American Thread 1965 - Ripple Dress

Time to start on that fun booklet I found at the Antique Pattern Library!

This week's project is from the American Thread Star Book No. 192, Doll Clothes, Knitted and Crocheted, published in 1965. The booklet has both knitted and crocheted clothes for Barbie and Ken in all of their vintage glory.

The cover has a crocheted brides dress and cape while the groom (and per the booklet, the "breadwinner") has knitted pants and a jacket.

I decided to do one of the easier dresses in the booklet, the Ripple Shift. This dress uses one skein of Dawn De Luxe Fingering Yarn in Antique Gold, a Steel Crochet hook No 1 (about 2.75 mm) and a small button. The dress is the one in the middle below and the gold dress under the jacket on the left.

I had a small skein of red variegated fingering weight wool that was gifted to me by a friend that looked perfect for this. I used a C hook instead of the steel hook and still got the same gauge. This is a simple ripple pattern that works from the bottom up with some decreases at the waist and some increases at the chest. The instructions for front and back shoulders were a little hard to understand at first but I worked it out and it wasn't hard once I understood what they wanted me to do. They have you do the front and back shoulders separately and then sew it together at the top of the shoulder.

Here is the finished dress on Susan.
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Remember that Susan is a little taller than the average Barbie? This dress is definitely longer than the one in the photo and since we know that Susan is likely to be taller than the Barbies in the booklet photo it's going to look even longer on a shorter Barbie. It fits her, just not quite the way it does in the photo. Maybe the suggested yarn is a little stiffer and the soft wool is draping a little heavier? 
I do like the way the variegated yarn looks in the ripple pattern.

Rating:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes
If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes
Does it look like the photo? No
Did it fit Susan? Yes but more loose than in the booklet photo.
Did I enjoy making it? Yes

I'm giving this a 4 out of 5.