Lil Cutesies Swim Suit

I can take the Lil Cutesie doll off my in need of swim suit list after finishing this outfit. My Swim Suit Challenge of 2023 is coming along as I'm slowly checking them off my list. The suits are generally pretty quick projects to complete so I like to squeeze them in while I'm working on other projects.

This is the same pattern from Char Caywood I used with the Lots to Love 8 Inch doll that can be purchased here.

My 1.75mm hook had gone on a couch vacation while I was working on this so I used my 1.8mm. Generally one would think not a huge difference but it felt like this suit was larger than the one I'd made previously. Since the 1.75mm has returned from its vacation, when I make this again I'd use the 1.75mm hook over the 1.8.

I believe the pink for this outfit is Aunt Lydia's size 10 crochet thread in French Rose. The contrast color I belive is Hobby Lobby's size 10 Artiste but I couldn't find the color on the website. Variegated colored thread can be harder to locate so I tend to stock up when I find colors I like but it can take me years to go through it so I'm not surprised colors disappear.

Lil Cutesies Picnic

A funny thing happened while I was working on my Christmas presents. I started Mary Maxim's Teddy Bear picnic pattern for the Lil Cutesies Baby Doll. You can purchase the pattern here.

It soon became clear there was no way I'd finish two before my deadline. One of the benefits of doing the doll donation is there is always room for doll clothes. So instead of this becoming part of my Christmas project it is now the first finished item for my 2022 doll donation.

I used Herrschners Worsted and Baby Ombre yarn for trim. I use an H hook for this pattern.

The blanket for this pattern is a C2C pattern I've been using a seed stitch pattern for years. The picnic basket was made with brown sport weight acrylic yarn.

While I hadn't intended this to me my first donation project of the year it is good to have one finished and ready to go for 2022.

Lil Cutesies Pink Dress, Knickers, and Shoes Christmas Gift

This was the last of the outfits I made for the Lil Cutesies Baby Dolls for the 2021 Christmas season. I used pink baby yarn and the suggested hook for this pattern.

Having worked through the UK directions once I did a better job getting the stitches to create the pretty skirt pattern.

You can purchase the pattern here.

Lil Cutesies Peach Romper Christmas Gift

When it was time to make the second Romper outfit for the Lil Cutesies Baby Doll Christmas gift I went looking in my baby yarn stash for an alternate color to Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport Yarn, Baby Yellow. I settled on Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport Yarn, Peach Blossom since I had it on hand and it seemed like it would be a good match with the yellow size 10 thread I had.

This is a Shady Lane pattern you can purchase the digital version here or a print copy here. As I've previously mentioned I follow the suggested hook size for the dress and shoes but use a D hook for the headband. This flower would work well with the purple dress I wrote about on Monday. I works up quickly and is an option for the dress when I make it for the donation next year.

Lil Cutesies Green Christmas Dress

I'm trying to keep this Christmas project even so each child gets the same dresses for the Lil Cutesies dolls. To help them tell the outfits apart I've chosen different colors for the same patterns.

The outfit is made with the same colors as the first,Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, Paddy Green, Hot Red,and White. I just reversed the order of the colors to get a different look. For my own notes if I make this again I'd stick with the green on top. I like the look better.

The shoes are made with Shady Lane's Gingham Tote Pattern found here and I used now unavailable Red Heart Sport Yarn.

I didn't mention this in my previous post but while I used an I hook for the dress I used a J hook for the panties as they were a bit tight otherwise.

As I mentioned in my previous post this pattern is available on Darski's IO group here, not on Crochetville where I generally send you for her patterns.

Lil Cutesies Romper with Tam

When I started making the romper from the free Berenguer Baby Layette found here I wasn't sure if it would be for the Lil Cutesies Doll or the Lots to Love 8 inch doll. I was targeting the fingering weight acrylic yarn that was left over from the Spring Dress I'd made for the 15 inch Rag doll as I was determined to finish off the skein of yarn. The question was which doll would fit the outfit the best?

I orginally thought it would be the Lots to Love Doll but having tried the outfit on the Lil Cutesie doll I decided to make a second outfit using the Knit Picks Palette yarn for the Lots to Love doll.

While I had enough yarn to finish the romper the hat ended up being a combination of yarn ends from previous projects with a finish of some additional mint green baby yarn. The center was the same baby yarn I'd begun the project with and then I moved on to a small ball of the Lion Brand Yarn Ice Cream Yarn, Tutti Frutti left over from the Moses basket blanket.

As with the 10 inch doll I used a slightly different method for the legs of the doll. The pattern calls for elastics for the legs I chose instead just to split the legs once the body of the romper was long enough to do so and used a chain 4 for the crotch area. I added a sc a row for each leg and then did a sc ch 3 finish for each leg. I did not make the booties for this outfit.

Lil Cutesies Striped Set

This is the final outfit for the JC Toys Lil Cutesies 8.5" All Vinyl Baby Doll from Shady Lane's Gingham Tote Tykes Pattern set 411. For those of you interested you can purchase a digital pattern here or a printed leaflet here. While I'm done with the outfits I'm still contemplating making the tote for the donation.

I used Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport Yarn, Peach Blossomand now unavailable AC Moore sport yarn for the darker peach yarn as I didn't have any darker colored peach baby yarn on hand. If I do this next year I would go with contrasting baby yarns rather than focusing on the peach as the thickness and textures of the yarns work better together. This year I wanted peach and I used what I had on hand.

This dress had some unique construction elements I hadn't used before. For my own records I liked the format and fit of the previous shoes better for the dolls if I'm looking to find a shoe pattern that fits the dolls for an outfit without shoes.

Lil Cutesies Variegated Set

I made a second outfit for the JC Toys Lil Cutesies 8.5" Baby Doll using Shady Lane's Crochet Gingham Tote Tykes Pattern set 411. You can purchase a digital copy here or a printed copy at the website here.

I used Bernat Baby Sport Yarn, Ombres, Baby Baby and Bernat Baby Sport Yarn, Baby Pink with an f hook to complete this outfit.

Lil Cutesies Dress Set

I've been looking to add patterns for the Lil Cutesies 8.5" Baby Doll and a kind friend from Crochetville gifted me this pattern from Ravelry. You can purchase the pattern here.

It's always fun to try out patterns from designers you haven't used before and I had looked at this designer's patterns frequently for the smaller sized dolls. She just never made it to the top of my purchase list.

The patterns are written in UK crochet terms but the designer kindly includes a chart that lists the US and UK equivelent terms. I still end up writing the US terms on top of the UK terms on the patterns because when I don't I do find myself making a dc when it should be a sc.

This is an adorable pattern and it works up quickly. I did make a couple of changes and one change resulted in my first attempt becoming a different project I hope to blog about later.

Notes:

I did not use the tie suggested in the back. Instead I joined the back together. The back is wide enough that you can easily slide the doll in and out of the dress without needing to add a tie. It is just makes it easier for a child to dress the doll.

The biggest change I made was preparing for the skirt. One technique I've picked up this year for adding both skirts and trims which I've really liked is crocheting in the back loops of the row you later will add a skirt or trim. This technique was not used for this pattern and I didn't like the way my skirt looked using the method suggested. This resulted in my using my original attempt for a differnt proect and restarting and rethinking how to create this outfit which would allow for a row with backloops to add the skirt.

I left off a row of the knickers which I then replaced when I added the bodice. This let me use the actual first row of the bodice to crochet the row in back loops to allow me to use the front loops later for my my skirt row. Others may not find this necessary but I found it was much easier to get an even starter row for the skirt all around.

I'm also adding a note to remind myself that the first skirt row and the remiaing skirt rows are different. This doesn't give away the design notes but I didn't read the directions carefully and wondered why my skirt did not look like the one in the picture. Once I followed the directions I got the fuller look I wanted.

I used Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport Yarn and Red Hear Sport for this pattern. I used pale pink instead of white as I had pale pink on hand and I liked the contrast with the dusty pink.

Lil Cutesies Yellow Romper

I was so excited to get Shady Lane's Crochet Gingham Toye Tykes pattern 411 for the JC Toys Lil Cutesies dolls in the mail. I don't purchase patterns much by mail these days but it has 14 pages and I knew I wanted to make all the patterns so getting the printed copy rather than printing it all seemed worth the wait. You can purchase the digital copy here. You can get the printed copy at the website here.

The leaflet has patterns for 3 doll dresses made from baby size 3 yarn and trimmed with size 10 crochet thread. It also includes the pattern for the title of the leaflet the Gingham Tote.

I stated with the yellow romper pattern because I had the yellow baby yarn so I didn't need to buy yarn to complete the pattern. The pattern calls for purple thread but I went with dark blue. The picture shows dark purple and the dark blue seemed a reasonable substitute. I like the contrast between the yellow and the blue.

Shoes are always a concern of mine. These fit really well. I would make the headband with a smaller hook next time. This headband was a little larger than needed.

I used a white flat button rather than a yellow because it was all I found locally. I wasn't going to search to far for a head band button for a doll. If I come across some other colors I may put them away for future projects but I am ok with how this one looks.

One subject this project did bring up is that I have holes in my steel thread crochet supply. Since my Bates Bamboo sterelite are not available any longer I've started researching new options for steel hooks with handles rather than the traditional steel hooks. I've never been able to hold the traditional hooks but the Bates Bamboo sterelite made thread work possible. As I try new hooks I'll keep you updated on how well the new hooks work.