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Ken has been left out of the fun so it's time to do something for him. This week I'm reviewing this bathrobe pattern from the American Thread Star Book No 192 Doll Clothes Knitted and Crocheted.  I'm not sure what's going on in this photo. Why is older Ken in a bathrobe watching over the the other two? This pattern asks for one skein of American Thread Company "Dawn" De Luxe Fingering Yarn in gold and one in brown along with a steel crochet hook size 0. A size 0 hook is generally about a 3.25 mm. The pattern gives a gauge of 17 stitches to 3 inches. To make the robe I used Teksrena Wool in brown and a scrap of merino wool in green. Based on the photos I could find, one skein of Dawn is about an ounce. I had more than an ounce of the brown but much less of the green. Just looking at the photo I assumed this was one of those cases where they just tell you that you need a skein even you only need a smaller portion of it so I didn't worry much. The pattern is single crochet in the back loops to give it a ribbed effect and it's worked lengthwise. Once I started, I realized two things; they want you to cut the yarn after every row and switch colors, I wasn't going to have enough green to do that. (I guess they meant more than .3 ounces of yarn.) There are 46 rows in the bathrobe so if I follow their pattern I will have 92 ends to sew, not including the sleeves which are thankfully only one color. Sorry Ken, you don't get all the stripes! I made a design choice to do them on the front of the robe only. The directions for the robe, sleeves and the collar were easy to follow and the tie is lengths of yarn that are twisted so that was easy too. This went pretty fast, much faster than if I'd had to cut the yarn after every row and then weave all the ends in. Here he is in his new bathrobe.  I think this went pretty well. The yarn looks more wine colored than brown but the green looks good with it. I think Ken likes his new robe.
Rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes Does it look like the photo? Yes and less creepy Did it fit Ken? Yes Did I enjoy making it? Yes though I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I'd done their color pattern. This one gets a 4.5
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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.  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. This week we have a new Barbie model. Susan, who modeled the two previous projects, is 12 inches tall instead of 11.5 inches. 11.5 inches is the more common size for the dolls and the patterns. That explains why the first week's dress was a little shorter on her than I expected. To make sure I had a doll that would fit the patterns I went to the local Unique Thrift store where they had multiple 3-packs of Barbie and Ken. I ended up coming home with one that had two Barbies and a Ken, all from the Fashionista line in the 2015-2018 era. One stereotypical Barbie, one black Barbie with an athletic body type and a 2016 You Can Be Anything Ken Lifeguard. All of three of them have flat feet. Today's Barbie is a Fashionista Barbie from 2015 and she will be modeling my finished version of the Rose Trimmed Ensemble from the Crochet World Fall Special 1991. Here's the magazine photo. It is definitely trimmed with roses...  This pattern is a jacket and a simple sheath dress. The materials list includes, crochet cotton thread, steel crochet hook size 7, 8 red silk ribbon roses and a hot-glue gun. The pattern gives a gauge that I matched with size 10 cotton thread and the size 7 hook. The stitch pattern for the dress and jacket is a single crochet in the back loop, single crochet in the front loop. The dress is done in the round and was pretty simple to do. It was a just a tube until the last few rounds where the neckline starts and the straps will go. The jacket is worked in one piece, folded in half and the side seams and sleeve seams are sewn together. Having minimal increases and decreases made it pretty easy to follow the back loop, front loop stitch pattern but this still took about three times as long as the suit I shared last week. The last step in the jacket pattern had you prepare the roses by clipping off the stem and putting a drop of hot glue on the end so the ribbon doesn't unravel. Then you mark where you want the roses and sew them on. You can probably guess where I wanted the roses... Here is the finished Rose Ensemble:
I made it rose colored instead of rose trimmed and used variegated pink thread for the dress and a solid pink for the jacket. It's definitely a Barbie color. The variegated thread made the dress a little more interesting to do. This dress did not fit Susan and even though the gauge matches it seems a little tighter than the photo and the sleeve length is a bit shorter than the photo.
Now for the rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes Does it look like the photo? Sort of. Did it fit 11.5" Barbie? Yes but it was a tight fit. Did I enjoy making it? Yes I'm giving this one a 4 out of 5 because it was a little smaller than the version in the photo even though I had the gauge right. I could block it and make it a little bigger if I needed to but it's fine the way it is. Any suggestions on what I should name this Barbie? This week we're trying the Summer Suit from the 1992 issue of Crochet World Summer Special. This one also uses Luster Sheen and while I don't have the Aquamarine color they suggest, I think the other blue I have will be just fine. The white is size 10 thread and I have plenty of that. They use two different size hooks in this pattern; size 7 steel hook for the white and size D for the blue sections. The other materials include 4 snap fasteners, four 4mm beads, and 18 inches of 3/8 satin ribbon.  The pattern has a gauge that I matched and it has stitch counts after most rows (YAY!) It starts with the skirt which is a very simple pattern that is open at the waist in the back for a snap. The blouse instructions are also easy to follow. The blouse is completely open in the back with three snaps for the closure. Adding the white edging was a little more difficult but still not terribly hard. I ended up tacking the collar down because even though it was done in the outside loop it didn't want to stay down. The hat was very simple and adds an extra panache to her outfit. With the D hook this outfit went much quicker than the evening dress done in the same yarn, even with the extra accessory. Here is Susan in my version of the Summer Suit  She kicked off her shoes because it's summer and it's hot. I didn't love the extra ribbons they had in their version. It seemed a little extra. Even though they give you directions to make your own ribbons I added a purchased one to her hat instead of trying to make one. She only has one bead on her top instead of three because I couldn't get them to line up right. Overall, this outfit is a little looser than the evening gown and easier to put on the doll.
Rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes Does it look like the photo? Yes Did it fit Susan? Yes Did I enjoy making it? Yes This one gets a 5 out of 5. This week's pattern comes from the April 1984 issue of Crochet World. The issue has at least 35 patterns in it ranging from sweaters to bookmarks. The Barbie pattern is an evening gown and wrap made with Luster Sheen yarn in Crystal Pink.
The other materials needed are; a size 7 steel crochet hook, 2/3 yard of 1/4" pink ribbon, 3 small snaps, 1 small hook and eye for the wrap closing, small craft flowers for the waist. I have all of these things but not in pink and since I'd rather use up what I have I went with Luster Sheen in Bluette and a white ribbon for the waist. Luster Sheen has a chainette construction so it's pretty easy to crochet with but not that great for making a fringe. The pattern gave a gauge that I tested and matched before I started. The directions fit on one page of the magazine along with the photo so this seemed like it would go pretty quickly and easily. The dress is worked from the waistband down and then from the waistband up. There was only one issue I had with the pattern. I love when patterns have a stitch count at the end of the row. In this case, that would have made this a little easier to check as I was going through the pattern and it would look more like the photo. Here's the finished version that Susan* is modeling vs the original:
You can see that somewhere there was a mistake in the increases or I misread it. When I realized that it was wrong, I decided I preferred my version. I added a felt flower button on the waist instead of the roses and decided to skip the wrap. Susan didn't come with any shoes so I made some out of foam, crochet thread and beads. They're kind of wobbly and come off easily but they'll work for now.
Rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes If there is a gauge, could I match it? Yes Does it look like the photo? Not really Did it fit Susan? Yes Did I enjoy making it? Yes This pattern gets a 4 out of 5. *Since we can't keep calling her Spa Barbie, I named her Susan Pearl Anderson (SPA). |
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