Clothing: A Different Approach

I joined Ravelry at some point in 2008, and rather quickly became entranced with the doll group. Well, my 'dolls' have always been Sylvanian Families (or stuffed animals), and crocheting them some clothing sounded like fun. My thought at the time was something like "they're so small, it'll be fast."

I found out that Kelly doll patterns are sized somewhere in between a kid and an adult Sylvanian Family member. (At least, that's what I recall.) So I started with Wendy Squires's pattern for a 'Ruffle Tank Top', and of course modified it in all sorts of ways to make it fit. Here is "Quick Rewards, #1", as I have called the project on Ravelry:

It was made in a size 10 thread with a 1.5mm crochet hook. I couldn't figure out how to close the back for the longest time. Then eventually I decided to make a chinese button knot. I found instructions on Chinese Knotting, and after numerous practice attempts with larger cord and many failed attempts with the size 10 thread, I eventually managed to create a button knot closure.

The first dress went together so fast I moved onto "Quick Rewards, #2", an outfit for Fern Timbertop. I used Wendy Squires's "Victorian-Style Outfit", and again modified it. This time, however, I kept track of my modifications (more or less); they're written up in my project notes on Ravelry.

For "Quick Reward's, #3" I decided to try knitting instead of crochet. I pulled out the smallest needles I had (at the time), 000 (3-0), and some DMC Perle 12 thread, and attempted to make a pair of underwear using "Undies for Barbie" with the usual modification creativity for fit. Modifications are again listed in my project notes, but I was starting to keep better track of specifics by this point so they may actually be complete enough to duplicate this.

I concluded from this project that I needed smaller needles, and I needed to use finer thread.