Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll Dress, Shorts, Hairband, and Booties

After succesfully converting this pattern to thread from the suggested 4 ply yarn I have had to reorder some baby doll friendly colors for my doll projects. When I first started using thread for doll clothes Aunt Lydia's was my major provider for thread. However, the selection of colors and sizes has sadly become more limited over the years and I've found myself having to expand my search to different vendors to get more colors and thread sizes.

For my own records since I sometimes lose the labels for the threads and have to do some detective work to hunt down the brand so I can reorder, this is size 10 Apricot from Thread Art. I am almost done with my last cone of this color. I have just about enough for some trim but not enough for even a small doll project.

I plan on experimenting with more of Petite Doll's smaller doll designs in thread as I find mine are a bit bulky in thread. I like the lighter look and feel in size 10 thread.

Notes:

As mentioned this is one of Petite Doll's designs available for purchase here.

I previously made and posted about making this for the Lil Cutesies doll. While slightly different in size I've found most patterns can accomadate both dolls.

I do not use the tie directions for this doll I join all rows. I added a row at the top before making arm holes as it seemed a bit short for this doll as written.

While the stitch count works on the dress moving to thread the pants did not and I had to move to a chain of 64 to get the pants to fit. I eventually reduced it to 62 as I progressed making each leg count 31.

I liked the ch 3 trim on the shorts legs last time so I didn't even attemp the picot.

The booties worked as written.

Still struggling with headband. I ended up using hdc and following directions with this stitch rather than dc as it was rather large with dc.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Cuddle Up Romper

After my oops that resulted in last week's Lots to Love 10 inch version of this pattern I decided not only to focus on making this work for the doll it was designed for but to document my path through it so I could repeat this for next year's doll.

This is an Amy Carrico pattern that she is not currently offering called Cuddle Up Romper. My first time through it this year it ended up rather large using the suggested D hook, thus it becoming an outfit for the larger baby doll.

Notes:

The yarn for this project was Baby Bernat Sport Yellow and Pink.

Shirt:

I used a C hook for the shirt for everything but the sleeves. I used a B hook for the sleeves to keep them from becoming too large.

I followed the rest of the directions as written.

Pants:

I used a B hook for the pants. Oddly with the smaller hook the legs joined easier than when the pants were larger. Not sure why. Amy's footed pj type pants are the rare occasion I don't make my pants top down regardless of the way a pattern is written. It really isn't practical to make these feeted pj type pants from the top down thus the need to join the legs.

Reminder to myself to follow all the waist directions including waist band to get to correct decreases for fit.

Headband:

I believe I used the D hook for the handband and it fit as suggested.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll Summer Outfit

This is one of Amy Caricco's patterns, Summer Set for 8 Inch Doll, that currently seems to be available for purchase on Ravelry here. At one point after seeing her disapear than reappear on Etsy I think I managed to finally buy all her baby doll patterns for the sizes I can use because I love her baby doll patterns but she isn't always selling her stuff so my suggestion is buy it while you can because the next time you go back the option might not be available.

I've been exploring options for thread to expand color options. This is made with Knit Picks size 3 Curio. I've not had a great deal of experience with Knit Pick's thread but I was pleased with the quality and when I bought it a while back I was able to add some color options I hadn't previously found for size 3.

I went with Bahama instead of teal as I had it on hand. However, I was a bit distracted when I started the project and mixed up the main and contrast colors. When I made this previously I followed the instructions for white main and teal accent. This time I had Bahama as the main and white as the accent. I went back and looked at last year's project and I like both options.

One major change I made this year was not adding the t-strap. I found this incredibly annoying last year and it didn't add much to the look or fit of the shoes. The version I made is closer to the Mary Jane shoes I make for the larger 16 inch baby dolls minus the socks. I would keep this change for the future.

Notes:

Top:

I started with a C hook for the top. It was too tight with the suggested B. However I shifted to a B hook in row 4 because as the increases occured the larger hook made the top way too large.

For the arms I did not add the increases in the suggested stitches as it made the sleeves into mini balloons and it didn't look great.

Shorts:

I used a C hook to get the shorts to fit and followed the pattern as written.

Headband:

I used a C hook to get the band to fit the head but the smaller b hook for the flower. The pearl buttons are from Joann's.