Lil Cutesies Sailor Dress

I've been playing around a bit this year with altering patterns for one doll to fit a different sized doll. I've done this in the past using patterns made for the 5 inch Baby dolls to make clothes for the Lots to Love 8 inch and Lil Cutesies dolls, especially for holiday outfits. I have several 8 inch baby doll dressed for the holidays for my own personal decorations. As I revisted the AG mini patterns for the fashion dolls I wondered about trying some of the designers 5 inch doll patterns for the slightly larger baby dolls.

I've been making the sailor dress for the larger dolls quite a bit this year so being familiar with the general pattern it seemed like a good starting point. You can purchase the 5 inch Sailor Doll pattern here. As I was searching through my doll binders I realized I actually already had the pattern as it also appeared in one of the Crochet Calendars along with the Sailor Boy for anyone who might have the calendars and want to check to see if they already have the pattern.

Notes:

I had thought I might be able to use size 3 thread for the outfit but I ended up with Bernat Baby Sport for the White with an I hook. It was a little roomy for the Lots to Love 8 inch doll so I think I'd try an H hook for that doll. I'd also use a smaller hook for both dolls for the hat. I have navy on order in sport worsted so I used a heavier navy for the trim but I did skip the shoes this time around. Hopefully the navy will have arrived before I try this for the Lots to Love 8 inch doll.

There is a diaper pattern for this outfit but I couldn't get it to transfer well to the larger doll. At some point if I do decide on diapers for these dolls I think I will have to downsize one of the patterns I currently use for the larger dolls, perhaps in thread.

Unlike the larger dolls, this pattern does have sleeves. I did try them but increasing this pattern to a larger doll the sleeves, like the diaper didn't work well so I left the dress like the original 18 inch pattern, sleeveless. It also makes it slightly easier for small hands to get on and off as tight long sleeves can be hard to get on and off these dolls.