Starting a New 18 Inch Doll Cardigan Sweater

After a bit of a break with American Girl doll patterns in order to get ready for Vacation Bible Camp, I finished up a second triangle mesh cardigan and moved on to a new project in lime. I am hoping this sweater will be a bit easier to get around those hands of my daughter’s dolls.

I am also hand writing out patterns for these sweaters in hope of having a three sweater pattern set some time soon. I am hoping to make these patterns easy for those who are gauge challenged in the row department. As YarnHarlot on twitter says, ” Just once, I’d like a pattern to say ” Stitch Gauge 24/10cm, Row Gauge: Who cares? It’s not like you’re going to get it.” For those of you who feel that way, I hope that my patterns will not have that issue.

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Openwork Sweater Experiment for an American Girl Doll

Lately I have been designing things that actually have to fit. This is my first sweater design for my daughter’s American Girl doll. She chose the sport weight yarn (and the outfit to take the photos.) This open work crochet stitch does has a minor issue; the doll’s fingers won’t move, so it is a bit fiddly to get the sleeves over the hands. My eight year old did figure it out herself, though.

I am trying to decide whether to add a small button and loop at the top of the sweater or not. I am working on a second sweater like this one to offer in my Artfire Studio where there are already ballet shrugs and tutus for 18 inch dolls, so I will probably test out the button idea on that one to see how I like the looks of it with a button. I am also working on getting the pattern written for others; I am hoping to work on a couple more cardigan sweaters with different stitch patterns as soon as I finish teaching Vacation Bible Camp next week.

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My Daughter’s American Girl Doll Needed A New Crocheted Ballet Shrug

Felicity's New Ballet Shrug

For a while I have been toying with the idea of creating some crocheted American Girl doll clothing patterns, especially since my oldest daughter has a Felicity doll as well as another 18 inch doll.  As I generally do when I decide to crochet something entirely new, I decided to start with something fairly simple and made a crocheted ballet shrug with some sport weight acrylic yarn I had leftover from a custom order alphabet letter project.

The first challenge was making the shrug fitted, without it being too hard to get over the doll’s fingers.  Just like a baby, a doll is not very helpful when you try to put clothing on it.  I ended up having to add a stitch and frogged about ten rows to start over.

Keeping count of rows was a bit of a challenge as well.  I would definitely recommend using your row counter while making this.  For some reason I thought that the fact that I was writing down the pattern as I went would help me keep track of rows.  (Of course, being interrupted by children while working probably contributed to losing track of where I was.)

Hopefully I will get a chance to type up this pattern in the evening (when no children are awake to interrupt me.)  Once I do I hope to find a pattern tester who would be willing to do a quick test of this pattern for me.  After that you will be able to find this pattern on Ravelry and through my blog as a free download.

Back View of Crocheted Ballet Shrug

If you have other suggestions for crochet patterns for American Girl dolls, please let me know.  I am taking requests from my daughter and have a few ideas of my own.  I am also offering handmade American Girl doll clothing in my Artfire studio.
Pattern now available as free download from Ravelry: download now

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A Little Surprise for My Daughter’s Birthday

My oldest daughter will be seven next week and will be receiving an American Girl doll for her birthday from her grandmother. The gifts that we are giving her happen to be going along with the theme of the doll. Her younger sister went with me to the used book store this week to pick out a couple American Girl books to be her present. We also have a table and chairs set that are American Girl doll sized that a coworker gave my husband.

At first, I planned to make a dress from a pattern I found online, but no matter what I did I could not get anywhere near the gauge called for, so I put it aside. Fortunately, I found a pattern book for three 18 inch doll sweaters that I apparently purchased on clearance at a local craft store some time ago. I decided to make a sweater and asked my nearly seven year old what color sweater she thought her doll would need to go with the cute skirt she received for Christmas. (My daughter already has the doll pictured, which is not an American Girl brand doll, but is the same size.) By the way, I found the skirt in a shop on Etsy called Helen’s Handmades.

This sweater was fairly easy to make, being mostly one stitch, with some ch loops that form the braided look down the front and on the arms. I do not think Springfield (fibrecraft) makes the pattern anymore; I have emailed them for some further information.

This is one more item that helps me use up some of my yarn, since my yarn diet is still going strong.

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Just What I Need….Picking Up Another Craft

I just had my husband help me download two sewing patterns from You Can Make This! They are skirt patterns for American Girl dolls (or other similar dolls.)

What could I possibly be thinking? It is November and I have a ton of projects to work on as it is, but I am actually considering trying to sew now. The last thing I really sewed was probably a project for Home Economics in junior high school. I think it was a boom box pillow.

If I can get my act together and figure out the simple pattern, perhaps I can even donate some finished products. Of course, I would have to hide any from my daughters so this could only be a night time project.

In my head I am imagining myself doing a good job with these and then creating a cute sweater with my crocheting skills to go with it. I wonder how far I will get with it. I seem to have so many project ideas and not nearly enough time to try them all.

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Etsyhooker of the Week — All Dolls

This week I thought I would share some items in a common theme from a variety of the Etsyhookers. Since I have been experimenting with some dolls and puppets myself, I checked out some of the awesome creations that other members are offering.

Want to she the front of this cute monkey? Just click the photo to be swept off to SherriCrochets. She has several cute creations just waiting for a new home.

If there is a girl in your home who likes 18 inch dolls like the American Girl doll, check out this ensemble by Nora’s Place:

Nora also has great outfits for many different kinds of dolls in her shop, including Blythe and trolls.

For a simply adorable bunny, perhaps for a young child’s Easter basket, check out Homehooked’s shop:

Homehooked also has an adorable “Frightened Fruit Kabob” and some other cute stuffed creations in her shop.

If you get a chance, please check out Laura’s Left Hook while you visit etsy.

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A not so secret Christmas present for my daughter

I have been working on this 18 inch doll dress for a while, trying to decide whether I would try to sell it or give it to my daughter for a Christmas present. Since I have a five year old who is not very good at keeping out of my crafting bag, she saw it at least once, probably two or three times as I made it.

The dress was shown in the magazine as a baby doll dress in white, with pink trim and a bonnet. I thought I would try it out in another color and forget the bonnet, hoping it would fit my daughter’s 18 inch doll which is the same size as an American Girl doll. Somehow my gauge turned out well and it fits perfectly. The color is called Birds of Paradise, which is one of a very few non pastel sport weight yarns I have been able to purchase at local craft stores.

The back of the dress has six buttons, which is probably what took the longest for me to do since I really don’t like working on those little finishing touches like sewing on buttons.  I actually have another dress nearly finished in red because I did not want to work on the buttons in the truck on a trip to my dad’s house.  Maybe the second dress will go up in my shop when I finally get the buttons on it.

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