My Life Pearly Dress

I'm getting better disiplined about returning patterns to their binders when I'm done with them for the year but every so often I find a stash of patterns that have been lost for a bit and I try to bring them back into circulation and then make sure they get back into the correct binder.

This is a free pattern you can find here.

One of the reasons I hadn't gone looking for it was I hadn't labeled the post with the pattern name. It's something I'm trying to do more often to include it in the post or the labels so it is easier to find when I'm searching the blog.

If you are looking for a dress up princess pattern for an 18 inch doll this is both free and fairly easy to make this is it.

The directions for the bodice and skirt are easy to follow. The under and overskirts are easy to make following her directions. One thing I'd really like to work on in future years is the arms. I find I'm not quite getting the look I'd like so it is something I need to work on when I have a bit more time to look at some other patterns to see if perhaps there's another approach that would work better for me.

I chose not to use pearl beads for the donation project despite the pattern title.

Notes:

I didn't write notes back in 2016 and I regreted it when I started this project.

This was a great chance to finish off some baby afghan yarn I've had for a bit. I lost a game of yarn chicken which is why the sleeves are white and the shoes grey.

I used an H hook for this project not the suggested G.

Bodice:

This has a series of button holes in the back I skipped making the button holes and closed with 2 snaps.

Skirt:

I found the underskirt was too long so I did rows 16-18 skipped row 17 and finished through row 22.

I had to eliminate rows from the overskirt to match the underskirt and keep the final row 21 which is more decorative.

Arms:

While I still need to do more work on the arms to get a style one note I made is you are working down the sc of the arm to expand. For some reason it took me several times to grasp this concept and I even underlined skip 2 sc on underarm as I misread this and had to try it a few times to get even what I got this time.

Headband:

The headband is a slightly different shade of the afghan worsted 4 baby yarn left over from the same kit that I used when I ran out of the lighter blue. The headband works up as written working around starting chain.

Shoes:

This pattern does not include shoes. The shoes are part of Sweet Silver Creations School Girl Uniform pattern that can be purchased here. I tend to use her strap shoes when possible because they stay on better but certain outfits require slip ons so I use this pattern instead when the outfit doesn't come with shoes.