Rag Doll Top and Shorts

A friend of mine has sent me Rag dolls a few times for the donation project and I wanted to try adding one this year. I ordered 2 from CR Crafts only to find these are slightly smaller than the ones she gets from Factory Direct Craft.

I've ordered the larger ones from Factory Direct as I have some patterns that I think will fit the larger dolls better, but I am determined to outfit this doll for the donation as well. It's not like I don't send multiple sized baby dolls. Why not rag dolls?

As for the outfit for this doll, with the exception of the afghan collection, which I sadly missed out on, every time Annie's has issued a DVD Rom collection of crochet patterns I've tried to purchase them. I did miss the afghan one sadly but I did get both volumes of the Crochet World collection and the Dolls, Doll Clothes and Acessories DVD Rom. I find myself revisiting these DVD's from time to time when I am trying new things and want to see what I might not have tried before. With the addition of new dolls it seemed like it was time to see what the DVD had to offer for doll patterns I might be able to use with the new dolls.

One of the pattern sets that is included on the DVD is Needlecrafts Shop's Sweet Cuddles 971016 leaflet. This is a pattern for a soft bodied 15" baby doll as well as a wide range of clothing for the doll. I thought I had seen this offered on one of Annie's pattern sites but it was not available when I searched prior to posting this blog. If it returns I'll try to post a link.

This sweater was designed as a cardigan but do to the difference in shape and size of the dolls it fit better as a shirt. I moved from baby weight to Red Heart striped yarn and an H hook. in the future I would use an H for the first few rows of the top and switch to a g hook for the remainder of the outfit as it gets big quickly. I sewed the underarms a little more closed as it billowed out a bit more than I thought was needed.

I had intended to make the overalls pattern for this outfit but the sweater was too bulky. Shorts seemed a better alternative. I will likely revisit overalls at some point

The shorts were made by crocheting over a hair elastic and then alternating between hdc and dc rows until I had 4 rows. I chained 4 and split the legs evenly. I then crocheted for another two rows on each leg to complete the shorts.