Our Generation Teddy Bear Top and Skirt

I'm always looking for patterns either made for the size of dolls I donate or patterns that can be adapted to fit the dolls. This pattern is a free crochet pattern to make a skirt and top designed to fit a Build a Bear. You can find the pattern here. If you are interested in Build a Bear patterns she has quite a few free patterns for the bears but most of them are knit.

One thing to love about this pattern is that it requires no sewing other than weaving in your ends. Even the straps you see on the top are created through traditional arm hole methods, they are not sewn to the top as often happens when you make tops with straps. This alone makes it a new favorite for me.

I found the skirt pattern was a bit heavy and large for either doll when I made it with worsted weight yarn. So, I substituted Red Heart Sport yarn for the skirt. Making the skirt with a g hook and the sport weight yarn I then just needed to add a few more rows to get the length I needed.

My AC Moore sport yarn is still holding out but I'm trying to make a dent in it. The top is from that supply. I started out with the suggested g hook but the top was too large even for the Our Generation doll. I moved to an f hook and the fit was good. It needs to be a little loose as this top needs to slide on and off the doll and the arms need to slide into the arm holes. I will consider dropping the hook size to make this for the My Life doll.

Our Generation Sock Yarn Skirt and Top

A few years back while attending a fiber festival I won a box of Spud and Chloe sock yarn as a vendor prize. While I have constantly used the yarn needle and round cardboard holder they gave out (I may have substituted needles since then) I had a small issue with the sock yarn. I don't make socks. The yarn is beautiful and the women I was with with thrilled for me but I was concerned this yarn would become a permanent resident of my ever growing stash.

Sure enough as I have been digging through my stash to target yarn that has to go during the doll projects this year I came across the box of Spud and Chloe sock yarn and decided it was time to make use of it for the doll donation. I remembered ABC knitting had some crochet doll outfits that might work and set out to see what I could target.

I started with the skirt which called for fingering yarn. You can find the free pattern for the skirt here. This pattern calls for a D hook with the sock yarn I used a C hook to make it fit and next time I might go down to a B. While it has a draw string it was loose at the waist for the My Life doll. It fit better on the Our Generation Doll with the C hook.

I used another free crochet pattern from ABC Knitting for the top. I reversed the jacket from the Elizabeth pattern found here. Instead of a cardigan, I made it a shirt that closes in the back. I used snaps instead of buttons to close it.

I have a small ball of the dark pink and a good size ball of the dark pink left so I'm sure you will see those in future projects.