Stacie Winter Outfit

As I mentioned yesterday with my post about Ken's winter clothing I wanted to see if I could get the Christmas Sister pattern to fit Stacie.

I am no Barbie expert. My interest first was in finding outfits that would fit my nieces' dolls and in recent years finding patterns that I could make that would fit the current models I could donate. I know the names, sizes, and availabilities of the Barbie family have changed over the years, but mostly I try to find patterns that I think I can work with for the models I'm currently using.

The current Stacie model I'm using is around 9 inches tall. The Chelsea model is around 6 inches tall. The Christmas Playtime set from JudysDollandPatterns has a 7 1/2 inch sister and brother pattern. I hope to adapt both for Stacie and Chelsea.

You can purchase the Christmas Playtime set here.

Notes:

I originally tried the 1.8mm hook and size 10 thread that had worked for Ken thinking that while the doll may be taller how much bigger is she? This proved a bad choice. The skirt didn't come close to fitting at the waist. My mistake was not trying it on Chelsea. I'm currently trying the pattern with Chelsea now with adaptations because she is not as tall as the doll in the pattern.

I tried adjusting hooks but size 10 was clearly not the answer. I decided to try Knit Picks Palette which is a fingering weight yarn and my 2mm thread hook. This made for a slightly bulkier look but it is a winter outfit. After experimenting with a Chelsea outfit, I plan to try for another outfit for Stacie using size 3 thread. I had started it but changed to the palette as I needed more time to experiment with hook sizes because it wasn't flowing at all.

Unlike the Ken pattern the sweater forms the arms as you go not sewing them together after the fact. I generally prefer this but the challenge for this pattern is the ribbing instead of being formed as you go is added at the end which seemed a bit strange. That being said I was able to add the collar which I couldn't do for Ken since the neck area was more even.

Just a note about the ribbing, I'm already reducing the number of stitches for the ribbing for Chelsea as it is just too big. I'd do that for Stacie and Ken for the next time I make these outfits. I like the ribbing but it's just too large for the overall outfit.

I changed the skirt pattern. First I didn't want a full length skirt. Even if I had been going for a full length with the fingering yarn the texture changes weren't as smooth as they might have been with thread so I decided to end the skirt after the 5dc row. I tried adding the next row and the texture just wasn't right.

The hat only has one row completed because it just became too big with the yarn. I realized the ties as written wouldn't tie after I made the first side and decided to treat it more like a scarf wrapped around the head for warmth and closed it with a snap.

I'm currently trying to adapt this with size 10 thread for Chelsea and experimenting with size 3 or maybe 5 for Stacie to give her an additional outfit in different colors for the donation. I lack many options for Stacie so exploring options for something different is important.

At some point I'd like to try out the sweater and skirt for Barbie. I'd likely try Ken's hat on her to see if it would fit. I'm not as crazy about her hat pattern.