As a little girl, I loved dressing up dolls in different outfits. I spent hours putting them in different outfits and would use shoe boxes as runways for my dolls to walk down. As an adult, I love making knitted doll clothes. I haven't ventured into the tiny stuff yet, but knitting for 18 inch dolls is so much fun. I love how relatively fast it is, because the project is small. It's almost instant gratification, because if I made any of the doll outfits any bigger, it would take at least four times as long. And I love seeing the smile on little girls' faces when they get one of my knitted outfits. There's potential in a little girl's smile. The potential for a future love of knitting, or fashion, or fun, or just the realization that someone thought of her and she is important to them. When I make dolls clothes, or anything for anyone, it's not just a gift, or a thing to sell, it's a time commitment to them, whether I know them or not.
Nicky Epstein has made making doll clothes so much easier with all her fun and easy to read patterns . I used her Stripes Ahoy pattern from the Knits for Dolls book, but changed the colors to pink and more pink and green to make my doll a striped dress that reminded me of spring. The yarn I used was Scheepjes Stone Washed in colors 836 (Tourmaline), 820 (Rose Quartz), and 806 (Canada Jade). The Stone Washed yarn is 78% cottton and 22% acrylic, and does not feel like either of those fibers. It is soft, and I forgot I wasn't working with wool. And because it's cotton and acrylic, it can go in the washing machine (although it is recommended that you lay your peices flat to dry), so it's perfect for doll clothes. If the outfit gets dirty during play, it can just go in with your regular laundy. Also, even though these are outfits for dolls, they are a really great size for premies. If you have someone in your life that has a premie, and you want their baby to have an extra special outfit, 18 inch doll dresses are a great idea.
This month's Royal Recommendations are the three Stone Washed colors I used from Sheepjes (Tourmaline, Rose Quartz, and Canada Jade) along with the Knits for Dolls book written by Nicki Epstein. All four of these items will be 10% off now until my next blog post on the last Monday in May. My doll will be in the shop all month, if you'd like to come visit her and see her dress in person. After that, she'll still be there, but she may be in a different outfit. As always, if you make something with the items I've recommended, bring them into the shop! I would love to see your work!
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