My Life Kinley Casual Pant Set

I've made an effort to print patterns that got purchased and for various reasons never got printed so I don't end up buying them again. I almost thought about buying this one before finding it in had been purchased and printing it out.

You can purchase the pattern here.

I honestly thought the challenge for this pattern was going to be the pants. I find stripes for smaller projects like doll clothing or ami's can be challenging as the stripes need to stay even. These worked up really well and I got a little over confident going into the cardigan, thus the reminder pictures for future projects down below.

Notes:

I used an I hook for everything but the shoes and the necklace. I'd consider an H for the cardigan next time if it would work as the holes are large with an I but not sure how the fit would be. The necklace was made with the suggested f hook and the shoes with an H hook.

Shirt:

I rather like this shirt and followed the directions other than hook size as written. My only thought for future projects is I might add a few rows before bottom trim. I found it rode up a bit. Since I wasn't sure how the whole outfit went together as I was making it I went as written. I consider a couple of rows to make it longer for the next project.

Pants:

The pants worked as written. My only reminder to self is to watch the row count and to start row counter for second leg at 12 as first row for leg 2 is 13.

Shoes:

These are cute summer shoes but I'm not sure for my purposes I'd make these again. They were more challenging to make and sadly they don't stay on as well as most of the other shoes I make. I see these getting lost quickly.

Necklace:

I ended up with a button from my collection after failing tassling making a few times. I like the button look and I had to make the necklace longer to be able to take it on and off the doll. This made the button even more practical.

This brings me to the cardigan.

I have no idea why this was so hard for my brain to understand but I don't trust that if I come back to this in a year or more I will remember so I took some pictures.

The basic back was pretty straight forward but for the life of me I could not understand how the arms and sides panels were formed. Without giving the pattern away but reminding myself follow the directions as written they are correct. There are side seems and gaps for arm holes involved.

I did adapt the pattern to make longer sleeves. I did three rows of dc chain one around the arm holes before adding the sc trim.

Skipper Ski Outfit

As with Barbie and Ken this ski pattern comes from the out of print House of White Birches leaflet Crochet Wardrobe for 11 1/2 inch Fashion Dolls.

With minimal adaptations, Barbie's outfit fits Skipper pretty well.

Notes:

I follow Barbie's pattern for Skipper which for my own notes starts on page 32 and skips to left column of 47.

This requires a 2.5mm hook for everthing but the hat which like the other two requires an E hook. Knit Picks's Palette is my go to yarn for all three ski outfits.

Barbie's pants pattern is too small for Barbie but fits well for Skipper as long as I keep the total rows to 18.

I finish the arm and leg holes with ss as this helps with the hands and feet catching on the yarn.

I would consider making the arms slightly larger around the elbow bend as Skipper's bend is sharper than Barbie's and it makes getting the sweater on and off a bit more challenging.

Lil Cutesies Overalls

This is another pattern I purchased here for the Lil Cutesies doll and never got around to making.

You may wonder why purchase and without a specific project in mind. Well the annual donation stays fresher when I rotate projects around keeping me from becoming bored.

I've also learned to buy before pattern designers disappear. If you find a designer that speaks your crochet language and designs for the dolls you need acquiring those patterns over time can be a great strategy for developing a rotation of outfits.

When you notice a designer start moving platforms you sometimes move them to the top of the aquisition pile even if you don't get to all the patterns at once. My hope is if the designer gets enough business perhaps they will keep designing.

My habit has been to buy a pattern from a designer and test the style to see if we speak the same crochet language. Some people find this odd but there are some designers I rarely have issues reading and understand what they are thinking when they write a pattern and others that I surrender and move on to something more productive. Now I do make changes that I document frequently. These are usually do to my own personal guage issues, available yarn, etc. However, I generally find myself looking at a shirt for instance at the end of a session making a shirt rather than a new piece of modern art.

I've chased a few designers across platforms to acquire their doll libraries as I don't have unlimited doll funds. While I'd love to acquire everything they've designed for the dolls I donate it can take time. However, when I do have the chance to stock up I do and then we have binders of doll patterns I dive into to find the neglected/lost patterns I've acquired. Some years I have more time than others for the hunt. This year has been a good year for the neglected pattern catalog.

Notes:

I always need to remind myself when starting these patterns that these are written in UK not US crochet terms. The first bootie could have fit on of the American Girl dolls. In my own defense I was highly distracted at the time and once the bottom of the foot was done realized my mistake.

I used a 2.5mm hook for the outfit.

The White Yarn is Bernat Big Ball Sport Baby. The purple is Lion Brand Baby Soft Dusty Lilac. The flower is a unknown baby yarn brand of purple. I've been trying to attack orphan skeins in my stash. Over the years I've picked up different brands of baby yarns for the donation when they've been on sale to try. It might just be a bad skein but this was was thready at times. It had a hard time holding it together. I'd been going to use my Bernat Baby lavender but wanted to see if I could use this one up.

Shirt:

I only needed 4 rows for the sleeves before it became too long.

For my own notes the pattern suggests closing the shirt with ties. I used a snap. I find the ties get caught.

Overalls:

I would work fewer rows prior to splitting for legs as the overalls are a little long.

The straps required 31 chains in order to make it easy for a child to slide the overalls on and off.

The suggestion is snaps covered by buttons but this seemed overally complicated to me.

There is no flower pattern. I just copied the one I used for the Red Dress I posted about earlier in the week.