Baby Doll Basket for 12 Inch Baby Doll

One of the first set of projects I finished when I hit my 18 Inch doll block were the baskets. They can be tough on the hands as they are worked with the heavier Homespun yarn which while perfect for these baskets is a bit more challenging at times to use than traditional worsted yarn.

I use the pattern from Dressing Up Dolly, Leisure Arts 2725 and instead of using 2 pieces of yarn for the thickness, I use one and it works fine for the smaller doll. I found a pattern in my stash for another doll basket/carrier that was for a Cabbage Patch doll. I'm not sure where it is from, I'll have to research. I may try that one for next year as it goes a bit higher and would give more support to the doll. We'll have to see if it goes together as easily as this one.

15 Inch Baby Doll Sundress with Hat

This is one of the patterns I've been using the longest and is one of the easier patterns on my regular pattern list. It has slipped off the web and can only be accessed through the Wayback machine here. Sometimes people will reload their patterns in other domains, but I've yet to locate this one. I will add it to my list of doll pattern if I do. My suggestion would be to download it now if you want it. The Wayback machine can be unreliable for keeping links.

This pattern is very flexible in sizing and while originally designed for a 14" Fisher Price doll I had no trouble adapting it to my bigger 15" doll. I also love that doesn't require buttons or snaps. I'm always happy when I can avoid sewing. It slips on and off easily for little hands, which is also a plus.

This is where I used up most of the yarn I mentioned in the Watermelon dress post. I made this dress first and thought I'd had enough left over for the 12" doll pattern. It's always hard to know when you are working with a yarn you aren't familiar with on a project you are adapting. For my own notes to make this fit this doll I required a K hook and joined after the first row to avoid needing any buttons. I chained 21 for the straps.

Watermelon 12" Baby Doll Dress

One of the things I've enjoyed this year is trying to adapt patterns, yarns and hooks to get one pattern to fit both baby doll sizes. This is an adaptation of a free 14" baby doll pattern found here. The yarn was a lighter weight kind of coarser yarn I inherited when a friend passed away. I had used up most of the yarn on another project but thought I'd have enough to finish the outfit for Melissa & Doug 12 Inch Baby Doll. I underestimated the amount of yarn I needed, but got to thinking about color combos I'd seen for a child's dress and decided to experiment with some Red Heart Lime colored yarn. It worked, creating my Watermelon Outfit.



This encourages me because in years gone by, I've stuck to experimenting with outfits for the 15" doll, but been far more hesitant to play with stuff for the smaller doll, meaning that she always goes off with a smaller bag of clothing for the donation. This will be the largest donation that goes off with her to date.

It has also been great to use up more of the donated yarn in my friend's memory. I need the room and it makes me feel good to know her legacy is one that will make little ones happy.

Doll Basket for 15" Doll

As it happens every year at some point I start having problems with the 18 inch doll cloths. Thankfully this year I had a bag overflowing with doll clothes before that wall approached. As soon as two projects didn't work I decided to switch to baby doll projects and see what I could finish before I needed to take my yearly crochet break.

This project comes from Dressing Up Dolly, Leisure Arts 2725 and the blanket is from the 2016 Crochet Calendar. I used the required hook and two pieces of Homespun yarn to make the basket. This year I made the pillow and blanket from Homespun as well.

American Girl's Frozen's Elsa

Sadly, I got behind in my posting again. I finished this well before Easter, not too long after the Anna outfit. However, with the craziness of lots of things going on getting pictures taken never happened and then when they did, I never got them posted.

I made this outfit for the first time last year. This year, I've become more accepting of needing a larger hook to deal with tighter stitches. I'm still not crazy about the way the shoulder's fit, but short of redesigning the top, I'm stuck with that.

I got Tara Cousin's Elsa pattern as part of a package, but you can find the single outfit here.