16 Inch Baby Doll Summer Dress

Every year I try to use patterns I haven't yet used in my extensive doll pattern collection. I found this pattern for the JC 16 inch baby doll in an out of print 1981 House of White Birches newsprint leaflet Baby Doll Fashions to Crochet by Margaret Funk for the 2023 donation and now it has become one of my new favorites for the larger baby doll.

I had pulled out Hook and Knives dress pattern to make later so I used the hat from that pattern for something different. You can find that pattern here.

The shoes are from Darski's Peachy Keen set found here. These are really the only shoes I've found that fit this doll so I tend to make them in multiple colors to match the outfits.

Notes:

This outfit was made with Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn Grape.

To get this to fit the JC 16 Inch Baby Doll I started with an E hook and repeated row 5 once. Thus rows 3-6 follow the original directions for 3-5 moving each row directions down one. For the original row 6 now row 7 that starts the skirt I moved to a D hook to decrease the skirt size as it was too large with the e hook.

I made the hat pattern from Hook and Knives Baby Doll Dress pattern switching to DC after her row of 2sc. I just wanted to try something different from last year.

Some of you may recognize my go to shoe pattern. The shoes are part of a free pattern called Peachy Keen. I used an I hook and am working on a skein of Joann's brand yarn.

This pattern worked out well for the Rag Doll last year so I hope to make a second one for the other 16 inch baby doll and one for the Rag doll as well.

16 Inch Baby Doll Green Sundress

I donate two JC 16 inch Baby Dolls each year and that requires me to repeat certain patterns to make sure both dolls leave with enough clothing and accessories for a good donation.

As I mentioned in a previous post last week this is a free Sundress pattern I originally started making for a no longer available Mary Maxim 15 Inch Baby Doll that I used to donate in the early years of this donation. I started hunting for patterns that would fit that doll and when I graduated to the 16 inch doll it wasn't a huge adjustment to get the same patterns to fit the slightly larger doll.

While the original blog is no longer online for this free pattern, you can still access the pattern through the wayback machine here. The pattern includes the hat and the dress. I use Darski's baby shoe pattern for all my 16 inch baby doll outfits found in her free Peachy Keen pattern here. It is one of the only patterns that seems to consistantly fit the doll and stay on.

Since I find myself repeating patterns I do occasionaly find myself playing a bit with them. In this case I added a sc chain 1 sk 1 trim for the hat and the bottom of the dress.

This was a great chance to attack more stash yarn. I didn't finish off the green ball but it is significantly dented. The yellow was also another left over ball. I'm hoping to continue finishing off left overs and yarn that has lived to long in my stash as the donation projects continue.

16 Inch Baby Doll Sundress

This is probably the oldest and most consistant of my donation patterns for the 16 inch baby doll. Technically I have "older" patterns, some antique but I found this one when I was first starting with the 15 inch baby dolls and have used it consistantly since then.

Sadly the blogger has disappeared from the Internet but you can still access the pattern through the wayback machine here. The pattern includes the hat and the dress. I use Darski's baby shoe pattern for all my 16 inch baby doll outfits found in her free Peachy Keen pattern here. It is one of the only patterns that seems to consistantly fit the doll and stay on.

I was excited to finish off another ball in my collection of left overs, although it didn't quite finish the whole outfit. I had to start a new skein to finish off the hat and to add the shoes. However, it is always great to see a ball gone. I have a green ball eyed for the copy of this dress I need for the other 16 inch baby doll. While I still have to stock up on colors I go through consistantly I like to target yarns that I bought and never used each year and now that I have my left overs in a bin I like to use them up as well.

Notes:

This pattern was designed for a smaller doll so I've had to work on hook sizes to get a good fit over the years.

I use a K hook for the dress joining after the first row. I used an H hook for the hat and an I hook for the shoes. I do have to make the straps a bit longer but I play with that every year so I didn't record a strap length this year.