Mary Maxim American Girl Summertime Dress

Mary Maxim's Summer Time Doll Kit for the 18 inch dolls was one of my birthday presents this year. While I love Mary Maxim's yarn and their doll kits, I do find their shipping to be a bit pricey. So, I catch their free shipping when I can and gift giving times are a great time to ask for a gift from them.

As I was making this outfit I realized how much I do like their yarn for light weight projects and after a search was pleased to find you can get it at JoAnn's online. Since they have more frequent yarn sales and shipping offers I do think there may be more Mary Maxim yarn in my doll project futures.

This first pattern worked up very quickly. I did upsize to an H hook. I had no issue with the dress, hat, or poncho. I was not happy with the sandals. I just couldn't get them to fit. So instead of worrying about the sandals I went back to my fall back shoe pattern from a Sun Dress Pattern I purchased here.

This kit comes with 2 outfits so I hope to finish the second one soon.

American Girl Dress

I saw a free pattern for an American Girl Wrap Sweater Dress here. I love the blend of a variegated top and a solid colored bottom. I downloaded the pattern, but struggled with the skirt. Not terribly surprising, I had another pattern similar to this I've never gotten to work. I always end up with a ballooning skirt instead of the beautiful webbed skirt you can see in the pictures provided by the designer.

I tried the pattern twice during the Super Bowl game and then once on Monday. When I realized it wasn't working for me, I decided it was time to move forward and add a dc skirt instead. I love the color contrasts in this dress. The picture sadly doesn't do them justice. I may try something like this with a few other variegated colors.

I'm working on a dress with an underskirt pattern at the moment. I ordered the yarn I need for the Redheart Redcross Nurse pattern and I'm hoping to get to work on that when it arrives.