Lots to Love 8 Inch Irish Lass

A friend of mine from Crochetville mentioned adapting 5" patterns for the 8" dolls a while back but I hadn't gotten around to trying it until recently when I was looking for a St. Patrick's Day doll outfit for my 8" Holiday doll project. I normally wait to make these dolls until I've sent out my holiday box but after packing up my Valentine decorations I really missed seeing the dolls so I decided I'd fit one in between my other projects.

Crochet World used to have Web Bonus pattern offerings from 2008-2012 and they are still available online. Amy Carrico's 5" Irish Lass Pattern can be found free here.

Since this pattern was designed for a 5" doll adaptations had to be made to make it fit the larger 8" doll. I started with worsted weight 4 yarn for the top with a D hook. The sport yarn might have worked but I've found this doll to be large at the top and the sport yarn often makes the top too small. The down side is the dress is always bulkier with the larger yarn. Do to the sizing differences I had to add two rows before the arm holes row 3 to make the top long enough that the arm holes were correctly placed.

As I moved on to the skirt it quickly became clear the skirt lost all shaping and was enormous with the worsted weight 4 green yarn. I still have a crate full of the old Red Heart Sport yarn that I'm working through and when I checked I had a skein of Paddy Green that just seemed like it had been waiting for this project. I continued on with the Red Heart Sport and a D hook.

For the underskirt, which is really a trim not a true underskirt I used white sport yarn which I'm thinking is Mary Maxim Baby yarn I bought a while back but has since lost its label. It feels like it is somewhere in the sport to DK range. I added an extra row of dc around no increases to the pattern. In the picture you can see the underskirt showing. With one row with the alterations to the pattern I found it was tucked under the green shamrocks.

I tried three different hook sizes before going back to the D hook with the sport yarn for the panties. The D hook was the right call but I was concerned they would be too large. Anything bigger and they were much too large with this brand of sport yarn. You can't tell from this picture but this pattern has ruffles on the back of the panties and those were done with the green sport yarn. I'd never crocheted anything like that so I wasn't quite clear which way the ruffles were supposed to go but I think I got it right.

I LOVE thes shoes so much that I had to take a picture so I'd remember what I did when I pack the St. Patrick's decoratiosn away and I want to make them for the donation doll outfits. These are actually fairly simple to make. I continued with the sport yarn but found the D hook was way too large. This doll has the tippy toe feet and it is one of the more challenging of the 8" dolls to fit. When you buy them online you don't get to choose the dolls you get what they send or I'd try for the dolls with more of a standing foot. Getting back to my notes to make these shoes fit the 8" doll I needed to use a B hook with the sport weight yarn. I also played a little with the placement of the straps but I'm happy overall with the outcome.

Last note to myself the shamrock buttons came from Factory Direct. I mention this because I know I'll end up wanting more of these for another project and won't remember who had them.