Valentine Doll Dress

  I found this adorable free crochet pattern on Ravelry.com by Elaine Phillips. This was a pretty easy pattern until I got to the sleeves. The way it is written made it really confusing to me. Eventually I got it done. I wish I could explain how I figured out the sleeves so I can have it for my own future reference. If this dress is sold and someone requests another, I will be sure to update this post. 

  The shoes are a pattern that I used before by Whistle and Ivy called Little Dot Mary Janes. I just didn't put the "dot" or the strap that is supposed to go across. I added some little rhinestones to give them some character. 

More American Girl Doll Clothes

  Here is the blue and silver dress I was working on. I wish it was this quick to make clothes for myself! This dress pattern can be found on ravelry.com. It is Classic Navy Girl Dress by Dash of Bella. The silver chain can be removed and a ribbon or something else can be added to give it a different look. 

  The headband is also by Dash of Bella and is a free ravelry download found at this link. I made a blue one and a silver one since they were so quick to work up. I also added some bling to the silver one to match the shoes. 

  For the shoes, I used part of Whistle & Ivy's free pattern called Little Dot Mary Janes. I used the newborn size. They can be found on the site here. They also have a ton of adorable baby shoe crochet patterns on that site. I've made some before in a previous post. 

American Girl Doll Clothes

  Recently I've been reminiscing about my doll playing days. If they were around when I was a kid, I would have wanted an American Girl Doll. It would've been one of those things I really wanted, but could never get because of the cost (kinda like that cabbage patch kid I never got).

  Anyway, I'm here to talk about the cute little outfits I made for my coworker's daughter. She just got an American Girl for her birthday. I told my coworker that I may be able to make something for her, so we looked at some patterns on Ravelry and he had his daughter pick some out. I didn't have a doll, so using a pattern would take all the guess work out of sizing.

  I still wanted a doll, so I could maybe practice my sewing skills sometime and have a little model for sizing. Luckily my neighbor found an 18" doll that's been in her daughter's daycare for a couple months. No one has claimed it, so they said she can have it. She knew I was looking for one so I can take pictures of my work. That worked out really well. Also, since her daughter isn't really into dolls, she parted with it quite easily.

  The pattern that was used for this adorable dress is found on Ravelry.com called American Girl Doll Summer Dress by Danielle Bonacquisti. The hat was inspired by a free pattern called Ice Queen Hat Pattern by Mango Tree Crafts and can be found here. I used the pattern for the base of the hat, then I made a floppy brim to finish it off. The shoes were made with a free pattern as well, but I cannot seem to find it. If I happen to find it again, I will update this post with the link.

  Isn't she adorable? More little clothes to come. I'm working on a blue and silver dress. 

Refashioned Beach Dress

  Do you ever go to the beach and end up buying stuff you'll never use? ..or is that just me? Well, if you haven't guessed, I bought this dress on a beach trip. I don't even remember which beach. Everything seems to look better at the beach. Maybe if you live on a beach you wouldn't think so, but I don't and in fact, it is snowing here, right now.

  I love the fabric, but I didn't really like the top part of this dress. I'm not so busty and can't pull it off, so I decided to turn it into a maxi skirt.

  First, I held the dress against me to the length I wanted it. I folded the top and cut at that point.  It came out to be 3 inches shy of what I would cut a maxi skirt for myself at, but I'm going to use part of the top as a waistband.

  After cutting, I had to make my lines a little straighter and cut one seam so I can make it smaller.

  I made it to be 4 inches smaller than my waist because the material is really stretchy. Then I sewed the band closed again to make a circle and folded in half lengthwise with right side out. I tried to hand baste a loose straight stitch, but ended up taking it out because it didn't allow the material to stretch enough to pin it to the skirt.

  I think this is the hardest part for me - putting these two pieces together. I placed the band on the outside of the skirt and evenly pinned the two together. Sewing was a pain because I had to stretch the band as I went to match up with the skirt. I guess I need more practice with that because I had a couple holes. I had to go back over to get it right.

   I think I got it right, and I'm diggin' my new skirt! I don't know what I'm gonna do with the top part. I'm past the days when I would wear it like that! Maybe I'll make some type of headpiece.

Crochet at Victoria Secret

  I was looking through this Victoria Secret catalog that I got in the mail today and guess what I found? Oh yes, it's crochet! So do they have people who actually crochet these designs or is there some kind of crochet machine that I don't know about? They are beautiful. My favorite is the brown maxi dress at the bottom. Just in case anyone wanted to get me an early birthday present, I wear size small. ;) just kidding.. I would love to find the patterns. You can get these dresses online at Victoria Secret's website.

Crochet Maxi Dress at Victoria Secret

The Crochet Sun Dress at Victoria Secret

Crochet Racerback Dress at Victoria Secret

Cotton Crochet Maxi Dress at Victoria Secret