Lil Cutesies Valentine Outfit

I had previously made Valentine themed holiday outfits for the Lil Cutesie dolls for a Valentine present box but this year I set a challenge to see if I could add more holiday outfits to the donation dolls. The outfits don't need to be made at the holidays since they won't be donated until November or early December but it is a fun way to celebrate making them during the season.

You can purchase the pattern here. There are minor adaptations for the Lots to Love 8" doll included in the pattern and I'm planning to make the outfit for both dolls to send off for the donation this year.

I've made this outfit in pink for Valentine's and green for St. Patrick's day. It works well for both holidays.

Notes:

The pattern calls for a size 5 steel hook. I've never found the numbers to be helpful as the numbers vary by manufacturer so I try to stick to mm when recording so if I change hooks I have a better chance of matching mm than sizes. For this pattern I used my Tulip Etimo 1.75mm and 1.5mm hooks. For the dress I used the 1.75mm hook. I finished off a container of pink size 10 thread. I mention it because while I often finish a skein of yarn, it often feels like thread lasts forever. Since I've added some of the smaller dolls I've been using more thread and seeing the cardboard ends is not as rare as it once was although still not as common as finishing off a skein of yarn.

I did not use a tie at the top and I finished the back with sc so I skipped the first stitch on both sides when working the collar. I didn't do this the first time and the collar didn't close correctly so I note it here for future projects.

The bottoms also used the 1.75 mm hook. I chose to finish the leg openings with a sc around the legs.

I used the 1.5mm hook for the shoes. I had previously made them with the larger hook and found them hard to keep on the feet. I found going down to a 1.25mm hook made the shoes too tight.

For the hat I also went down to a 1.5mm hook. I ran out of pink at the last row so I used a row of white at the end before the brim.