My Life Sleeping Bag

As I type this I'm reminded of those childhood songs we sung in the car to pass the time where you count down how many more things are left. Well I have only one more sleeping bag after this one and all the dolls leaving for the 2023 donation will either have a sleeping bag or a baby doll snuggle sack leaving with them. A new item for this year but it feels like a great new addition to add some fun imaginative play to the donation.

This actually proved to be my new travel project. It used to be doll blankets but with COVID I wasn't doing much traveling and I focused my home time to making clothes and accessories for the donation and toys for the family boxes I sent out. However, I find myself needing projects when I'm out at appointments now and these little bags have provent to be a great travel project as they travel well and are easy to pick up and stop without a huge issue. I only need to check as I get to the end to make sure the doll fits so row counts aren't really an issue once the pillow is made. It makes for a great travel project.

For those of you interested this is a free pattern available here. It is a nice accessory pattern if you need a gift for an 18" doll fan.

My Life Swim Suit

I'm still working on my project to send all the donation dolls off with swim wear.

What I have come to realize is only Barbie has more options for swim suits in my pattern library than the 18 inch dolls. Over the years I've acquired various pattern sets with swim wear for the 18 inch dolls. This is part of the three pattern set you can purchase from Adoring Doll Clothes here. The patterns are also available for individual purchase should you only want some of the dolls. I decided to complete the set this year and this is the last of the patterns. I'll be using different patterns for the other My Life and Our Generation female doll.

As a note to myself I ended up with a K hook for the waist portion of this outfit. However since this was a left over yarn ball I started doing some research about its origins and realized it is a lighter worsted weight 4 yarn closer to a 3 1/2 than a traditional 4 and that could have made it an issue with why the outfit was tight with what I would normally have moved up to which would have been an I over the suggested G hook. I have weird guage but I've pretty much come to know she suggests G and I use I. It was weird to have to use such a large hook so the lighter yarn would be a good explanation.

I had never done the neck ties this way and I liked the design. I would try this again with the suggested weight yarn.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Doll Spring Dress

I have this Amy Carrico pattern in a couple of different baby doll sizes and I love the style and that it has several pieces that gives the child options to use with other outfits. This set does that and is easy to make. Sadly Amy's patterns are kind of available on a hit or miss basis. I tend to buy when she has anything new as soon as she lists because she isn't always selling. When I tried to link this pattern she didn't have any baby doll patterns for sale currently. If that changes I'll try to update the blog entry.

I used Bernat baby yarn for this pattern with a C hook for the upper part of the dress and a b for the bottom. The rest of the pattern was done with a C hook. I've not had great luck with the baby headbands so I decided to play with a hat. There is no pattern as it is still a work in progress.

Calico Critters Mom Dress

I picked the Calico Critter Bear family to use as a model set to make clothes when I realized the Stephanie Marshmallow Mouse was not the same size as the adult series Critters and therefore not the ideal model to size clothes on for my gifts. I feel much more comfortable when I can try stuff on as I make it. There are always adjustments and issues you can fix as you go along if you have the chance to try the outfit on as you are working on it. It's much harder to fix after the outfit is complete. This set also gives me the brother and sister sizes to try as well. I'd like to eventually make some holiday outfits for my set once I'm done outfitting the ones I'm gifting. I think they'd be cute additions to the holiday decorations.

You can purchase the Fancy Dress for Momma Pattern from On a Calico Day here. The hook size was right for the adult Mom which was a big indication that the Mouse was not actually an adult critter. I used a 1.8mm thread hook. The thread is size 10 from Thread Art. I've been moving to their thread for my doll projects for color options. I'm finding it hard to get the variations in color from Aunt Lydia's either in store or online. I stil tend to go with Aunt Lydia for the colors I can find locally like black, red, and white because I can save on shipping and especially with the white I can often get the large containers on sale.

This pattern worked up quickly. I wasn't able to include as many rows before the dress was at hem length but couldn't have chosen a smaller hook or the back wouldn't have closed so hook size wasn't the issue. I still have one more to make so I'm going to experiment and see if I can switch out a row to have more of the shell rows. I also want to be more delicate in tacking down the shells so they don't flop upward but they also don't become flat.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I didn't have a chance to do a holiday box for St. Patrick's day so clearly not many projects for the holiday. I wish all of you who celebrate a safe and happy holiday.

Our Generation Boy Sleeping Bag

I came across Red Heart Super Saver's Latte Stripes while wandering the yarn aisles. As I'd already begun the sleeping bag project it seemed like it would stripe nicely into another one and I picked up a jumbo skein as I have it in mind to try for sweaters as well.

This is a free pattern designed for the American Girl doll that you can find here. This leaves me with just the two My Life 18 inch dolls to outfit with sleeping bags and this challenge will be met for the 2023 doll donation. All the dolls will be leaving with either a sleeping bag or a snuggle sack for the baby dolls.

The bathing suit challenge is coming along more slowly but I'm making progress as I can't use the same pattern for as many of the dolls I do need to have more specific patterns that will fit the range of dolls in the donation.

Glitter Girl Hannah Revised

Having made Adoring Doll's Hannah Carrot pattern for the Glitter Girl Doll, you can find the pattern here, I realized I could adapt the pants to a skirt and have another outfit for the donation.

Notes:

I promised myself I'd make a note of the starting chain when I played with this pattern with a g hook for the bottoms. I started with 30 chains and I followed the original pants plan until the pants split for the crotch. At this point I started adding increases with hdc 4 increase then hdc 5 increase. When I had the width I wanted for the skirt I made rows until I had the length I wanted for the skirt.

The shirt, hat, and boots are from the original pattern. I chose not to add the carrot as I wanted this to be a separate outfit. Hopefully these pieces will mix and match with other items I make as I proceed with the donation.

This was another great stash busting project. I'm enjoying finding ways to use up left over yarn balls and bobbins from previous projects.

Glitter Girl Bathing Suit

While I have never found patterns specifically designed for the Glitter Girl dolls I've been fortunate to find dolls with about the same fit to send off a decent wardrobe for the donation.

This is actually a different swim suit pattern than the one I used last year. This is part of Adoring Doll's set for the male and female 18 inch dolls and the smaller 14.5 inch dolls. I posted about making the male doll's suit earlier. I'm hoping to finish the female suit for one of the My Life dolls. You can purchase the pattern here. The patterns are available individually if you only have interest in one of the dolls.

Notes:

I used a G hook for this project and followed the rest of the directions as listed.

I'm slowly working my way through the bathing suits and am hoping every doll will leave with one.

Our Generation Sleeping Bag

One positive of having a shared goal of completing certain projects for all the dolls is it helps me not to neglect certain dolls, only to panic as the deadline approaches and I realize I haven't completed projects for certain dolls. Sometimes I just get more inspired for certain dolls than others in a year and focusing on finishing certain items helps me to remember each doll.

This brings me to the first of the 18 inch doll sleeping bags. While I've made clothes for the My Life dolls I've been neglecting the female Our Generation Doll. Some patterns just seem to be easier to fit to the My Life Dolls but it doesn't excuse not including the female Our Generation Doll. So when it came time to make start the shared projects for the 18 inch dolls it seemed important to start with the Our Generation Doll.

You can find the free American Girl Sleeping Bag pattern here.

I love the texture used in this pattern. Especially with the striped yarns it makes for some fun patterns.

For my notes for future projects to get this to fit the Our Generation Doll I used a K hook rather than the suggested I hook as it was tight getting on and off with the suggested hook.

I have 3 more sleeping bags to make and this part of the collective project will be completed. I saved the biggest ones for last.

Our Generation Boy Swim Trunks

I've been picking up patterns for the 18 inch boy dolls over the years but every time I think about adding one to the donation they seem to get discontinued. I had hoped to get a My Life as I tend to find them easier to fit but after waiting a bit I decided if I was going to try the project to dive in with the Our Generation Daniel doll.

You can purchase the pattern here. I have the set with the patterns for the male and female 18 inch dolls as well as the 14.5 inch doll I use for the Glitter Girl.

Notes:

I always seem to need an I hook for her patterns which I attribute to my guage. In order to make the pattern fit the Our Generation Boy doll I needed a starting chain of 46 instead of 36 chains. The trunks would not fit with the smaller chain. This meant the leg split was 23 chains. The color change is listed for the second leg not the first leg so I'm making a note for myslef to follow the directions for the second leg to get the leg stripe.

I finished this swim suit as we were preparing for a nasty winter storm. Making the swim outfits in the winter does help me focus on the warmer weather to come.

Glitter Girl Hannah Carrot

I've been trying to rotate through the dolls to make sure they all are dressed before November. The Glitter Girl Doll still had no clothes so it was time to put something in her donation bag.

This pattern is available for purchase here. This can be an Easter or Spring gardening set depedning on your interests. I plan on making a second set using the pants as a skirt as I found the pattern worked up well and I wanted to increase the number of outfits going out with the Glitter Girl this year.

Notes:

I always ending up changing my hook size for this designer so for all items except the pants I used a G hook.

I went with an I for the pants.

Since I intend to use this pattern for future pants items I'm actually planning to go back to the g hook and just increasing the original waist chain and then splitting evenly for the legs as I found the original waist line too small for this doll while the other items fit perfectly with my normal adjustment for hook size. While the I hook worked the pants "look" baggy. I will note the chain lenghth on a future post when I figure it out. I also plan on using this as a skirt set.

This was a great scrap project. Much of this was yarn left over from a baby blanket kit. The pink was part of a yarn ball bag I've been keeping to finish off left over yarn before starting on new skeins.

Calico Critters Shell Dress

After purchasing the single Stephanie Marshmellow Calico Critter hoping she would work as an adult model for my Calico Critters outfits I have come to suspect she is actually closer to the daughter rather than the Mother figure. I've finally broke down and bought the Cuddle Bear Family so I have a range of sizes to work from and I'm thinking of making some holiday outfits for myself so they can be part of my holiday traditions as well.

I'm no doll or toy expert so when I make clothes I firmly believe in models to try to make sure the clothes will fit. It takes a good bit of time and resources to make the clothes and you know if they don't easily fit they are far less likely to be used.

For those of you interested in mkaing some Calico Critter clothing of your own this is a free pattern that can be found here and includes directions for the mother and daughter figures, which is what finally made me believe this is not the Mother sized figure I'd hoped for when I purchased it as it was much closer in size to the daughter than the mother.

This pattern works up quickly. I used DMC Traditions Size 10 thread. I have been searching for striped/variegated thread to use with various doll projects and at some point picked up this thread but I'm not sure when or where and it does not seem to be commonly available when I searched for it online.

To make this fit this sized mouse I used the daughter directions and a 1.25mm Tulip Etimo thread hook. I'm finding this seems to be the hook for this mouse. We will see if it holds to the standard for the adult figures when they arrive.

My Life Shamrock

I saw this new pattern at Adoring dolls, available for purchase here, and wanted to try it out for the donation. I like adding holiday outfits and I also think the skirt and shirt could be adapted for non-holiday use as well.

I always end up using an I hook to get this designer's clothes to fit, just a guage issue on my end. I went with a f hook for the clover and added a fourth section to add some luck.

The yarn is a variety of worsted weight yarns I had on hand and I'm pleased to note I was able to use up some black yarn bobbins I had left over from a blanket project making the trims for this project. I finishing off left over yarn.

Rag Doll Sleeping Bag

I'm continuing my project to send off all the dolls with either snuggle sacks for the baby dolls or sleeping bags for the rest. This is a free pattern designed for the American Girl dolls that you can find here.

This pattern adapts rather easily to a variety of the larger sized dolls. I tested the width after a few rows to make sure the doll would fit and then put the doll in periodically to test for length before closing.

This isn't a brand doll so it doesn't come with accessories, nor are there store accessories to match the doll. I like sending stuff that will work with the doll either items I make or some that I find at the store like the play food I pick up for all the larger dolls when I can find it. It just adds some addiitonal play value for the donation.

I used the suggested I hook for this project.

Bunny Puppets

This is the last of my 2022 Easter projects I'm preposting in June so I don't lose track of my projects.

This pattern is no longer available but if it returns I will post a link to it.

I had never used Velvet yarn prior to this project. I understand the attraction to this yarn as it has the feel of a traditional stuffed animal. While I love amis the yarn versions are not nearly as snuggly as traditional stuffed animals. The Velvet yarn brings a softer feel to projects.

There is a trade off to working with the velvet yarn however in that it sheds and wears as you crochet with it. You don't tend to have this challenge working with traditional yarn. I found it was rather unforgiving when I had to pull out a section to redo something. I often found I could get one redo if I was lucky and that was it as the yarn was then to worn to use again. It had lost its plushy feel.

Bunny Couple

Continuing on with my 2022 Easter catch up posts. I made this Easter couple to go with the cottage I posted about yesterday.

You can find the free pattern for Lily and Levi here. As you can see I started with Levi and realized with the suggested hook size Levi was going to be too large for my Easter play set so the first one became part of my Easter decorations for 2022. Not great loss there as he is adorable.

This was a great stash busting project so I did need to change colors when I made the second Levi for the Easter set as I'd finished off the left over dark blue I'd started with when I made the first bunny.

Not sure if I ended up with a D or a C hook for these but I believe it was a D. Not sure the C would have worked well with this yarn.