Skipper Easy Dress

I've come across some free Barbie patterns recently and decided to try some out for the 2024 donation. I've found over the years that some Barbie patterns will fit Skipper and as I'm making a gown I will usually try it on both dolls to see which doll it fits best. I had intended this for the Barbie Vet doll. This is her last year with the donation as she is no longer available. After trying this outfit on both dolls it was a better match for SKipper, so I added some stitches to the base row and have begun a second outfit for the Barbie Vet. You can find the free pattern here.

Notes:

One of my goals every year is to dig into my stash and start using old yarn that seems to have been forgotten. I used Red Heart Big Ball Sport Yarn for this project. I had honestly forgotten about this yarn as it had gotten buried. This was some of the earliest yarn I used for Barbie clothes and I believe blue is the only color I have left. I still have some small skeins of the Red Heart Sport Yarn and know have been using Hobby Lobby's sport yarn and Herschnerr's yarn for these outfits.

The e hook worked for this outfit along with the suggested starting chains. I needed to add two chains for it to fit the Barbie Vet and likely will need more chains for the Zoologist.

One thing I didn't do for this outfit but am doing for the Barbie version is marking the stitches as it is was hard for me to differentiate between stitches and chains. For the second outfit I've marked each stitch to see if I can get the same skirt pattern as the picture from the pattern. It was not enough of a concern to start again with the Skipper dress, but I do return to these notes when I start again the following year so it is helpful to make note of useful tools.