Monday, August 31, 2015

American Girl Tunic and Capris and Visor


As I mentioned in a previous post I picked up several Shady Lane patterns with some birthday cash. This outfit was my first attempt at the Tunic and Capris set found in Crochet Play Clothes. It can be purchased here. The visor was a free crochet pattern from ABC Knitting found here.

I thought the Capris worked up very well and will be making more of them again. I struggled a bit with the top which is why you will see my second attempt, with a slightly different challenge tomorrow. The visor was a fun project that allowed me to use up some thread I had left over from making the Chevron dress.

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.

Friday, August 28, 2015

American Girl Crochet Hat, Top, Vest, and Skirt


With my birthday cash I picked up a few of Shady Lane's newer 18" doll patterns. This is my attempt at the Crochet Fashion Statement that can be purchased here.

I am in a push to use up yarn before acquiring more in my stash so I went with a red and black theme instead of the pink. In order to make gauge my yarn was worsted instead of sport. Even going with a larger hook I couldn't make gauge with the sports yarn I had on hand. The only place it really seemed to be a problem was it made the shirt a bit bulky to put the vest over.

My hat came out more as a bowler than a top hat, so I'm going to give it another try at a later date, although I thought the bowler was actually a cute look. I haven't tried the sneakers. At the best of times I find shoes a challenge. These looked more than I wanted to attempt. I think I can find a cute pair of high tops to match that will save my patience for other projects.

One note on finishing the vest, do look at the picture as you are folding down the corners to tack them down. I didn't and had to pull out and redo again.

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.




Thursday, August 27, 2015

Baby Jenna Summer Outfit


Melissa & Doug Jenna - 12" Doll has been a staple of my donations for the last few years. I stock up when I find her on sale and it has helped to standardize the patterns I need to work on each year.

Recently I came across a free pattern on Ravelry for Baby Sasha and was curious to see if it could be adapted. You can find the pattern here. One of the big challenges in working with baby dolls is the sizes vary greatly. Baby dolls come in all lengths and widths. A 12" baby doll may not be equal to another 12" doll but it is a starting point. In this case I'd never heard of the Sasha line. After a little online research I discovered Sasha is generally considered more of collector's doll than a play doll, but the length was comparable. I had no idea about the other dimensions.

I had to increase the hook size and add a finishing edge, but other than that, the outfit cute and I thought it was rather cute. This was a great chance to work on using up my stash as this was made from Pound of Love baby yarn that has been in my stash for a bit.

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.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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.



Tuesday, August 25, 2015

American Girl Valentine's Sweater


I love adding holiday outfits to my doll donations. I'm not sure if the kids love them as much as I do, but since I'm the one doing all the crocheting I like giving myself some projects I enjoy, too.

Valentine's Day has always been a challenge for me as I didn't have anything specific for it. However, when I bought the Tara Cousin's set, it had a heart sweater that was perfect for my project. You can purchase the pattern here.

While this outfit required buttons, I was glad because it had a better fit to it. The heart pattern while charted was easy enough to follow. I changed it to more seasonal colors and I really liked the way it came out. One more holiday outfit finished.

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.

Monday, August 24, 2015

American Girl Back to School Outfit


This was another free crochet pattern found from ABC Knitting here.

I fell in love with the colors when I came across this pattern. I try not to complain about free pattern designers. What ever they give is a gift. However, one of my few complaints is when designers of free or paid patterns choose obscure yarns that are hard to find or are no longer available by the time the pattern is published. I understand people have the right to choose the yarn they feel will best match their design needs, but for those of us who then try to find yarn to use it can be a frustrating process. I don't even complain when the yarn is more expensive than I want to pay. At least if it is still available I have some hope of trying to find a substitute I can afford. However, when the yarn is an obscure one, or one no longer available, finding a substitute is much more challenging. The more important the texture and color are to matching the pattern, the more frustrating it is when the yarn is not readily available. No yarn is available forever, however, one would hope that at least at the time of publication, we should be able to locate the yarn used by the designer.

I saw this pattern when it was first published at ABC Knitting and started immediately on a hunt to find the suggested yarn. I couldn't locate it anywhere. For some patterns that isn't an issue. Substitutes are easy enough to locate and the finished product is close enough to the suggested yarn that I'm happy with the result and sometimes at a discounted rate. However, this one was trickier because it required specific colors that were not easy to locate. I eventually found Cascade fingering yarn at Webs. It was the only yarn I found online that matched the suggested weight and came close to the color. I'm not sure based on outcome it was exactly the same texture as the original yarn. Not having the original to see how it measures up, I can't be sure.

I found the skirt and the backpack worked up easily, but I struggled to get a good fit for the cardigan. The colors are perfect for a fall outfit and I was quite pleased with the outfit.

While I love the skirt and the backpack, I'm not sure I'd try the cardigan again. I'll have to find a substitute if I make them again.

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.



Friday, August 21, 2015

American Girl Skirt, Shirt, and Hat.


I decided to use up some sock yarn I had won a while back and had no use for as I don't make socks. I found a free pattern for a crochet skirt at ABC Knitting that required fingering yarn here. I tried the matching top, but found I couldn't get the fit right, so I adapted a favorite dress pattern to make a top. I did use the free hat pattern found here.

I love it when I can add another outfit to my donation pile and use up yarn that is taking up valuable space in my yarn room.

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.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

American Girl City Chic


This was another one of Tara Cousin's designs that I bought as a set. You can purchase this one here.

This was another situation where I loved the body of the dress, but the neck was more challenging to get a fit that would fit over the doll's body and still look correct on the shoulders. I loved the idea of creating a dress that required no buttons or other forms of connections, but I still found the neck to be tight.

The Mary Jane shoes were a cute addition to the outfit and the purse was also a nice accessory.

The designer made the original in grey, I wanted a happier color so I went with blue and yellow.

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.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

American Girl Ice Princess Elsa Inspired Dress


I've been busy working on my doll donation project and once again fallen behind on posting my projects. Last month I used some of my birthday money to purchase some new doll patterns. I bought a pattern set from Tara Cousins and the first one I finished was the Elsa inspired dress that can be purchased here.

While I like the look of her outfits, I do find the collars a challenge to get them to fit correctly. I've been playing with reworking them to get them to fit as I've worked on the projects. The rest of the outfit was fun to put together and worked up nicely.

I thought it would be fun to have one of the more popular themes included in my donation this year.

Thanks to donations from Crochetville friends from Canada and Florida this is going to be an amazing donation this year. I'm looking forward to contacting the director of the program when school resumes next month.

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.

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