Glitter Girl Empire Dress

My summer production of doll outfits has dropped of as our invitations to fun seasonal activities has been quite busy this year. I'm not complaining and the dolls as always will leave dressed. I perhaps will even be more engergized and refreshed as I work on my projects.

The Empire Dress is one of Char Caywood's Wellie Wisher patterns that can be purchased here.

The Glitter Girl has her own binder of crochet patterns and unlike previous years I've made a significant dent in the available patterns. She will leave with a decent wardrobe this year.

It turns out my investment in more size 3 crochet thread from a variety of different manufacturers has paid off as I seem to be using it quite a bit for a variety of doll projects.

Notes:

Size three crochet thread is from Aunt Lydia White and Warm Teal with Lizbeth Wild Flower as the contrasting color. I went with Teal as I didn't have any Parakeet which is a closer match to the Wild Flower. I used the suggested e hook through the entire project I'd consider using a D hook for the shoes as they are slightly large.

The underwear for this set was done in white. It is less likely to show through the dress, note for future projects.

I haven't always done the tie at mid waist for her outfits but it worked for this outfit and it was included.

My sleeves came out differently than the picture so I'd play with them next time to round them off in a cleaner manner as is pictured.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Bathing Suit

The Lots to Love 10 inch Baby Doll now has its bathing suit for the 2024 donation.

I had thought about making the towel like I did last year but for a variety of reasons this outfi took longer than I'd expected and when I was finished with the suit and accessories I just mentally had moved on to another pattern and didn't have the interest in making the additional beach blanket. Another year perhaps.

One challenge for this outfit is I had a bit of a game of yarn chicken with the Thread Art size three Aqua thread. There was a time in my life where I could go years and never finish off a cyclindar of thread, now I'm actually running out. The bathing suit, shoes, and visor were fine but I lost the game making the cover. I placed a replacement order before I started this project but there was no chance it was going to arrive so I fiddled and finished it with Lizbeth size 3 Wildflower which was my contrast color for the bathing suit.

This is a huge pattern set availabe for purchase from charpatterns here.

There are directions for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby Doll and the slightly smaller 9.5 inch Baby Steps dolls for two types of bathing suits with directions for each doll, a beach blanket, and a beach bag.

Notes:

Bathing Suit:

This was made with Thread Art size 3 Aqua crochet thread and Lizbeth size 3 Wildflower. I used the suggested size f for the swimsuit and it fit better than the e from the previous time I'd made it.

Visor:

Followed pattern as written using f hook.

Sandals:

I needed an e hook for the sandals as the f shoes were huge.

Coverup:

I used an f hook for the coverup. I had to start using contrast color in row 8 as I ran out of aqua.

Note to self finish trim directions before doing ties and neck edge.

Cap Sleeve:

I sc around sleeve to finish and then alternated sc and shell. I liked the look.

Barbie Barbecue

My hope was to have this done in time to post for the July 4th holiday but I have no regrets as much as I love this donation project living life is an equally important and worthy goal.

I find myself returning to projects I haven't made in a few years. I last crocheted this Joyce Bishop July Fourth Picnic outfit in 2021.

My copy comes from Crochet World 2005. However, back then I was able to add a link to Annie's Freepatterns.com site for the pattern but sadly it appears that site is no longer available.

So you'll have to hunt down a copy of the magazine to find the pattern. I believe mine came from one of the CD sets Annie's put out several years ago with copies of the magazine and one that specifically had doll patterns.

As I revisit these patterns one thing I'm trying to get better about doing is documentation because I find as I read old posts I tended to be some what lax in listing details about hook size, fiber, etc. Sometimes I can't get the same fiber, but it is a starting point when I come back to try a pattern again.

Pants:

While the pattern calls for size 10 thread I did note on my previous project this had been an issue so I decided to experiment with Size 3. I finished off a cone of Thread Art slate blue and thankfully had a second one to use to finish off the pants. I used a B hook for the pants with the larger thread.

The one challenge I had with the larger thread was the pant legs were huge. To fix this in row 8 of the legs I dc in first stitch dc2tog around reducing the total stitch count to 18. I also only needed 21 rows for the pant legs not 25.

Shirt:

I used Aunt Lydia's size 10 white for the shirt starting with a 1.8 mm hook to make the waist fit and moving to a 1.25 starting in row 5 to reduce for the chest. I may experiment with size 3 at another time as this still isn't quite right.

The directions call for this to be a one piece outfit. I resisted previously as I was making huge changes to the pants. Having struggled with the fit of the top twice now I'm tempted to make the top as written connecting it as a one piece next time to see if it would fit better around the waist without having an issue with the top of the shirt being large.

Apron:

I used a .75mm hook for the apron with Aunt Lydia's Red size 10. I followed the directions as written.

Hat:

The hat needs a 1.25mm hook with Aunt Lydia's White size 10. Mitt:

The pattern calls for 1 I make two as it just seems more even. They are both likely to be lost at some point so 2 keeps the odds one can be located more likely. I used a 1.25 mm hook. I followed the directions for the fake thumb.

Lots to Love 8 Inch Baby Doll Summer Outfit

I've long been a fan of Amy Carrico's patterns for the baby dolls as they work up quickly making a nice wardrobe for the various sizes of dolls. Unfortunatly her shop has disappeared from Etsy and while some of her patterns appear to be for sale at Ravelry I haven't tried purchasing any there as there are none I hadn't previously bought when she had her store on Etsy. I didn't see this one listed in my brief search on Ravelry. Hopefully she will be selling her patterns more widely again as they are great outfits for the baby dolls.

This one is titled Summer Outfit should you do a search for it.

Notes:

I'm starting to really enjoy working with size 3 crochet thread.

This was made with Aunt Lydia's White and Warm Teal.

I've been disappointed that Aunt Lydia's and Red Heart seem to have decreased the available colors for their various thread sizes. I've also noticed they are much harder to locate locally. Oddly Hobby Lobby has size 10, 8, and 5 but no 3, which seemed strange to me. I have been buying other brands to get a broader base of colors but they tend to be pricier.

On to the pattern.

Top:

I started with a C hook for the top. It was too tight with the suggested B. However I shifted to a B hook in row 4 because as the increases occured the larger hook made the top way too large.

For the arms I did not add the increases in the suggested stitches as it made the sleeves into mini balloons and it didn't look great.

Shorts:

I used a C hook to get the shorts to fit and followed the pattern as written.

Headband:

I used a C hook to get the band to fit the head but the smaller b hook for the flower. The pearl buttons are from Joann's.

Shoes:

I used a C hook for the shoes. The t strap has to be played with to get it to work there is no easy way to get it to work.