Chelsea Drop Waist Dress with Flared Skirt

This was part of my folder of birthday patterns. DH asks me for a list and from that he selects patterns to buy me for gifts. I repeat lots of patterns but I love having new stuff to try. With some dolls I've needed to increase my pattern selection as they are new to me or they've changed size considerably from the older patterns I do have.

Chelsea is one of those dolls. I had patterns for the smaller Kelly and when I made them a decade ago they did fit the smaller doll. When I came back to Barbie's the larger Chelsea required new patterns because I found it was hard adjusting the smaller Kelly patterns because I couldn't increase the yarn size as the outfits became too bulky and if I increased the hoook size the gaps became too large. Last year I didn't do well dressing Chelsea for her journey to her new home. I've made a much better start this year. I started with free patterns and then decided to try some paid designers to see if I could get some variety.

I decided to try Charpatterns Chelsea patterns and put one on my birthday list. You can purchase this one here.

This pattern calls for Lizbeth size 20 Watermelon. I didn't have Lizbeth on hand but I did have solid color Size 20 from Creative Yarn source on hand and decided I wanted to see if I could get an idea of how easy the pattern would be to use while I searched for some variegated size 20 thread. After a quick search I realized Watermelon was not happening. I did eventually find some variegated Lizbeth 20 on sale at Joann's and hopefully when my order arrives I will try this pattern again giving it a slightly different look.

Notes:

I used Creative Yarn's size 20 thread French Blue, Bright Yellow and White. The pattern calls for a size 10 steel crochet hook but numbers are not as helpful as they once were and mm are actually a more stable measurement across hooks. I made the dress with a Tulip Etimo 1.25mm Steel Crochet Hook. I think I could have used a smaller hook. It's always a balance between a good fit and having it too hard to get on and off the doll for little hands. The smaller the doll the harder it is for kids to manipulate the clothes. I went down to my Tulip Steel .9mm for the hat, undies, and shoes.

Chelsea Summer Play Set

Every so often I find a link to a pattern on a blog or website and while I'm there I look around to see if there is anything else that catches my eye, especially for the doll project. I found a pattern free pattern for a 4 inch Amelia Thimble doll here on a blog when I went to visit to find a baby doll pattern. I thought perhaps this might work for Chelsea Can Be a Builder Doll and put it on my to do list.

Pattern notes:

I made considerable changes to the pattern but I wouldn't have even thought about making the outfit without the starting point of this pattern.

The designer used size 30 cotton thread and a 1.1mm thread crochet hook. I changed to size 10 crochet thread and a 1.8mm hook.

I only used the dress portion of this pattern. I started with the first two rows which created the arm holes and determined I had a wonderful fit for the dress. The designer started the the skirt at row 4 leaving a high waist line. I chose to add 4 more rows to the top bringing the waist line lower as I wasn't adding pants to this project. I joined the top at the end of 8 rows.

I started with the designers V stitch pattern but swtitched to a 2dc ch1 2dc V stitch for row 2. If I make this again I'd begin with the 2dc V stitch as it makes the skirt a bit thicker. I continued with rows until the dress was just below knee length. After finishing the back I used a snap to close the dress.

Chelsea Romper

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to adapt Rebeckah's Treasures free Simply Bluetiful Chelsea pattern found here into a Romper for the Chelsea Can Be a Builder donation doll.

For my own notes I did not decrease in round 7 but joined with a ss. I also did not increase in Round 10 which I did previously with both dresses as this made the pants section balloon out too much. Instead when I reached the leg section I chained 4 and joined at the half way point for the legs and added 3 rows to each leg for the romper.

I finished the back before adding a snap to close the romper. I would definitely consider adding this to next year's pattern selection as it works out quite well. I'm still thinking of using the top section for a top and adding shorts for the donation. It also could work as a top and skirt combination.

Chelsea Variegated Dress

I mentioned after fininishing Rebeckah's Treasures free Simply Bluetiful pattern for the Chelsea donation I was going to try to adapt it to expand my wardrobe donations for this doll for 2022. You can find the free pattern I used as the basis for this project here.

While working on the original dress I had thought the dress would also be cute at a shorter length. I'm continuing to work from my stash and I thought a variegated look would be fun for this dress so I chose Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread Size 10-Monet for this project.

As with my previous use of this pattern I used a 1.8mm hook to make the dress fit and did not decrease the stitch count as this Chelsea is slightly larger than the previous doll this pattern was written to fit.

I finished the back closing and used a snap to close the dress. I'm hoping to make a romper splitting the dress into short legs. I'm also considering a shorts and top outfit from this pattern as well. I struggled mightly to find something easy that fit Chelsea last year so I'm going to stretch this as far as I can take it so she leaves for the donation with a decent wardrobe.

Chelsea Simply Bluetiful Dress

Last week I mentioned that I was determined to send Chelsea off with a wardrobe this year after such a sad showing with the 2021 donation. I found a great free pattern here that required just a little adapting as it is designed for a slightly smaller Chelsea doll.

I stuck with the size 10 Crochet thread. The pattern calls for a 1.65mm or 1.75mm crochet hook I used a 1.8mm to make guage and I found the fit worked well for the doll. Row 7 decreases the stitch count from the previous row and I won't give away the designer's secrets but I found this was too small for the Chelsea I'm working with so I kept with the previous rounds stitch count and joined the row with a ss and continued on with the directions.

I like the look of this style and the way the dress comes together. I'm thinking of making another dress shorter without the finishing at the bottom. I'm also thinking about splitting the skirt for shorts and making this into a romper style outfit for Chelsea. The more outfits the better. I prefer a style that goes together quickly and easily.

I have never tried making shoes for fashion dolls before. However the website also has a free shoe pattern for Chelsea here. Not sure I'm a fan yet but at least she has shoes. I used the 1.8mm for the shoes as well.

Chelsea Dress

I mentioned in the previous Stacie post that I was trying to use an old free Fibre Craft Cindy pattern, found here, to make a dress for Barbie's Chelsea Can Be Builder Doll . Clearly since I made a Stacie post out of my first attempt I had to make a second try to get it to fit .

I'd purchased a selection of size 20 thread from Creative Yarn Source last year for making Barbie clothes. It proved the right choice for making this outfit work for Chelsea. I needed my .4mm thread hook to get the size right for Chelsea. I also added two rows of purple prior to changing to yellow to give the dress the length it lacked likely from the smaller thread size and the smaller hook size. I chose not to use the collar or the buttons suggested for the Cindy doll. I tried the collar on the Stacie outfit and found it was too large. The Cindy doll has a slightly larger rounder head and the collar fits better on her.

I will be keeping this pattern for both Stacie and Chelsea. I have my notes on my blog and the printed copy of the pattern for both dolls so I should be able to find them again and repeat for future donation projects. I'm working on hunting down more easy to make Chelsea patterns as I did feel bad she left with only one dress last year.

Along with getting a dress made earlier in the donation cycle I'm also pleased to say I found some Mattel branded Barbie items specific to Chelsea at the Dollar Tree that will be headed out with the donation as well. I've had luck there for Barbie with shoes and other various Mattel specific accessories but this January was the first time I'd seen stuff targeted to Chelsea so I stocked up for this year and to have stuff for future donations in case this was a one time only situation.