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.