Ken Tennis Outfit

I'd been looking for Annie's out of print Fashion Doll His and Hers 87D15 since I started making Barbie clothes again and realized it wasn't in my collection. I wanted this book because the patterns are all casual clothes and thus perfect for the types of clothes I wanted to include with my donation. When it arrived it seemed like it would be fun to see if I could adapt the tennis outfit to fit Ken. I still need to make a top for Skipper but I'll get there at some point.

This outfit is made with Red Heart Crochet, Thread Size 10 White. While the pattern calls for a size 7 hook I needed to use my Tulip Etimo Steel Crochet Hook-.9mm to get the outfit to fit this modern Ken doll.

I changed the pattern for the headband and the wrist bands. Instead of weaving the elastic through the finished bands I measured the elastic to fit this doll, sewed it together and then crocheted over the over the band in sc to cover the elastic. This made it easier than trying to figure out the differences between the old and new Ken's heads. I was able to quickly make these last accessories for the outfit.

Ken Ski Outfit

It's supposed to be in the 80's this week so what better time to think cold and create winter wear for Ken. I've also been flipping through my collection of Barbie patterns trying to find casual wear for Ken to crochet. I'm amazed at how many patterns for wedding and swim attire there are for Ken, but I'm looking to expand his options for dress up play.

One of the leaflets I came across from my decade ago pattern buying spree was a House of White Birches newsprint set with black and white pictures and typesetting I haven't seen in years. The patterns however are quite good for my purposes of creating clothing for kids to play with the dolls rather than display, although I suspect there are a few outfits that might work for that as well.

The leaflet is called Crochet Wardrobe for 11 1/2" Fashion Dolls(Including a complete Wedding Ensemble and Trousseau.)It was published in 1982. If you are interested in finding it I've seen it listed quite a bit recently as I've looked for other out of print fashion doll patterns. Despite the age it is out there.

I didn't recognize the yarn listed in the pattern, which is not unusual these days in modern patterns let alone those dating back to the 1980's. When I looked it up on yarn sub it appeared to be a fingering yarn. Since this Ken doll is a fairly small doll I originally started with thread thinking the pants would be too large. I had tried another pattern in the book that called for bedspread yarn and a size 7 hook. After getting down to a size .4mm hook I ordered some size 20 yarn to experiment with later and moved on to the ski outfit.

The thread proved to be too small and I moved on to a stash of Knit Picks Palette yarn which is a wool fingering yarn that I'd had from previous doll projects. While the pattern called for an e hook I found a C hook was the adjustment required to make the outfit fit the smaller Ken doll.

The one increase in size I needed to make on the pattern to get it to fit was the hat. I found the hat was too small to fit over this Ken's molded hair. I just added and increase row and the hat fit.