16 Inch Baby Doll Linmary Knits Dress, Hat and Shoes

This is the final outfit I need from this free Linmary crochet pattern found here. The shoe pattern is from a different free set found here.

For this round with the 16 Inch baby doll I went with Baby Bernat Sport Yellow and Blue.

Notes:

As I continue to remind myself this pattern uses British crochet terms so as an American I need to translate the terms or the dress will have a very odd look.

These were my notes from the previous dress but oddly I had to make some changes to get something to fit.

Dress:

I used a G hook for the bodice and skirt. I added 5 additional rows and an additional contrast row to the bodice for length prior to adding the skirt. To help myself keep track I have notes on the pattern regarding the repeats as they are not written out and with multiple repeats and row changes for each repeat I lose track. I finished the neck and the arm holes decreasing both as I found them a bit big this time.

For dress 2 I went with an f hook as I found the g was just to big. Sometimes my guage does change.

Hat:

I used an e hook to the contrast rows and changed to a g hook at the contrast rows until the end. As with the dress I wrote out the repeats on the sheet to keep track of which row repeated each time.

I had to stick with the e hook for the entire hat as the second one I made is going to be a sun hat for the Our Generation Boy's Swim Suit set.

Shoes:

I've started experimenting using this pattern with the matching lighter weight yarn as I don't often have worsted weight in the same shades. To get the shoes to fit I need a J hook with Bernat Baby Sport weight yarn.

No changes to the shoes.

My Life Kalia Party Dress

I wanted to get two My Life outfits completed this week so I went to my Adoring Doll pattern binder and this was item two for the week. You can purchase the pattern here.

According to my blog searches this is the first time I've made this pattern for the donation.

This was another orphan skein that I pulled in my must use pile. The yarn is fine it just had gotten buried and I am determined to use stuff I've bought and have it leave with this year's donation.

Notes:

Dress:

I started the dress with an I hook instead of an H switching to the H hook when the pattern called to change.

To get the length I wanted I needed to add two rows before doing the white finishing trim. I also chose to finish the neck and arms in white. It just made for a cleaner trim. I closed this with a button. I finished the complete back the pattern just adds a button hole. I just find it a cleaner finish.

I used the suggested G hook and number of chains for the tie.

Shoes

I used an I hook for these shoes. I think I'd try an H hook the next time as these were a bit large. I used a G hook for the strap and add a seried of chains that I connected to the strap to connect the button. A variation from the pattern but it worked for me. These shoes are different from the Robbie Lynn button shoes. I wanted to try them but having made both if I wanted button shoes I'd go back to the Robbie Lynn shoes.

Barbie Cocktail Dress

I'm continuing to work through Crochet Wardrobe for 11 1/2 inch Fashion Dolls including a Complete Wedding Esemble and Trousseau. I promised myself I was going to use these older patterns I had bought that would work for the donation.

Notes:

This was made with Herrschners Size 10 Crochet Thread. I have been using their house brand yarns for the doll project for years. This was my first time using their thread. I love getting different colors, especially when the cost is cheaper and I have a shipping coupon.

I checked several times to make sure this was marked as size 10 but this was clearly not size 10 thread as it was far too thick. I've found between brands there is a range of thickness but this was about half way between 10 and 3. It worked out for this pattern and I if the other colors I bought hold true this could be the answer to some pattern issues I've had that fall between 10 and 3. Size 10 is just too light no matter which hook I use and size 3 is too heavy. This middle size would be perfect for several of my patterns if this isn't just a fluke.

I used a 1.25mm thread hook for this outfit.

As many of these patterns seem similiar this pattern starts on page 20.

This pattern calls for 2 snaps. I placed one at the top and one at the waist the second to last row before starting the skirt.

My Life Robbie Lynn Spring Dress

This is one of Adoring Doll's patterns that can be purchased here.

I love this pattern because its simple but I find it to be adorable. The sweater adds a nice touch to the fairly simple dress.

Notes:

I pulled a crate of yarn out of my yarn storage and made a promise to myself I would find ways to use up these orphan skeins. Some have labels others not. The blue from this is a unlabeled worsted weight yarn. I only used about half for the project but it was a start on my commitment to use up yarns I have that have been living here far too long.

I used an I hook for the sweater and the top of the dress. The skirt was made using an H hook. The shoes required an I hook.

Looking back at my previous notes made creating the shoes much easier as there are directions for making a right and left shoe as the buttons are on the outside of each shoe. However, I found it just easier to look at the shoe, decide where the button needed to be for that shoe and create the buckle for that shoe based on the directions. I found I almost made two of one shoe just following the directions. The visual was a big help.

Ken Pajamas

I started to look for a pajamas pattern for Ken not remembering I'd made him pants and a robe in 2022. The pattern came from Crochet World's Fashion Doll Showcase #1.

What I actually wanted was a more traditional pajamas pattern though not just a robe and pants. I thought I'd found that my pajamas pattern flipping through Crochet Wardrobe for 11 1/2 inch Fashion Dolls including a Complete Wedding Esemble and Trousseau. I didn't look that closely at the time to realize it wasn't a pajamas pattern but actually a jumpsuit that reminded me of a costume from the Six Million Dollar Man. With that in mind the top still worked for my project if I didn't make it a onsie. Not finding lots of other options I decided to go this route.

Notes:

I used a D hook and Baby Bernat Sport Blue yarn for the top and followed most of the pattern as written through row 10 where I stopped before joining to make the jumpsuit. The one major difference I made was to use sc for the collar as it was way to large with the suggested dc. The sleeves worked as written.

I made the pants the way I make most of Ken's pants. I measured and sewed a piece of elastic big enough for his waist and crocheted around it with a C hook and the same yarn as the top. When I reached the crotch I split the paints by chaining 4 in the middle and joining thus creating two legs of equal stitches. I crocheted one leg until it was long enough I believe it was 19 rows. I ended it and completed the second leg.

These are the smallest white butttons that come in my button sets I buy. I bought some mini buttons for the Barbie outfits and they work with the thread and fingering yarns. However, they are not big enough to work with the baby yarn. I had to remove and add the larger buttons. Just an FYI note to myself for future projects.

Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll Baylees Bikini

This is an Amy Carrico pattern which does not look like it is available for purchase any longer. I keep checking back as her patterns do pop up on either Etsy or Ravelry from time to time but no luck this year.

Having finished the swimsuit for the Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby doll I'm one outfit closer to finishing the challenge. It was the perfect swimsuit weather. I often end up making these in the winter dreaming of the warm weather but this was made in the middle of a hot humid heat wave and I wanted to be at the beach.

My previous notes indicated I needed to go up in yarn and hook size but this year I stayed with the directions for both but had to play with the waist a bit as it was a bit larger than I needed.

Notes:

This is Bernat Baby Sport Ombre I believe Baby Baby but not having the label not sure.

I used the suggested e hook for this outfit. I did not have time for the towel and I did start the sandals only to remember why I don't make her sandals. I can never get them to fit right. It is a cute outfit without either and some year I may get around to making the towel to add.

One note to self this does look better in darker colors. I went with baby yarn on hand but looking at previous project the darker pink looked better.

Barbie Miss Freedom

Having finished Ken's outfit I moved on to Barbie's.

My favorite part of this outfit and the one thing I'd love to come back to again is the skirt. To revisit this outfit I would like better accessories for it as it is a good bit of effort and I wasn't as pleased with the outcome as I'd hoped.

The only item other than the skirt that did not require a 1.25mm hook was the hat which again was the 1.8mm.

Skirt:

The skirt was a somewhat challenging fit at the waist. I did the first two rows switching to a 1.8 mm hook for the rest of the skirt. Once past the initial waist area a B hook was far to large but the skirt would not have fit without starting with the larger hook to establish a wider waist.

This outfit was made with size 10 crochet thread.

Bib:

I'd actually try adapting Ken's bib to Barbie if I made this again. The mock turtleneck looks nice but it doesn't connect well in the back and makes for a bulky join.

Jacket:

This version of the jacket does add the arms as you go but I had to play with the stitches a bit avoid sewing the arms together at the end.

Ken Mr. Freedom

One of the advantages to working on a holiday donation a year in advance is when you miss a holiday deadline you still are ahead of the calendar. I started working on the Independence Day outfits for Ken and Barbie in June but life happens and I finished both up over the weekend.

A while back I had received as gifts patterns from Judys Dolls and Patterns. Her patterns were more complicated than many I had tried but I loved the various styles and themes. Sadly when I went back to link this pattern I found her Etsy page was gone. Now that I had started to work on her patterns I was hoping to purchase more.

In case she does make a return to the Internet this was her Mr. and Miss Freedom pattern that gives holiday outfits for Ken and Barbie sized fashion dolls. One of the reasons I had hoped she was still online is I did find a missing row 8 in Ken's trousers pattern which left me clueless as to how to proceed with a different style of pants than I normally make so I reverted back to my traditional split for the legs as I couldn't figure what had happened in row 8 that possibly made the count in row 9 real.

Notes:

Trousers:

Size 10 thread and 1.25mm hook

I followed rows 1-7 and did my own split for the legs. After doing so I only needed 23 rows for each leg. This could be do to change of pattern of the Ken I made this for either is possible.

Bib:

The jacket was listed next but I thought I'd have a better chance figuring hook size if I made the bib and vest first and this worked out better for me.

I used a 1.25 mm hook and did pattern as written.

Vest:

1.25mm hook

I used a button and avoided snap or bead. I tried the bead but since this wasn't a display doll glue wasn't an option and sewing ruined the look. A small button worked better.

Hat:

The hat was tight and I ended up with a 1.8mm hook

Jacket:

I found the jacket for both dolls a bit tricky to get the front lapels to work correctly.

The pattern calls for the sleeves to be made and sewn in but I've never had luck with this option so I opted to match the stitch count and crochet them on.

Barbie Nightgown

I still have to go back and finish Chelsea's nightgown from the AG mini pattern but I wanted to explore my Barbie binders to find something for Barbie. I hit this one first, although I suspect there are more in the collection. I rather liked this one and decided to make it the next nightgown for the challenge.

I returned to my out of print newsprint House of White Birches Crochet Wardrobe for 11.5 inch Fashion Dolls. There are a couple of options for night wear for Barbie. I chose the negligee pattern.

The original pattern uses size 10 thread with a starting chain of 60. I suspected this wasn't going to work but I try to see where these older patterns are going because they can surprise me.

Sure enough this was huge. Even reducing to size 20 thread it was still enormous. That's when it was time to use some crochet math to decrease the pattern and save my size 20 thread for other projects.

I started with a 50 percent decrease but it was not to be an easy math day. Decreasing that much made it too small. However a 75 percent decrease with some rounding and a few adjustments made for the fit I needed.

Notes:

I used size 10 thread and a 1.25mm hook for this outfit.

Chain 45 After making the math changes to rows 1 and 2 the only additional adjustments were to the row counts as they were now smaller than the original pattern. However the basic pattern worked with the reduced counts.

There is a 3 stitch cluster between each sc set. The cluster being 3 sc in one stitch.

Row 1: sc 6 cluster sc 11 cluster sc 7 cluster sc 11 cluster sc 6 total 53 stitches

Row 2: sc 7 chain 8 skip 14 sc 11 chain 8 skip 14 7 sc

Follow rest of instructions as written with understanding stitch count will differ.

Also as a note to myself clearest way to know you've made a mistake is clusters should not be stacked on top of each other they should alternate rows. If this pattern is not occuring you have made a mistake. I noticed this a couple of times and was able to go back and fix before I'd gone too far.

One mistake I did make is not counting total number of rows it took to complete for the length of this doll. The pattern calls for 40 but I don't have an accurate count. I worked on this between other projects as the repitition can be a bit dull at times. I also like to give my hands a break from the smaller hooks.

16 Inch Baby Doll Shell Stitch Dress, Cap and Shoes

This is the Shell Stitch dress for the second of the JC 16 inch baby dolls to be donated this year.

Notes:

This is the Shell Stitch Dress and the Cap pattern from House of White Birches black and white newsprint leaflet Baby Doll Fashions to Crochet. It was published in 1981 for anyone who might wish to find a copy. The shoes are my favorite free doll pattern found here.

Dress:

I used the suggested D hook for this project with Bernat Baby Sport Baby Baby yarn.

Rows 2-4 teach you a pattern for increases for this outfit. The original pattern keeps this going through row 8 I need to go to row 10 before doing the original row 9 to create the arms to have enough length in the bodice.

The shell pattern for this dress is 2dc ch1 2dc. I tried this and the dress was huge. Not at all as pictured. I pulled it out and tried a shell dc ch1 dc and had a better fit.

To cover the white onesie this doll is constructed with I needed to add rows to the skirt. The skirt ends at row 23. I went to row 29 which when you change the row counts becomes row 30 for the whole pattern.

I finished the back up to the neck before doing the trim this allowed for a cleaner back and made putting the snaps on easier. I also did the trim for the arms.

The original dress has a higher waist which I tried when making this outfit for this doll but I found it was harder to fit with the doll's construction so I lengthened the bodice. It is a different look than the original but I rather like it for this doll.

Cap:

The cap is another pattern in this book that I decided needed a rework if I wanted it to fit this doll. The original has dc increases around twice and I found the hat was unshapable afterwards. For my own records this is the cap pattern on page 46. There are directions for multiple dolls.

I used a G hook and used a magic circle and 12 DC. From there I increased by an additional stitch each row until row 9. Row 9 I did a DC 1 decrease 1 around to make a tight fit. Row 10 I turned and dc in the back loops so cap would turn upwards and did one more dc row in this direction and finished off.

Shoes:

I've been trying the shoes with lighter yarn this year and it seems to be working out OK. They still look better with the worsted 4 yarn but they look odd when the shoes tend not to match. I need a J hook with the lighter yarn to get them to fit.

Rag Doll Swim Suit

I've been trying to work through the bathing suit challenge for the donation on a weekly basis as time allows. This is a free Dora the Explorer pattern, Oceanside, found here that I've adapted for the Rag Doll.

Notes:

I used a J hook for the suit and this year went with a g hook for the skirt as I find it gets a bit big. I chose not to add an additional row. Not sure if I will go back to the double row next year. I kind of like both.

I continue to add the backside picture to remind myself this pattern doesn't join right away but it still works out fine. The first few times I made this it had been a year and I'd forgotten. I'm sure the first time I don't add this note I won't remember.