Rag Doll Summer Dress

At the beginning of this donation cycle I thought this would be the final year for the Rag Doll. The current model has different hair from this model but it is still nice to have a rag doll in the mix. The company I order them from had two more left so I will be keeping the Rag dolls on for a few more rounds.

Notes:

This dress is made adapting the baby doll summer dress from Margaret Funk's House of White Birches Baby Doll Fashions to Crochet that I use for the two 16 inch baby dolls.

For this outfit I chose Lion Brand's Ice Cream Yarn in Watermelon. It makes for a cheerful dress.

In the past I've added an additional sc row before starting the changed directions for the 16 inch baby doll that I've documented several times. I missed that this year and the dress is lighter at the top. I'd likely go back to the additional row next year.

I started with an E hook and repeated row 5 once. Thus rows 3-6 follow the original directions for 3-5 moving each row directions down one. For the original row 6 now row 7 that starts the skirt I moved to a D hook to decrease the skirt size as it is too large with the E hook.

The top is slightly large for this doll so I finish the top and the arm holes with a sc 4 decrease around. It isn't even but it does help make the outfit fit better.

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.