Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll Sweetly Dress

I've been trying to rotate through the baby dolls to make sure they all leave with wardrobes. I mentioned previously Darski wrote 2 pattern sets for the Lots to Love 10 inch Baby doll. This doll dress pattern is from her free Sweetly set found here. I used Bernat Big Ball Baby Sport in Pink and Baby Baby. Notes:

The suggested hook sizes worked for me.

The panties ended up a bit longer than I wanted as it took me an extra row before I could join the crotch. It works but I'd combat this by adding and additional row to the dress before adding the trim next time. I did row 10 inn a contrast color and I'd do that again for a future project.

I changed the shoes to make them fit better. I would suggest an e hook next time as I had to sew around the top to tighten them.

Complete row 1-3 of the booties.

Row 4: sc evenly

Row 5: sc in back loops around

Row 6: sc reducing 4 times at toe

The bonnet worked as written.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Baby Doll BBL Sweater Set

Some projects become classics for this donation because they work up quickly and add something nice to the project. This sweater set is one of my go to projects for the smaller baby dolls. It is part of a free set BBL designed for the Lots to Love 10 inch dolls but I've adapted it for the Lots to Love 8 Inch dolls and the Lil Cutesies over the years when I needed an extra outfit.

There are several patterns included in the free BBL set and you can find it here. I have been using this project to finish up a stock of Herrschner's Worsted 4 that had overrun my stash from a project that I'd bought more than required. However, last year realizing how well the worsted 4 and baby weights work for the doll projects, especially the smaller doll ones I have restocked when I've had shipping coupons. This green is slightly different from my previous stash but it still makes for a cute set for the dolls.

The notes for this pattern are fairly simple the sweater requires an H hook, the booties and bonnet a g hook.

I made the pants for this by crocheting over a pony tail holder and making pants as I usually do. I will make a note here for myself that I was a row short. I'd make the legs just a bit longer.

I just picked up another doll pattern with booties and I'm hoping they fit better as these booties have a really hard time staying on. I have an alternative pattern for the Lil Cutesies I'm using. I'm hoping the new pattern for the Lots to Love 10 Inch doll will work as a substitute for this doll for future patterns.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Sweetly Nightgown

After the first nightgown going to the Lots to Love 8 inch doll I wanted to make sure the Lots to Love 10 Inch doll that the Sweetly Set is written for actually got one for the donation. I used an F hook for this with Bernat Baby Sport Yarn. I still needed to remove a few rows as it would have been too long.

You can find the free Sweetly pattern set here.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Sweetly Sweater and Pants

I started this sweater pattern from the Sweetly free pattern set found here last week and it ended up being worn by the Lots to Love 14" Baby Doll.

For this experiment I used a D hook for the sweater and and E for the pants. The yarn was a combination of no longer available Red Heart Sport Yarn, Bernat Baby Big Ball Sport Yarn, Baby Yellow and, Ombres, Baby Baby.

I was trying to adjust for size as using the yarn I had on hand and with my sometimes odd guage the original pattern fit the 14 inch doll. When I make this again for the 10 inch doll I'd consider using an E hook for the neck area and switching back to the D hook after the first few rows. The sweater fit well everywhere but that top area as it is built to be a roomy sweater but with the D hook the top was a little snug.

The pants again were a simple top down design split for the crotch. I tightened the top with a sc around the starting crochet at the top sc 4 dc around.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Pink Romper

I promised myself I'd keep attacking orphan and neglected items in my stash. Crochet thread has periodically appeared in my stash and sadly not always been used in a timely fashion and has taken up long term residence in my stash. I've been going through my binders of doll patterns looking for ways to attack my stash and came across an out of print Annie's Attic Crochet Twin Baby Dolls pattern 872017.

This pattern suggests the designs are for 12 inch dolls but I've learned over the years that the length of the doll is often not as relevent as the other measurements not included about the doll. I decided to try making the doll with the Aunt Lydia's Crochet, Size 10 thread and I quickly found the designer's doll had a narrower neck than the 8" Lots to Love doll.

When I started this project it wasn't clear which of the Lots to Love dolls this outfit would fit. As I worked through it the first time I narrowed it down to the Lots to Love 10 inch doll but even then I need to make adjustments to get the outfit to fit the doll as the shapes of the doll are clearly different.

Notes:

I started by chaining 61 instead of 41 stitches.

For the first two rows I used the Tulip Etimo 1.80mm Crochet Hook as I don't currently have a 2mm or size 4 steel crochet hook the pattern suggests.

After the first 2 rows I switched to a .9mm hook for the rest of the project as I found the items to be too large for this doll with the 1.8mm hook.

Follow pattern to arm hole row 9

15 dc ch 14 67dc ch 14 15 dc

Row 10 do in same color as shirt change colors for row 11

Row 11 Crochet even

Row 12 2 dc dc dec around

Rows 13-19 dc around

Follow leg directions

Decrease legs

Trim chain 3 sc around

Follow sleeves decrease to fit

Trim chain 3 sc around

This is one of the more interesting shoe patterns I've seen as they don't crochet around the back of the chain they start in rows and then crochet around the rows to create the shoe bootie. These shoes fit the Lots to Love 10" doll with the .9mm hoook as written.

The pattern includes straps to make the romper look more like overalls. I didn't like the look so I left them off.

I added an increase row in the hat and I'm on the fence about it. The hat was tight without it but loose with it perhaps fewer increases next time?

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Diapers

One of the advantages of working with so many different doll sizes is when you make something you have a pretty good chance that it will fit one of them.

Those of you who follow this blog know I have been making doll clothes for this donation project for some time. While there are some go to patterns that I return to year after year because they are quick to complete and guarenteed to work every year I try to try new things that keep the project interesting. Some are small projects others more daring. This year I came across this free diaper pattern you can find here.

I've never made diapers for the 10" Lots to Love Dolls and I didn't set out to do that when I made the first one of these. The pattern suggested they were made for Baby Alive which I believe to be a 14" doll. So I was thinking these might work for the JC Toys, Lots to Love Babies 14 inches Baby Doll but that didn't work out. As I mentioned above one of the advantages of donating multiple sizes is most of the time when I make something one of the dolls can use it. So while I hadn't intended to put diapers on the 10 inch doll it now has two and I'll likely make these for next year as they work up quickly.

I narrowed the the crotch section to make it fit through the legs by using decreasing sc rows with a g hook until I was through the crotch section then once passed the crotch I returned to the H hook and DC and increased the rows to get back to the required stitch count, ending in the sc row.

If I incldue diapers for the dolls I try to make 2 so the doll can wear one and then the child has a diaper to "change" the doll into.

The advantage of cloth diapers for dolls is they are reusable. I crochet mine but other people sew them and they all serve the same purpose. I know my now adult nieces used to get frustrated when the disposable diapers that came with their dolls were finished off. Most of the non-cloth doll diapers aren't reusable and even when parents have the resources to keep buying new doll diapers they aren't always easy to find the size that fits your child's doll.

It is a more practical solution if I'm donating dolls to give parents a resource that doesn't need to be replaced. There are lots of free patterns that can be adapted to different sized dolls if your child wants diapers to dress the dolls and you don't want to keep investing in disposable ones.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Sweater Set

This was one of my favorite new patterns I tried last year. I just find myself smiling when I see pictures from both 2020 and 2021's version of the outfit. When I was trying to decide where to start this year, this project called to me.

This pattern is part of Darski's free Berenguer Baby Layette pattern you can find here.

I was sure I'd finished off my supply of this Herrschner's Worsted Yarn but when I went to look in my yarn supply I found a completely untouched skein. I have no idea how I still have an untoched skein but clearly it was meant to be and I will be using it to make outfits for the smaller dolls this year. While it is listed as a worsted 4 I find it to be more of a DK weight which seems to work well for these dolls.

Last year I left notes for this pattern which I thought would be clear enough but I was wrong. Some were not detailed enough. So I will leave myself directions again as I can see making this outfit again. The sweater requires an H hook to fit. The booties and the hat use a g hook. Last time I said I needed to follow the directions for the bonnet and read them carefully to make it work. Well once again I misread the directions so I'm going to note what I failed to understand twice now to help me for next time. In the second row of the bonnet you need to dc and fdc in the same stitch. Every time I've made this hat I've made them in separate stitches and the bonnet doesn't fit until you follow these directions.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Moses Basket

I made one of these for the 8 inch doll so it only seemed fair that the 10 inch doll get a bed too.

For those of you interested in the pattern for the Moses Basket you can find the print copy of the Sweet Baby Doll Layette for sale here and the Digital copy at Etsy here. The blanket was part of a free pattern set you can find here. I like trying different patterns for the blankets. It keeps it interesting.

To make the larger Moses basket it requires working with 2 strands of yarn at the same time. Not nearly as painful as making the larger baskets for the 16 inch dolls but it still wears on the hands. I used up the last of a skein of Caron Simply Soft I had tried to finish off on the Romper for the blanket. I like seeing the orphan skeins put to good use.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Nightgown

I've been balancing my time between the baby dolls and the 18" dolls trying to make sure I have enough outfits and accessories for the donation. This nightgown is part of a free pattern set found here.

This doll has proved to be an interesting yarn challenge. I'm finding the traditional baby weight yarns are often too small for the patterns I'm using and worsted weight is just a bit too heavy on this doll. It just looks big even when it fits. I've been experimenting with Caron Simply Soft which is technically a 4 weight but I've always found it to feel lighter and Herrschner's Worsted which again I find to be a lighter than sugggested 4 weight. So far I've liked the outcomes. I also like the fact that I'm using up yarn I have been hoping to finish off.

This is a pretty straight forward pattern. I did add some trim for fun. I hope to add the blanket from this set and then make the Moses basket similar to the one I made for the 8 inch doll to add to the donation.

Lots to Love 10 Inch Doll Romper

This is another free pattern found in the Berenguer Baby Layette set here. The pattern uses traditional baby colors but I had a skein of Caron Simply Soft Ombres Grape Purple left over from a scarf project that seemed like it would be a fun fit for this project and a way to decrease my oversized yarn supply. I find Caron to be one of those in between yarns like Herrschners. It say it is a 4 weight but it is a light 4 and good for those projects that fall between sports and worsted weight yarn when I make doll clothes. I find when I use it on projects that call for a worsted weight yarn I sometimes get an outfit that is a little smaller than I would have wished.

This project worked up with the suggested hook size. I did add a couple of rows to the top of the romper to give it length before splitting for the legs. The pattern calls for elastics to make the legs but I chose to split the legs and trim them. I could see the purpose for using the elastics but I went the easier route.

Once I read the directions for the hat correctly it too worked up according to the directions and hook size.

This doll is on its way to being dressed for the donation, too.