Rag Doll Dress for February

I'm learning to document more as I work on these projects because sometimes I figure out a solution some time during the process and think this will work better next time only to discover I'm in the same pickle because I never documented the solution.

This is a free Dora the Explorer pattern that I've adapted for use with both the Rag doll and the 16 inch baby doll. You can find it here.

Notes:

I use a K hook for the first 7 rows joining at the end of row 7.

For the skirt I switch to an I hook to the end of the dress.

In Row 1 to make the arms fit both dolls I need to chain 8.

However this creates and issue with the skirt so in the following row I need to evenly reduce by 8 stitches the number of additional chains added in the previous row prior to starting the pattern that will eventually establish the skirt.

Use a stitch marker to mark the decreases and increases. They are just easy to lose.

Don't skip the directions for finishing the top and the arms.

I used a snap for the back after finishing the edges.

Rag Doll Summer Dress

Many years ago one of my wonderful donors from Crochetville added one of these rag dolls fully dressed with additional outfits for that year's donation and I fell in love with the doll.

I found the dolls could be purchased at Factory Direct Crafts and it began a journey to adapt patterns to fit the Rag Doll as no patterns were designed for this specific doll. She falls somewhere between most categories and sizes of dolls. She is a little small for most of the Cabbage Patch toddler clothes but most baby clothes aren't appropriate for her age. However, I have found some outfits from the baby dolls that do work.

The dress pattern come from a 1981 House of White Birches newsprint leaflet Baby Doll Fashions to Crochet by Margaret Funk. I used this previously to make 2 dresses for the 16 inch baby doll donation. It required a few additional adaptations for the Rag doll.

Notes:

I failed to look up last year's notes so I'm adding this note to remind myself for next year. I added and additional row to the top to provide a little more top for the rag doll as the doll is a different size than the baby dolls. I'm not sure with the trim and decreasing around the arm holes the is an issue on this year's model but I leave the information for my future self.

The dog had a go at my pattern book and thankfully this pattern is still whole, but if any of you see a copy feel free to leave a message in the comments as to where it can be purchased as I'm looking for a backup. It's old but really important for these donations.

This outfit was made with Lion Brand Ice Cream Yarn Tutti Frutti. This was a great chance to continue my quest to work on using up left over yarn from older projects. This ball has a long way to go but each project makes a dent.

As with the 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.

With this project complete the Rag doll now has her first item in her donation bag. I'm trying to commit to the idea of balancing my projects to keep the donations some what even.

Rag Doll Spring Dress and Jacket

I posted about Amy Carrico's Spring Dress and Jacket pattern for the Lots to Love 14 Inch Baby Doll a couple of weeks ago. As I've learned in experimenting with the Rag Doll many of the baby doll dress patterns for the 14 and 16 inch baby dolls will fit the Rag Doll with minor adjustments. This patterns also provides the Rag doll with some undies which I may add to future patterns.

Like the baby doll I started the first 2 rows of the dress and the jacket with a g hook and finished both with an e hook. For the Rag doll I added a finishing row to the back and the top reducing the top front and arm holes. I also did a finishing row for the underarm with a few reductions to clean up the underarm of the dress as well. I followed the jacket directions as written. I ended up adding a row to the top of the undies and reducing around to decrease the waist of the undies. I also did a reduction row around the legs to clean up the look of the bottoms.

Rag Doll Red Dress

I'm contining to cycle the dolls through the free Flamenco doll pattern found here. This was also a great chance to use up some yarn that has been in my stash for a very long time. I purchased it for a long ago Christmas project and had more left over than I'd anticipated. It was quite nice to find a way to send it off to a new home.