Barbie Fashion Doll Thrills

One of the vintage crochet pattern sites I frequent was having a sale on crochet magazines recently and I looked searched the offerings to see if any had fashion doll patterns. I was able to pick up some new offerings for my Barbie binders.

This pattern comes from Annie's Quick and Easy Pattern Club April/May 1991 Magazine. The original pattern used a variegated purple size 10 thread that I couldn't match. If I do find something similiar I'd pick it up for another donation doll as the shading was quite pretty. Since I resumed working with thread I've been picking up a variety of solid and variegated thread colors and weights to use for toy and doll projects. For this project I pulled Aunt Lydia's Size 10 Crochet Thread, Monet Multi from my stash. While it isn't purple I think it makes a nice substitute color pattern.

As I mentioned with the previous Barbie pattern steel hook sizes listed in older fashion doll patterns don't always match your current steel hooks so it is best to try the outfits on as you make them. Barbie sizes have also not stayed the same over the years so this too can be a factor as you work with older patterns. Trying on and adusting as you go can help work through these challenges. This pattern called for a size 7 steel hook. I used a Tulip Steel Crochet Hook-Size 4/1.25mm for all but one row of this project. For the first row of the bodice I used the Tulip Etimo Steel Crochet Hook-Size 0/1.75mm to increase the size of the waist as it was just a little tighter than I'd hoped. I'd previously started the project with this hook but the dress was too large. It can be a bit of a Goldilocks situation sometimes when working with these patterns to find just the right fit.

Notes:

I added two rows of sc finish to the back to create a better place to add snaps and to make the back close better on the dress. Not part of the directions but it made the dress fit better. Note for hat make sure you add the chain 1 after the shell. This is different from skirt pattern and easy to forget.