Barbie Capris, Shirt, Hat, and Purse

I've been going through my Barbie binders from the old patterns I made from a decade ago to the "new" patterns I've been picking up from out of print sources trying to choose a variety of patterns. Some are just quick to have a variety of outfits to send off with the donation. Others give my hands a break in working with the small hooks and crochet thread. Others let me explore something fun and creative.

While looking through the binders I came across a pattern set I bought at the end of my last round of Barbie doll clothes making and then never used. The pattern is still available at Maggie's Crochet here. My purpose for buying the pattern back then was that it didn't use thread. The patterns were designed with Red Heart Luster Sheen, which back then was readily available. Not so much now although I still have a few odd shades in my stash.

With Luster Sheen not an option I looked online for suggested substitutes and baby sport yarn came up as a suggestion. The pants are made with my now unavailable Red Heart Sport Comfort Yarn. The Shirt is Bernat Baby Sport White. If you are looking for a break from thread crochet for Barbie this is a nice pattern set. I tried the capris first as I thought they'd be an easy way to check for yarn substitutes.

While several of the older Barbie patterns use double crochets for the legs of Barbie/Ken patterns I like the single crochet look better that is used in this pattern. Since pants are pretty basic I think I'm going to experiment with some other patterns to see if the leg sections can be done with more rows of sc and thus eliminate some of the holes in the pants that are less than attractive.