Lots to Love 8 Inch Bunny Suit

I've always loved the little 5 Inch Lots to Love dolls that people knit and crochet holiday outfits to add to their holiday decorations. Sadly, I've never been very great making doll clothes that small. I've been fortunate to have family and friends who have made some for me over the years and I happily display them for the various holidays.

When I discovered Annie Potter's collection of 8 inch doll clothes leaflets I included her holiday book in my order, not for donations, but for myself. I wanted to make some of my own doll decorations and this is my first. The print edition is available for purchase here. This pattern set is also available for purchase in digital format at Etsy here.

This was a great project to use the sport yarn I had picked up at AC Moore prior to their closing. I look forward to making more clothes from my stock for the 8 and 10 inch Lots to Love dolls. Then of course I'll have to find a new supply of sport weight that has that range of colors and is the right weight for these clothes.

Notes:

This pattern worked up with an e hook and sport weight yarn. Getting the feet to fit was the biggest challenge. I think when I make the next footed outfit I would have the outfit on the doll as I finished off the feet to try to make the footed pj's fit better. I changed the ears from the pattern. The pattern has the ears droop down the side of the bunnies head. I sewed two ears together to get the ears to stand up. I just liked the look better. I had carrot buttons on hand so I used one on the front. The picture has heart buttons. I did not add the ties to the feet as they already had challenges fitting to the doll.

I've decided this doll will be dedicated to this outfit and I'll pick up others for the different holiday dolls as I've done with the 5" dolls. It may not be necessary with all the dolls but the fitted nature of this outfit will create some damage to it if I try to put it on and off too many times. The doll dresses might be better suited to removing and storing with the holiday decorations and changing the doll to a new outfit for the next holiday.

A friend suggested I try making some of the 5" doll outfits with sport yarn for the 8" dolls. Once I've worked through this pattern set I may try that. I think I have the Holiday Itty Bitties book. If not it is regularly on sale at e-patterns central so I could pick it up if I can't find my print leaflet. That would give me some variety for my holiday outfit choices.

Updated to add:

Since I made this outfit I discovered FreePatterns.com has just one pattern from the House of White Birches Crochet Holiday Baby Dolls 101102 and it is the Easter Bunny doll. You can find the free pattern here. It is different from this one, but I've had great success in adapting the patterns from this series to the 8" Lots to Love dolls. Since it is a free pattern it is a good chance to try it out. You will need to give them your email to access the site's patterns. If this link doesn't bring you directly to the pattern it is called Easter Bunny Baby Doll Costume.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Sun Suit

I recently discovered that a series of doll patterns from Annie Potter presents that I had thought were out of print and unavailable are actually available through the publisher's website. She is also selling some of the digital patterns on Etsy. I wanted the printed leaflets so I ordered them from her website.

This sun suit is part of the Sweet Baby Doll Layette leaflet and can be purchased here. I was particularly pleased to locate this one, I had seen a used one advertised, because it not only has patterns for clothes to fit the 8 inch baby dolls but also accessory items like a Moses bed and a diaper bag.

If you follow my blog you know that I do try to include accessories for the bigger baby dolls in my donations, this will allow me to do so for the smaller dolls, too. Finding a leaflet that included these items for the smaller dolls which likely can also be adapted to the 10 inch dolls was a find.

I now have 2 outfits ready to donate for this doll so I'm making progress.

Notes:

I used baby yarn for the main part of the outfit and the hat. The pink yarn is a no longer available brand of sport yarn from AC Moore. It took an e hook to get the outfit to fit.

Cinderella with Dragon Egg

I'm always looking for new ideas for Easter Eggs. I never do candy anymore and when possible I'm trying to make more eggs to give away. This year I came across a dragon egg pattern I thought I'd try for a different kind of Easter Egg. You can find the free Pattern here. I've never used much metallic yarn and it was interesting to learn a new stitch and try a different type of yarn.

I'd picked up the Disney Princess Crochet Kitand been waiting for a good chance to start making some of them. Fillers for Easter Eggs seemed like a good choice.

There is a series of You Tube videos that help with the unique style of hair the designer creates for Cinderella. I still found the "wig" a little large for the head so I had to work around that when I sewed the hair to the head.

I like the themed patterns of these kits and I've bought several for the patterns. However, I wish they would sell the books without the kits. I would prefer to buy them that way. I was not terribly impressed with the yarn and I didn't need the hook or extra supplies. I actually found the eyes were too large. When I make the rest of the princesses I'll use smaller safety eyes. I used these because they came with the kit.

Bunny with Carrot Dress

I found the bunny for the Easter Project and finally finished the first one. The bunny pattern is called Dress Me Bunny and is free and found here. The blog has several different free patterns you can use to dress the bunny once you make it. I chose the Carrot Dress found here. The outfits do include overalls if you don't want a dress for your bunny.

As I was working my way through the pattern I decided I didn't want to have floppy legs so I reworked the pattern to split the legs and add on the feet.

When I make the second one my plan is to make the two legs and crochet them together to the abdomen level and then crochet the head and torso and join that way. It is a better solution than the one I made for this bunny. The gloppy legs of this pattern are a great option, I just wanted my bunnies to have the ability to stand.

I used an e hook with worsted weight yarn to get a smaller bunny. The bunny is by no means tiny, but had I used a g hook it would have been larger. I still had to use an I hook to get the dress to fit on the top. When I make the dress again I'm thinking about reducing to a smaller hook once I get past the dress fitting the tummy so it doesn't flair out quite so much. I do like the pockets on this dress. I'm on the fence about whether I'll add the collar to the next dress. I didn't think I'd like it with the orange dress, but it did look nice in the maroon version so I'm considering what I want for the second bunny.

The carrot purse and carrots worked out according to directions and I used an e hook for the purse and a D for the carrots.

I added extra rows at the 30 stitches to help the shoes fit the feet. I suspect this has to do with how I constructed and stuffed the feet. I then reduced stitch count and finished as described.

Easter is fast approaching and I need to finish off my projects.

Bonnie Bunny

Bonnie is the second bunny I made from the Cottontails Pattern I received when I purchased the kit from Mary Maxim here. Bonnie is made from worsted weight yarn and a g hook and as you can see from the picture below came out significantly bigger than Robbie.

I chose to continue in similar branded yarns for the clothes. I had to go up to an I hook to get the dress to fit in the back. However the shoes fit with a g hook. I also used a g for the bow. The eyes came with the kit and the nose from CRC Crafts.

I shortened the neck line and altered the body to avoid the bobble head issue I had with Robbie.

Robbie Bunny

I ordered the Cottontails kit from Mary Maxim which you can purchase here after seeing it in the catalog. When you click on the kit details it tells you that the yarn for this kit is Ultra Mellospun but the white yarn is actually Mary Maxim Baby Value Yarn. Only the yarn for the clothing is Mellospun. According to the website the Baby Yarn is a 4 weight but it is more like a sport or DK weight and it while soft I had 2 issues with it.

First, with a g hook I found the stitches were too big not to show stuffing so I went down to an e hook to get the right look. Secondly, it was not a great yarn to use when you want tight stitches like one uses with amigurumi because I found it difficult to frog the stitches after making the tight, like when I realized I needed to move from a g hook to a smaller hook to keep the stuffing from showing.

I made the second bunny using worsted weight yarn on hand and found I had fewer issues with the yarn.

I have much to learn about sculpting so I will take the blame for that part of the pattern challenge. I found however, that I remade the body the second time when I made the girl doll because the neck on this doll was not solid enough to hold the head up until I did some reworking when I followed the original pattern. It had a bit of a bobble headed look to it. I am sure the fault could easily be mine but directions sometimes can help avoid these challenges, too.

The shoes were adorable. I often find patterns for girl amigurumis with shoes, but sneakers for the boys are also cute. I chose to sew the buttons over the holes as I liked the look better and wasn't planning on removing the clothing after the fact. I made the bow tie but chose not to add it after making it. I liked the way he looked in his overalls. The tail was a cute addition.

I am not a huge fan of having to embroider facial features. The kit comes with eyes and I added a nose that I purchased from CRC Crafts.

With all that is going on in the world I am happy to have some new Easter decorations. I decided to keep this pair and work on a different pattern to send out in the Easter box.

Flashback Friday Easter Projects 2019

I don't generally do Flashback posts but as I was researching what to make for Easter this year I went back to look at what I made last year as a reference and realized I never posted what I made as a record for times like this when I can't remember what I made. So this is for me so next year when I want to look back and remember what have I already made and sent I have a searchable record with links to patterns.

I've always loved patterns that give kids more than just a stuffed animal. It doesn't hurt that it provides storage too. This is a fun free pattern you can find here. The pattern shows room for multiple bunnies mine only had room for one, which wasn't the end of the world for me. I suspect with some work you can make it larger to accommodate more bunnies.

The bunny puppets were from a free pattern found here. Learning from this project I remade them and posted about the project last week. The eggs come from a dinosaur egg pattern you can purchase here. I was going to do dino and dragon eggs last year and never got to it.

Cowboy Billy has been a favorite Easter pattern of mine for quite some time. He can be purchased here. Just because he's a duck he doesn't need to be an Easter pattern, but I find there are lots of non-holiday patterns. I love finding unique patterns that will work for holiday themes. A western themed duck has proven on several occasions to be just the right choice for an Easter basket.

Petunia the Purple Bunny Ballerina was the April Bonus Pattern from the 2018 Crochet Calendar. I do rather miss that annual publication. I always got a couple doll and ami patterns to add to my pattern collection from it.

From the pictures I was looking through this appears to be the package from last year and now I have the links to reference too. This blog is my reference point for old projects. So adding this post will help me keep track of items made and remember where I found the patterns should I be looking again.

Baby Isabella

I'm always looking for doll crochet patterns that can be adapted to fit theJC Toys, La Baby 16-inch Pink Doll to give me more variety in the donations I can make.

I purchased the Baby Isabella pattern at Mary Maxim here. Lots to Love Babies 14 inch Baby Dollis the doll used in the original pattern but I thought I'd give it a try.

Notes:

The pattern calls for baby yarn I used worsted weight and increased from a D to an H hook. I think if I try this pattern again I'd try a lighter yarn with a larger hook to make it fit. The worsted yarn is a little bulky for this pattern. I switched from an H to a G hook for the skirt which helped but it was still bulky.

The bonnet actually fit using a g hook and the pattern as described with the worsted weight yarn.

I did not use the shoe pattern as this doll's feet are hard to fit so I went back to Peechy Keen for the shoes a free pattern that can be found here. Not sure what was up with my gauge when I was making these but I had to go up to a J hook to make them fit. I note this because yesterday I want looking to see if I had any notes on hook size regarding these and couldn't find any, so now I know at least at one point I did need to go up from an I to a J.

I love the texture of this pattern. It is a unique stitch style I hadn't tried before and I like the outcome. I'd like to experiment with it again.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Romper

Mary Maxim has released a bunch of their doll kit patterns as digital downloads and when you catch them on sale the prices are quite reasonable. This pattern is called Baby Blue Doll if you need to look it up and it is available for purchase here. These patterns are frequently on sale so if you miss a sale and can wait it is worth it to stock up on the patterns you want.

I've worked with the 5 inch Lots to Love dolls but never the 8 inch. This was a fun simple project. The pattern called for fingering yarn but I decided to try the baby sport yarn I've been trying so hard to finish off and it made gauge with the suggested D hook. The only thing I changed for this project is I didn't add the arms. I found the dolls arms to be some what stiff and while the clothing wasn't tight, I did find maneuvering the outfit over the arms to be more challenging than I'd expected. I decided adding the arms would just make this harder for small hands. I used a snap rather than a button to close the back as I have limited smaller buttons in my supply.

I'm thinking of modifying this pattern to make a little dress as another outfit to donate with the doll. If I eliminate the split for the legs this would make a cute little dress.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

While the celebration will be muted this year I still enjoyed making holiday projects this year.

Rabbit in a Carrot Sleeping Bag

I've been slowly collecting patterns by this designer as they are perfect little presents to add to packages. I received this pattern as a Valentine's present and set out to make it right away for the Easter package. You can purchase the pattern here.

There are tons of patterns free and paid on the market. I love these patterns because the ones I've made are simple to make up and they all have little accessories that add some fun for little ones play time. I previously made the dog with bed for a birthday present and I've been collecting the holiday themed patterns to use for my holiday packages.

Thanks to a friend's search for eyes I found pink noses from CR Crafts here. I've been able to find my eyes and regular noses locally for the most part but colored noses have been elusive and I usually need to get those online. This way I can remember where I ordered them from when I run out. I have no idea where my previous supply came from so had no ability to reorder.

Additional notes:

I'd make the carrot wider for several rows and slightly longer before reducing the rows to the point. While you want the carrot to be tight so rabbit doesn't fall out, you also want it to be easy to get the rabbit all the way in and out.

I liked the grey rabbit. White was too white against the orange. The brown was OK but I think perhaps an off white if I needed a second rabbit again.

Basket Weave Doll Blanket

I could have sworn I had a basket weave doll blanket pattern but when I went to find a pattern to start this blanket I couldn't find one so I just played with the basket weave stitch to create this one.

This was my January and early February travel project. I find the basket weave stitch to be a relaxing stitch which is perfect when you are working on a project while waiting. As I write this in early February, I'm hoping to get another blanket started today so I will have my travel project ready to go the next time I need it. It really does make waiting less stressful and I feel like I'm accomplishing something during time that I really can't do much else.

This was a skein of big ball sport purple yarn I found while exploring my stash, not the other purple yarn you've seen previously. This project didn't finish this skein so I will have to find other projects to finish it off.

Royal Bunny Finger Puppets

I made these once before but I wasn't quite pleased with how they came out so I wanted another crack at them. You can find the free pattern here.

The changes:

I have had these sew on googly eyes for some time now but generally I've either used safety eyes for my ami's or sewn eyes. However for finger puppets saftey eyes are not an option. This project seemed the perfect chance to try out the googly eyes.

I used the ears from the Spring Finger Puppet pattern found here. They are made in one piece and much easier to sew on and I find they stay up better. I experimented with the arms sewing them long wise instead of in the round. The king's arms ended up being a better length I started with a chain 8 with sc in each stitch and dc in same place on end to make hand. The queen was an experiment and too long but we live and learn.

The crown was also an experiment. I followed the prescribed number of chain stitches and did a row of sc. For the next row I dc in first stitch skipped stitch slip stitch dc in next stitch and repeated around.

These are my personal notes as a backup should I lose my notes.

Spring Finger Puppets

As you may have noticed if you drop by here and read about my holiday package posts, I've become intrigued with finger puppets to add to the packages. I found a free Spring Finger puppets pattern here. While great for Easter, I should have dug this out for the farm puppet project. These would have been great additions. However, I'm sure these little creatures can find their way to the already established farm puppet colony.

These patterns work up really quick. I had the three worked up in a couple of hours. I made my bag slightly larger than the egg sized suggested as I have plans to stuff some other items in there.

There are some unique features to the construction of these finger puppets which I would like to visit again. The bunny's ears are made as one piece. For someone like myself who finds sewing the pieces together to be a huge chore this was a wonderful gift. It also meant the ears weren't at different heights which can happen to me when I'm sewing them on separately. The sheep's fleece has texture due to the stitch chose made which is different from the other two characters.

Notes for me.

I sewed in the ends as I went along to avoid trying to have to turn the very small puppets inside out later. I added a beak to the chick that isn't in the pattern.. I am coming to like grey bunnies. The pattern had brown which I knew I wasn't going to use, but I didn't want a white sheep and I white bunny.

Celtic Knot Dishcloth

Holiday dishcloths, hot pads, and pot holders are favorite projects of mine. I love having them to put out to decorate and use in my kitchen. I came across this free Celtic Knot pattern while looking for St. Patrick's Day patterns. You can find the pattern here.

The most challenging part of this pattern is not letting the rings twist as you join the 4th ring. When I make this again I'd use pins to mark the required joining points on the rings prior to attempting to join them all together.

I saw another weaved styled hot pad pattern recently that I'd like to get to at some point. It was a fun project.

Baby Doll Easter Bunny

January definitely was the month for holiday baby doll clothing. I actually finished this outfit before the Leprechaun but seasonally it seemed better for it to go after the Leprechaun.

There was a time when the local craft stores used to sell craft bears that were a little over a foot long and people would buy them and dress them. I've run across various patterns in old crochet magazines I collect and I've put aside ones that I thought might at some point prove useful.

For the most part due to the size differences and shape of the bears most would have been better suited to the days when I dressed the 12" baby dolls. However, every so often you find something you can't resist trying to adapt.

I came across a pattern in my binder from the Mar/April 1993 issue of Hooked on Crochet titled Playing Dress Up. The pattern was designed for a 13" Teddy Bear like the ones I'd seen in craft stores years ago. Looking at it I could see the possibilities for adapting this to the larger 16" doll as there were no clothes to be fitted. The challenge would be to get the hat and shoes to fit. The bib was easy enough to make.

The original pattern called for an H hook I had to use a K to get the hat large enough to fit. I used an I for the pink trim or it was way to bulky. The ears were also done with an I hook or the chenille stems would have poked right through.

The feet proved to be more tricky. Bear feet are large so I needed to go down to a D hook to get them to fit and then play with the rows to get the fit I wanted. I used sport weight yarn for the paw pads or the pads wouldn't have fitted on to the smaller feet.

While I loved the overall look of the outfit I wasn't a fan of the carrot when I started crocheting it. I dug into my button collection for a carrot for the bib.

Easy Peasy Baby Doll Afghan

When I ran out of yarn for the post stitch afghan I remembered I had another purple ball of the same kind of baby yarn in my stash, the problem it was a slightly different shade of purple and they didn't go together well. So after finishing that blanket it was time to attack the second big ball of baby yarn with another baby doll blanket and continue to grow the supply of blankets I have for the donation for this year.

I wanted to try something with a different pattern and texture so returning to Annabelle's Doll Afghan's which can be purchased here I chose her Easy Peasy doll blanket. I've made this blanket many times over the years as it works up quickly.

This is a seed stitch afghan and one of the reasons this is a favorite pattern of mine is for the most part the pattern comes out evenly at the end if you've counted correctly. I still check my stitch count every so many rows as I did pick up a stitch at one point and had to pull out the row in order make the number of stitches count correctly. However for the most part when you make a mistake you end up with the wrong stitch at the end of a row unless like me you add a stitch helping it to come out even.

In the past I've made this blanket with variegated yarn but I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the pattern emerged on a single color. The texture made for a very pretty doll blanket. I was able to continue my quest for using up orphan yarns by using the same baby yarn to trim this blanket as I'd used on the other blanket. I'm determined to finish off that skein as it is one of those skeins that isn't really large enough to complete a project on its own but not small enough that these little tasks have killed it off yet either.

Crochet Hot Cocoa

As I mentioned in the cupcake post I was looking to add some crocheted play food items to the St. Patrick's Day package. While looking at my pattern options I came across what had been a free pattern and now is available at Ravelry for $1.99 here a set called Christmas Cocoa.

The pattern set includes directions for cocoa, sugar cookies, and a candy cane. I've seen several cocoa patterns but this is the first I've seen with marshmallows.

If you like food patterns with faces this includes that too. Where mine are for little ones I tend to reduce use of saftey eyes/noses to places I really need them. I tend to avoid adding them to food items. If I was making this for an adult or older children I'd consider adding the faces as the faces were cute.

Minty Keen Baby Doll

I've been writing quite a bit about the Peachy Keen doll pattern because I've used the shoes in just about every baby doll outfit I've made this year. I've never made it for a donation doll only for the Big Sister project last October. It seemed like it was time to give it a go.

I had 3 skeins of left over yarn from making the last baby doll carrier and I didn't want it hanging around so I decided to target it with a project. This free pattern which you can find here seemed ideal for the project.

Notes:

I would use a smaller hook for the next outfit I need to make for the donation. It calls for a 7 hook which is between the G and H. I took a risk and went with the H since I hadn't made notes on the Big sister project about what hook I used. I believe I have a 7 hook and if I can't find it I would try the G to see how it fit, especially in the skirt area which seems a bit large with the H hook. This made the jacket harder to fit over the dress. Easy enough to fix in the next round.

It's not even Valentine's day as I write this so I feel like I'm making good time getting the baby doll outfits complete for the donation before I turn to the 18" dolls. I've been tempted a few times as I've had yarn to finish off or come across yarn in my stash hunts, but I have a feeling once down that road I will end up as I was this year looking at the huge pile of 18 inch stuff and wondering where all the baby doll stuff was that I intended to finish but never started. So I'm sticking with my mission to finish the baby doll stuff and then move on to the 18 inch clothes.

Crochet Cupcakes

I love toys that encourage creative play. So when ever possible I try to include items in the holiday packages that encourage kids to pretend, act out stories, etc. Play food has long been a favorite present. I've started adding play food to some of the packages. Last month it was Valentine cookies and candy. This month I crocheted green cupcakes to keep with the St. Patrick's Day theme.

Cupcakes are not a crochet project I have much experience with so I decided to try two different patterns to learn a little about making them.

You can find the top pictured free cupcake pattern here.

Notes for myself:
I reduced the total number of stitches for the cupcake from 36 to 30 because it fit better in the cupcake sleeve. I found it was tight when I did the full 36. I also reduced the total number of rows because I wanted it to sit on top of the cupcake sleeve. When I made the full number of rows it stuck out. I kept measuring it against the side of the sleeve to make sure it would fit.

The second free pattern can be found here. While not as obvious this cupcake is also made with a separate cupcake and cover. I learned about surface crochet for this project and I like the stitch.

Irish Lass Crochet Bear

I finished up the Irish Bear pair for my St. Patrick's Day package the last weekend in February. The pattern comes from an out of print American School of Needlework Crochet Pairs of Bears #1182 for those of you who may want to look for it.

The girl bear's outfit was much easier than the boy's. I made the skirt and the arms less full and with fewer trims. I also added a crocheted ear bow.

At some point I'd like to try to make these bears in the smaller size possibly with thread. We'll see how it goes.