18 Inch Doll Donation

I think this was the area that disappointed me the most this year. I started on a high note working on a holiday theme and then life got in the way and my donations were not nearly as good as they should have been. However, instead of beating up on myself I'm going to celebrate what was accomplished. My Mom felt up to sending me knitted donations and those are included here as well. This is the first time in a few years she's been able to send me stuff so I guess you have to take what you can and realize it is more than what would have been accomplished without trying at all.

Thanks to Mom for these,

American Girl Summertime Frills for Dolls

Red Heart has been much more active in creating free patterns for the 18 Inch dolls. It doesn't hurt that many of them push people to buy more Red Heart yarn, but I'm OK with that. The yarn is easy to locate, often on sale, and it is less likely to disappear than many of the yarns listed on e-patterns I purchase.

This was one of the more recent patterns I downloaded and you can find the free pattern here. I've made the shirt twice now and I've found for me the Red Heart SS worked better than the Red Heart Soft Baby Steps in getting the shirt to fit. I found even adjusting my hook the shirt was tight when I used the suggested soft. I was OK with that. I had the required color on hand in SS so it was no loss. I'll find a use for the Red Heart Soft yarn later. The skirt is cute, but I will work on the pattern to make it fit a bit better next time. It had a different method for crocheting with elastic than I've used in the past and I wanted to experiment with it. I wasn't as pleased with the outcome as I have been with my previous method. However, it works.

This was also my first time using the Boutique Sashay Mini. I need more practice with it. The stitch side of the yarn needs to face downward working into the open end to have it work best. We live and learn. However, for a first attempt I'm OK with it.

This skirt style is a popular one with some of my younger relatives, I'm curious to see their reaction to the donation outfit.

At the moment I've started in on Snow White's dress. I seem to have developed a princess trend.

American Girl Sailor Dress

I remember seeing pictures of these types of outfits in my Grandmother's picture albums. The white sailor outfits, different for boys and girls, were worn during the summer months. I can't imagine what it was like to keep them clean.

I picked up a thread pattern a couple of years ago, but completing even one thread outfit a year is a challenge for me. I know some love crochet thread, but it is always an adventure for me. Yarn is my medium. I was thrilled to find a pattern that had the same theme, but used yarn instead of thread. It arrived as part of my Valentine's presents. You can purchase the pattern here.

The hat pattern was the first item I made and it helped me establish what yarn and hook to use. The sport yarn proved to be too light and I switched to worsted and then moved up to an I hook. The hat was one of the cuter ones I've made recently. I love the way the designer used fp stitches to create the creases in the dress. I also love the shoe pattern.

I have been using small balls of yarn to make some additional shoes to add to my donation. I often find making shoes challenging. This pattern was quite easy and I didn't find the toes sticking through the ends of the shoes, which is a problem I sometimes have with crocheted shoes.

I'm on a mission to use up yarn when I can instead of leaving behind little balls so I added a purse to the outfit which is not included in the pattern. However it is a from a free Red Heart Summertime Thrills Pattern found here. I've gotten pieces for two outfits now from this pattern without actually finishing the Summertime Thrills outfit itself. I'm still waiting on some yarn I need to finish the skirt.

American Girl Yoke Skirt and T-Shirt

Today's post is an example of why just storing links is not enough you need to download and store the patterns safely or have printed copies before the links disappear. Even with recovery links, they only last a little while when they disappear.

The Yoke skirt pattern was one of the early patterns I downloaded from ABC knitting's crochet patterns for the 18 Inch dolls. At least for the moment you can still find the pattern here. It's been sitting in my 18" doll binder for years but sadly I'd never made it.

This year I was playing with gauge trying to figure out how to master the t-shirt from the free Red Heart Summertime Frills pattern found here when I decided to make a sample with yarn I wasn't as concerned about destroying. I played with it a few times and liked the look. Having finished the shirt, I realized it wasn't the right color for the Red Heart outfit, so I needed something for the bottom. I had some Navy yarn I wanted to finish off and remembered the Yoke skirt pattern. Thus again out of my practice was born another outfit.

The Yoke skirt actually brought me back to my own Jr. High School days. I've not seen a wrap skirt for the 18" dolls at least in crochet. They were all the rage during my Jr. High school days although ours were cloth and had cloth ties instead of buttons. I had almost forgotten the fashion until I started working on the outfit and trying to figure out how the skirt was supposed to be joined. As I looked more closely at the pattern I came to realize it wasn't going to be joined in the traditional sense, but was more like the wrapped skirts of my youth.

American Girl Dorothy of Oz

I found Ruby Red Sprinfield Doll shoes on sale a few months ago while out shopping and decided I had to find a pattern to match them. I realize the traditional Dorothy pattern is a gingham check, but this pattern was a simple alternative. I have a thread pattern from Treasure Heirlooms that I hope to complete someday that does create that look. However, thread outfits are not in the cards this year.

DH was kind enough to purchase the pattern for the outfit here as a Valentine's present. The pattern also comes with a pattern for shoes and a finger puppet and basket. I already had shoes, which is why I went looking for the pattern, so I chose not to make them. I made the dog and basket from The Wizard of Oz Crochet that I had purchased a while back. I was not as happy with Toto as I'd hoped, but it was a better alternative than the puppet.

This is a great jumper pattern and I can see making it in multiple colors for different projects other than Dorothy. It was an excellent choice to add to my pattern collection.

Valentine's Brought Crochet

Along with beautiful flowers and a very nice dinner, DH picked up several patterns that I've wanted for Valentine's Day.

I'm always looking to add to my doll patterns for my donation project so I got a few of those.

Dorothy of Oz I've already finished this one and it should be ready to post next week. This seems to be her only 18 inch doll pattern. I'm hoping she makes more.

Sleeping Beauty This continues my fairy tale princess collection. I now have her Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. I've finished Cinderella and hope to get to the other two soon. I'm not sure if I'll pursue any of the other princesses in her collection. They seem a bit beyond my talents. We'll see how I feel after I finish the last two.

Sailor Dress I found a sailor dress a while back made from thread. I am so grateful to find one that uses yarn. I understand the wonders thread can do for detail and design for outfits, however, I am not a fan of working with it. I finish maybe one or two thread outfits a year and then do nothing for months. Having a yarn option is huge for me.

Farmer I had a pattern for overalls that I made a few years ago that were adorable but they required a heavier weight itchy yarn and my hands itched for days. Just thinking about it now makes my hands itch. This calls for traditional worsted yarn. I'm happy already thinking about the alternative.

The last pattern was for a set of ami's from the Game of Thrones. I've never seen the show but the patterns are adorable. The patterns are here.

This should keep me busy for a while.

American Girl Dress

I saw a free pattern for an American Girl Wrap Sweater Dress here. I love the blend of a variegated top and a solid colored bottom. I downloaded the pattern, but struggled with the skirt. Not terribly surprising, I had another pattern similar to this I've never gotten to work. I always end up with a ballooning skirt instead of the beautiful webbed skirt you can see in the pictures provided by the designer.

I tried the pattern twice during the Super Bowl game and then once on Monday. When I realized it wasn't working for me, I decided it was time to move forward and add a dc skirt instead. I love the color contrasts in this dress. The picture sadly doesn't do them justice. I may try something like this with a few other variegated colors.

I'm working on a dress with an underskirt pattern at the moment. I ordered the yarn I need for the Redheart Redcross Nurse pattern and I'm hoping to get to work on that when it arrives.

American Girl Chef

This has to be one of my favorite outfits of the year. It is one the outfits in Darski's free pattern Howdy Neighbor and you can find the pattern at Crochetville here.

I searched through my friend's stash and had a trip back into time as she had a skein of white baby yarn purchased from Rich's to make the Chef's hat. Rich's has been out of business for years. However, it was a shopping staple of my Mom's for years when I was a kid. I spent many hours in their yarn aisle while my Mom picked up yarn for her latest knitting project. Finding that skein brought back pleasant memories.

After making a mistake reading the yarn requirements where I used up some pink and white baby yarn I had on hand for the shirt and apron that turned into a baby doll outfit I'll post later, I stuck with worsted weight yarn for the rest of the outfit.

I chose light pink because other than the light sport yarn I didn't have any darker pink worsted weight yarn. I'm on a bit of a yarn diet. Not a fast because I will buy yarn for a specific project. For instance, I got the pattern for the special Red Heart Red Cross nurse outfit and I don't have the yarn to make it. I'll pick up the yarn for that project. However, I'm resisting the urge to build up colors to have them on hand until I reduce the yarns I have on hand. I need to get the yarn under control before it becomes a hoard. It needs to be contained.

American Girl Grey Lady

My husband bought me this pattern as one of my Valentine's gifts two years ago. You can purchase the pattern here.

I love this pattern. It always makes me think of an old fashioned governess outfit. The texture of the top of the dress is delightful. I think I might actually wear a sweater if it was that soft. I was able to use Bernat and Red Heart yarn I had on hand, so it contributed greatly to my stash busting project.

I used the suggested g hook on the skirt, the h hook actually made the skirt portion of the dress too large. In order to make the upper portion of the dress fit I used an H hook and it fit comfortably getting the dress on and off. It wasn't too loose as the skirt had been when made with the larger hook. Using the H hook I was able to use snaps as suggested since the top had the room. Previously when I made this I had to change to buttons because the top was too tight.

The one addition I made this year was embroidering a design on the purse. It seemed kind of plain and I wanted to add something simple. It is not a talent of mine, but I thought it came out OK.

I have several more outfits to post this week. I'm currently working on a dress with an underskirt. I've never tried anything quiet like this before. It reminds me a little bit of trying to put clothes on an ami working in front and back loops. I'm hoping it all works out and I can post about it next week.

American Girl Lacy Nightgown

This was another of Tara Cousin's patterns that I purchased as a set with my birthday money. You can purchase the pattern here.

I used an elastic again to expand the neck as I found it too tight prior to adding the elastic. This is a cute pattern, but I have other patterns I think I'll be working on next time.

American Girl Doll Wisteria Chevron Dress

I found this free pattern at ABC Knitting found here. I haven't had the opportunity to do much work with Size 3 thread, but I find it quite nice to use. It is thick enough to hold on to, but it doesn't split as badly as some of the fingering yarn I've used recently.

I liked the colors, but I didn't get quite the same results with the chevron that the pattern designer did. Perhaps next time I'll do better. This may also have been a result of having to play with the hook size to make gauge. More experimentation will help learn how to manage this better.

Barbie and American Girl Doll Free Patterns are listed on my blog at these locations:

Barbie Crochet and Sewing Page

Barbie Knitting Page

Ken Page

Kelly/Skipper Page

American Girl Doll Crochet and Sewing

American Girl Doll Knitting

Doll Blankets and Pillow Patterns

Baby Doll Patterns:

Baby Doll and Cabbage Patch

Additional Doll Patterns also Available on the Holiday Blogs:

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Pictures may not be used without permission.