Barbie Beach Accessories

When possible I try to add accessories as well as clothing to the doll donations. I think it just adds some fun to the doll experience. Giving Barbie and Ken beach bags and a beach ball seemed like a great idea to add to their swim suits.

The pattern for the beach bags, towel, and beach ball are found in the same Summertime Blues Fashion Doll pattern set designed by Lori Zeller and found in Crochet World June 2009 that I used for Ken and Barbie's bathing suits.

The added white stripes in the beach ball made it easier to join the pieces together. I tried another beach ball from Annie's Fashion Doll His and Hers and without the additional seems mine didn't end up round and I decided to frog it and move on to other projects. Ken, Barbie and the rest of the family will have to share. I'm still hoping to get the rest of the siblings into bathing suits before the donation deadline.

Octopus

The Octopus is one of the sea creatures included in the Ocean Tower pattern I wrote about previously. You can purchase the pattern here.

I've been trying to keep the animals small so while I did use worsted weight yarn but I went down to a D hook. I also used saftey eyes rather than the eye pattern suggested. I experimented with the eyes, but I couldn't get them to look like the pattern so I moved on to safety eyes.

This is a really quick ami to make and he's a great additoin to any sea/ocean set. I was looking at the one from Bathtime Buddies but after thinking about it I decided he's a bit intimidating for the age group I am making the set for and opted for the friendlier octopus from this set. Nothing says the more detailed, realistic one can't be added at a later date.

Ken Tennis Outfit

I'd been looking for Annie's out of print Fashion Doll His and Hers 87D15 since I started making Barbie clothes again and realized it wasn't in my collection. I wanted this book because the patterns are all casual clothes and thus perfect for the types of clothes I wanted to include with my donation. When it arrived it seemed like it would be fun to see if I could adapt the tennis outfit to fit Ken. I still need to make a top for Skipper but I'll get there at some point.

This outfit is made with Red Heart Crochet, Thread Size 10 White. While the pattern calls for a size 7 hook I needed to use my Tulip Etimo Steel Crochet Hook-.9mm to get the outfit to fit this modern Ken doll.

I changed the pattern for the headband and the wrist bands. Instead of weaving the elastic through the finished bands I measured the elastic to fit this doll, sewed it together and then crocheted over the over the band in sc to cover the elastic. This made it easier than trying to figure out the differences between the old and new Ken's heads. I was able to quickly make these last accessories for the outfit.