Baby Nicole

Another outfit from operation Big Sister. This one is from the Mary Maxim pattern Baby Nicole that can be purchased here.

Mary Maxim has been releasing more of their kit patterns as digital patterns. They regularly are on sale for $.99 so I generally wait for the sale to stock up on any new releases I don't currently own. I believe I originally picked this up as a kit when I first started doing the doll donations. I got a doll and an outfit to make and it worked out for me. I later moved on to the soft baby dolls and later the doll moved up in size when the 15 inch soft dolls were no longer available.

However as I've mentioned in previous posts, most patterns adapt and as long as you keep trying the outfits on for fit you can usually make things work as long as the change isn't too great.

While I've had some success with the 18 inch dolls and crocheted shoes the baby doll has been a bit more stubborn about shoes. I don't know if it is the shape of the feet but I find most of the doll bootie patterns seem just to fall off which is why the doll is constantly bare foot in most pictures.

Baby Doll Pilgrim

The Big Sister Doll Project was sent out in the middle of October shortly before the litle girl became a big sister. I loved this project. It got me crocheting again and I had a wonderful time exploring baby doll outfits.

It got me motivated to complete more 18" doll outfits to send off to the donation project. After I'm done posting about the baby doll project I'll hopefully get those posted.

The down side was I haven't posted anything from the project. So it is time to get caught up. Since November has arrived I thought I'd start with a Thanksgiving theme. I've been making this outfit for the 18" doll for years. I'm hoping I can make a holiday outfit for each of the holiday's and get it sent off for the baby doll. In this first batch I sent off the Halloween costume and the Thanksgiving Pilgrim outfit. I recently finished off the Christmas outfit. I'm not sure if I'll have time for a traditional holiday dress. We will see.

On to this outfit however. I've been using Darski's We Gather Together free pattern found here for years to make my 18 inch doll Thanksgiving outfit. I've made my own bonnet for years but never written a pattern. For this project adapting the dress pattern wasn't too difficult as I use a 16 inch baby doll so it required just a little adaptation to change it from an 18 inch doll pattern to a baby doll outfit. The biggest challenge was making sure the outfit wasn't too large, the arms too wide or too long. The apron had to be adjusted to the size of the doll.

When it came time to make the bonnet for the baby doll however I was able to borrow from another Darski free pattern. I used the bonnet for the Christening gown found in her Sweet Baby Mine pattern set found here. Again these patterns weren't written for 16 inch baby dolls but for 14 inch baby dolls. However when you've been making doll clothes for a bit you learn to adapt, especially with baby dolls. Rarely do you find someone who had the exact same doll as you. You crochet for a bit try it on and see how it fits. In this case I changed the bonnet edging.

I love this pattern set and you will see more from it later. The blanket from this set has become a travel project or my I'm just to tired to think project at night. When I finish it that will go into the holiday donation drive. The extra doll blankets get distributed to dolls and stuffed animals that come into the donation without their own blankets. We make sure all the dolls we donate go out with their own hand made blanket thanks mostly to the hard work of friends at Crochetville.

Baby Doll Diaper Bag Items

I started making the items for the diaper bag for the big sister project. This adds the baby wipes and changing pad to the diapers for the bag. You can purchase the diaper bag pattern here.

For time saving I picked Melissa & Doug Mine to Love Baby Food & Bottle Set (Doll Accessories, Easy-Close Bib, Orange Juice and Milk Bottles, 8-Piece Set, 14” H x 11” W x 2.5” L) instead of crocheting the bottles and food items I've made in the past. These items will add to the fun of pretend play with the baby doll.