Stacie Little Sister Pretty Ensemble

Having made Skipper an outfit using this pattern from the out of print Annie's Fashion Doll Sister and Me 87D21 it was only a matter of time before I got around to making one for Stacie as well since I proved last year with some minor adjustments of hook size the pattern can be used for both modern dolls.

This was made with Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread size 10 in Mint Green and Red Heart Size 10 Crochet Thread White using a Tulip Etimo 1.25mm steel crochet hook. I've been pleased to find that I only have to adjust the hook and can continue with the size 10 thread. The size 10 is easier to source than the size 20 I've started to use for some of the "Barbie" projects.

Stacie Sunday Best

I have a preposted donation list to help me track all the items made to keep me on track. I started it last year late in the year and this year I started it from the first project made and it has helped me to focus on dolls in need of dressing.

I started out well with Barbie's clan in January. Barbie and Chelsea have a good start. This is promising since last year poor Chelsea left with only one outfit. However, Stacie prior to this project had but one outfit and Ken and Skipper still have only the clothes they came in so I have some work to do not to have that what was I thinking moment in the fall when I realize I've forgotten to include enough outfits for a doll.

I started making Barbie clothes for my now adult nieces before moving on adding Barbies to the donation recently. During the years my nieces were younger I hunted the Internet searching for out of print leaflets and magazines devoted to crocheting for Barbie and her clan. While adjustments sometimes have to be made for the changes in doll sizes, available yarn/thread, and my own guage, I find I'm often able to make the patterns work for even the modern Barbie line.

This pattern comes Crochet World's Fashion Doll Showcase #1 published in 1988. It has a wide range of patterns from leisure to more formal outfits. I started with this one because I wanted something for Stacie and I thought it would give me an idea of what I was working with for guage.

The pattern calls for Knit-Cro-Sheen and a Size 1 steel crochet hook. I used Aunt Lydia's and Red Heart Thread and traded back between my Tulip thread hooks 1.8mm and 1.25mm.

The pattern shows the picture for the dress but not the coat. I shortened the coat because I found the longer coat didn't fit well over the dress. Without a picture to see how the designer intended it to fit it was hard to determine how it was supposed to fit but I liked the short sweater look for the outfit.

Stacie Shirt and Pants

Last year I failed terribly to provide Chelsea, the smallest of the Barbie dolls, with much of a wardrobe. To correct that I decided to start the year focusing on patterns I thought might work for her. I had found a free pattern for the no longer available Fibre Cindy doll that used to come in the package with the doll here and never got around to trying it. While Cindy is clearly larger than Chelsea I thought the pattern could be adjusted. Why then a post about Stacie you might ask?

I forgot a lesson I learned last year while making Barbie clothes. Thankfully, I still have the tools I acquired last year even if I forgot about some of them. In this instance I trusted the directions that said to use size 10 crochet thread. Experience has taught me, which is why I have a bag of size 20 thread purchased from Creative Yarn Source. However, having started on this project it seemed a shame to waste it and with multiple sized dolls one almost always fits the outfit. In this case instead of a dress it made a nice top for Stacie.

Thankfully unlike Barbie and Ken I was able to get the same donation dolls to match the models I used last year for Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea so no new additional dolls and I don't have to relearn sizes for these dolls. When I saw the size of the top I had a good idea that it would be a good fit for Stacie. For my own notes since I will likely come back to this pattern at some point in the future I used a .75mm thread hook with size 10 crochet thread for the top.

Now having a top I needed bottoms and I turned to a pattern I used last year for shorts from an out of print Annie's Fashion Doll Sister and Me 87D21. I used a 1.25mm hook for the shorts and then just continued with the leg rows until they were pant length. There is a snap in the back to close the pants. There is an additional finished row to the pants opening that I continued around the top of the pants to finish off the starting chain.

This works as a simple pants and top outfit or could also be pajamas depending on how the child wishes to play with the doll she gets from the donation.