18 Inch Doll Girl About Town

This is another doll pattern I found in Crochet World's Best Animals, Toys, and Dolls and decided to add to the doll donation. You can purchase this digital magazine at e-pattern central here. As I mentioned in my previous post they have some amazing sales if you are patient.

I try to make a habit of listing where the patterns come from because when I go to a site I love knowing where the pattern came from so I can look for it if I choose. Free or paid, print, out of print, e-pattern or print it is nice to know where I can start the search for something I'm interested in making. When possible I try to pass this courtesy on by listing what information I have for someone else who may want to find the pattern.

Now on to my notes for the future.

This was a wonderful stash busting project. Many years ago as in the girls are now respectively in college and high school I crocheted Barbie clothes using sport yarn and I bought Red Heart Sport yarn because I could make some of the patterns with it. Eventually the girls outgrew Barbie and I had not real love for working with the tiny Barbie sized patterns which is why I don't donate the fashion sized dolls. However, the end of Barbie did not mean the end of her yarn stash. As I moved to larger dolls I had almost forgotten about this stash of yarn until I recently came across more doll patterns that needed sport weight yarn and realized that it was time to target this stash.

To get this pattern to fit with the old Red Heart Sport yarn I needed to move from the suggested g hook for the top to a G hook. I moved down to an f for the skirt but if I make this again I'd move back to the e hook. This dress works up quite easily and I would make it again and try different types of skirts to go with it. I think it is adaptable.

For the cardigan I also had to go to a g hook for the main body. However I had to return to the e hook to make the arms fit. I could see making the cardigan to add to other patterns. It works up easily enough.

18 Inch Doll Back to School

As I mentioned in a previous post I'd been looking through Crochet World's Best Animals, Toys, and Dolls for doll patterns to use for the toy donation. The first one that struck me as one to try was this Back to School pattern. It was a great chance to use up more of the Green Herrschner's worsted weight yarn I wrote about previously using in the baby doll projects. I still haven't finished it off yet. This outfit seemed to hardly make an impact. However, I'm glad I had it to use for this project. It feels good to be using up yarn that has been too long sitting in the stash pile.

The pattern called for an f hook and that worked fine with the top and the AC Moore sport yarn that I am still working through. The skirt proved to be too large and I ended up going down to a D hook. Even then I added a draw string to make it a bit tighter. The pattern calls for elastic but I'm trying to avoid using elastic at the moment.

The vest and hat worked up according to pattern instructions but I had to play with the shoes. The AC sport weight was too small for the bottom until I moved up to an H hook to fit the bottom of the doll foot. However, the tops were too large with the green Herrschner's yarn until I went down to a D hook. Even then they were still a little roomy. I think they'd have been a better fit if I'd stuck with the AC Moore yearn for the whole shoe. However, I liked the idea of trying shoes with contrasting colors so I went ahead.

The backpack worked up according to directions but I used snaps on the back of the sweater and to close the backpack.


This digital magazine is available for purchase at e-pattern central here. As I mentioned in my previous post they have some amazing sales if you are patient.

18 Inch Doll Seashell Summer Dress, Hat, and Purse

This was another attempt to finish off my Spud and Chloe box of sock yarn. I am happy to say the dress used almost an entire skein. I thought I'd have enough to finish off the hat, but I had to use some left over pink yarn I didn't manage to finish up in a previous outing. Thus the reason for the pink purse.

These are all free crochet patterns you can find at ABC Knitting. The dress is available here. If you give them your email address they will give you the ability to download the PDF for free. I suggest this as it is much easier to work from their PDF version than from the version posted on the website. I always end up missing some detail.

Pattern notes:

I used an f hook to get the dress to fit.

As I mentioned when I suggested getting the PDF I have a copy that predates this service and I missed the line after row 6 that says you will be dividing for the sleeve. Thankfully, I knew I was right about at that point and was able to figure out that should be happening. With the number of stitches decreasing it was also a good hint that I'd be skipping stitches to form the arm hole. However, having the complete descriptions and pictures would have made my life easier.

After decreasing the number of stitches in row 7 to make the arm holes you begin increasing in row 8 to create the flair in the skirt. I mention this because I misread the V stitch in between and had a very straight too tight dress that had to be pulled back to row 7 and redone. My hope is by making these notes when I make this dress again I'll remember having done this before.

You can find the free pattern for the hat here and the purse here.

18 Inch Doll Cable Link Sweater and Skirt

I am pleased that I'm making progress on my efforts to create separates and non-costumed outfits this year. While I love making the doll themed outfits and already have a few lined up on my to do list there is more to outfiting a doll than themed costumes. Having the basics is important too. However, I sometimes neglect making those in favor of the themed costumes for the dolls. This year I am trying to do better.

This is actually my second try at the skirt from the free pattern Dovetailed found here. I'll be posting about the finished project I made for the Our Generation doll next week. I thought I had enough yarn to make a second outfit for the My Life Doll using the blue yarn but I clearly underestimated how much yarn I had on hand. I had enough for a skirt but not enough to complete the outfit. Just a note for myself, the skirt fits the My Life Doll better with a g hook if you don't use elastic.

Now I needed a top so I turned to my out of print Sweater Trio pattern published by Fibre Craft in 1999 FCM494 for those who might want to search for it. I've made this pattern for several years but it has always felt a bit bulky to me.

I've tried making it with an e hook and that helped a little but it still had that feel of wearing an bigger sister's wardrobe. This year I decided to go back to that purple baby yarn you may have seen across several projects now that I've been trying to use up. I swear it multiplies at night. I used the required f hook instead of going down to the e as I had before, but with the lighter 3 yarn it fit better.

While you can't see it in this picture the sweater pattern includes a headband pattern that also uses the cable loops which for some reason I find to be fun to put together. It is not something I get to do frequently in crochet, but it is a fun little exercise when making this project.

18 Inch Doll Dress with Hat

It is time to return to one of my simple but classic 18 inch doll patterns. I love working on this pattern because it calls for the bright Fruity Stripe Red Heart yarn and right now I could use a little color and brightness in my life. I also like it because it works up quickly and was a great project to make in between the Moses basket and trying to finish up the picnic set for the Lil Cutesie doll.

I also chose this pattern as it was a great way to work through some of the yarn I have on hand. I almost had enough left on one skein to finish the project but when I added the hat I had to dig into a second skein I had on hand to finish it off. This is what happens when you work with partial skeins. It's always hard to tell exactly how much yarn you have to work with on a project.

You can find the free pattern for the dress here. In previous years I've made the top smaller using a g hook. However, this year I used an H hook through out and the top fit fine. I'm currently working on using up some neon stripe yarn to make this dress for the Our Generation Doll. I'll post the notes about making it for the slightly larger doll when I finish it. There is no pattern for a hat. I played with the yarn left over from the first skein and added some from the second skein to complete the hat. I wanted something to finish off the outfit.

To close the back of this dress I chose a snap over a button. It was a quick and easy solution to my problem. I may have to think about ordering snaps soon if stores don't open soon. I did order ami eyes online recently as my 6mm supply is almost out.

Doll Clothes Donations

I am very fortunate to have the Crochetville community help me out with my doll donation every year. I couldn't make it without them. I received a package this week with some beautiful doll dresses that I am sure will be making some little ones quite happy this year. A big thank you goes out to a very special AZ friend from Crochetville for all your help. It is so appreciated. I suspect this year more even more than most.CC

18 Inch Doll Ribbed Effect Skirt and Mock Turtleneck Sweater

I'm continuing to work on making separates for the 18 inch doll donation. I plan on getting to more costume or themed outfits later, but I wanted to make sure I had a supply of basics made first. I've gone back to using my Old Springfield doll to fit the clothes for the Walmart My Life doll as it saves wear and tear on the doll only using it for the final picture. Sadly this isn't an option with the Our Generation Doll, those outfits have to be fitted as I make them or they will be too small.

For those of you who like to crochet 18 inch doll clothes both of these are free patterns. You can find the skirt here and the sweater here.

Notes:

For this doll the skirt worked up per the pattern. There is no predetermined length so I didn't need to add rows I just stopped when I liked the length. I did add to 2 rows before the ribbing on the sweater to give it some extra length. It just suited the look I wanted. This is designed to be a sleeveless sweater so I finished off the sleeve by sc crocheting around the sleeve ends and then sc chain 3 sk around to finish off the sleeve. It just gave it a pretty finish.