Chelsea Drop Waist Dress with Flared Skirt

This was part of my folder of birthday patterns. DH asks me for a list and from that he selects patterns to buy me for gifts. I repeat lots of patterns but I love having new stuff to try. With some dolls I've needed to increase my pattern selection as they are new to me or they've changed size considerably from the older patterns I do have.

Chelsea is one of those dolls. I had patterns for the smaller Kelly and when I made them a decade ago they did fit the smaller doll. When I came back to Barbie's the larger Chelsea required new patterns because I found it was hard adjusting the smaller Kelly patterns because I couldn't increase the yarn size as the outfits became too bulky and if I increased the hoook size the gaps became too large. Last year I didn't do well dressing Chelsea for her journey to her new home. I've made a much better start this year. I started with free patterns and then decided to try some paid designers to see if I could get some variety.

I decided to try Charpatterns Chelsea patterns and put one on my birthday list. You can purchase this one here.

This pattern calls for Lizbeth size 20 Watermelon. I didn't have Lizbeth on hand but I did have solid color Size 20 from Creative Yarn source on hand and decided I wanted to see if I could get an idea of how easy the pattern would be to use while I searched for some variegated size 20 thread. After a quick search I realized Watermelon was not happening. I did eventually find some variegated Lizbeth 20 on sale at Joann's and hopefully when my order arrives I will try this pattern again giving it a slightly different look.

Notes:

I used Creative Yarn's size 20 thread French Blue, Bright Yellow and White. The pattern calls for a size 10 steel crochet hook but numbers are not as helpful as they once were and mm are actually a more stable measurement across hooks. I made the dress with a Tulip Etimo 1.25mm Steel Crochet Hook. I think I could have used a smaller hook. It's always a balance between a good fit and having it too hard to get on and off the doll for little hands. The smaller the doll the harder it is for kids to manipulate the clothes. I went down to my Tulip Steel .9mm for the hat, undies, and shoes.