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.