with a theme of getting all the dolls prepared for the beach. This year I put Adoring Doll's Camping pattern for the 18 and 14 inch doll on my Christmas pattern list and it inspired me to think about how the other dolls could get into the spirit this year.

I was thrilled to find a quick and easy sleeping bag pattern that I hope to adapt for all the Barbie dolls here.

This pattern used worsted acrylic yarn and an I hook. The pillow requires a small amount of stuffing to give it firmness. I had to add some rows to get it to the length suggested but because she gives you not just the number of rows but the length you should get to it made measuring the pillow and the bag easy.

I will need to make it shorter for her sisters and longer for Ken so this is a good sample of the size I want. There are camping sets currently on the market for Barbie. Some have sleeping bags others focus on different accessories but this is a free easy to make accessory for those who want one.

This was another great project for using up left over yarn. I'm coming my scaps to decide which yarn to use for the rest of Barbie's family to make sure everyone has a sleeping bag to take with them when they leave for the donation next December.

Barbie Crochet Strapless Flared Dress

As I've become more comfortable using thread I've found more free Barbie patterns to use for the donation. I came across Be a Crafter who has several free Barbie patterns. You can find this one here.

I used the suggested size 10 thread and size 2 crochet thread hook for this project. I wasn't able to get the elastic to work but I did decrease the rows on the top to make the top section fit tighter. The waist line is a bit loose. If I make this again I might decrease more at the top and increase out as I go to make the waist looser.

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.