Barbie Prairie Rose

I've been collecting Annie's Fashion Doll Crochet Club Patterns from second hand sites for years as I missed out buying them new. However, finding an actual binder of the pattern renewed my interest in focusing on using the patterns for the donation. If I was going to invest in finding a collection of the patterns I needed to commit to using as many as would work for this type of donation.

One of the ones I pulled out and put in my to do pile for this Spring was Pretty in Pink FC30-02 which has 2 different patterns that I hope to complete. As you may guess from the title of the blog this is the Prairie Rose pattern. The second is called English Tea Rose.

Notes:

A reminder to myself to read the pattern completely before beginning.

I'm constantly adapting patterns because often the older Barbie patterns don't fit the modern Barbies. They can be too big or too small depending on the year Barbie I happen to purchase for the donation. I generally can tell if there are arm holes or if not when the bodice is complete and you can see even without arm holes if the fit will work.

I generally start with the suggested fiber and try for gauge. In this case it was size 10 thread with a B hook. I tried the dress on Barbie and Skipper and the back wouldn't close on either doll. Not having size 5 in pink I tried size 3 but it was incredibly bulky. That's when a note on the pattern caught my eye right and left plackets. I googled the word as I was not familiar with it and then I had my answer to closing the back. These were panels for the back of the dress to close it so I could use the size 10 thread and the B hook.

I chose to use thread instead of ribbon for the ties. When I make this again I would reduce the number of rows for the apron as it is slightly long as written.

The dress fits Skipper rather well and I'm thinking of making it without the accessories as I don't think they would fit her as well as the dress alone does.