How To Quickly Design Your Own Doll Dress

It doesn’t matter what type or size doll you have, you caneasily design your own doll dresses following a few simplesteps.This article explains how to make a basic dress, that youcan then use as either a sundress, or that you can crochetdainty ruffles on for a more elegant fashion.First you will want to grab your doll, a crochet hook, someyarn, a pen and a notebook. As you crochet, you will wantto make sure that you write down all of your stitches sothat you can save your design in writing.First crochet a simple chain until it’s long enough to reachcomfortably around the neck of your doll. I usually crochetmy chains to be long enough to just reach around the widthof the neck, then I add 3 extra chains to give enough roomfor it to fit neatly without being too tight.Next, crochet 2 singles stitches in each chain, and thereyou will have your basic neck.Now, place your neck on your doll, with the ends beingcentered in the back, and mark the stitches right underneaththe arms by inserting small bits of yarn into the stitches. These can be removed once your arm loops are crocheted.Double crochet to where the arms should be (the area youmarked with your bits of yarn), and then next make a chainusing the number of stitches marked previously with yourbits of yarn. Now add 4 or 5 more chains to give a bit ofextra room for the arms.To gauge if you have enough chain stitches, you can pin thechain in place in the last stitch not marked for the arms,and see if the "loop" slides onto the arm easily.Once you’ve gauged your chain, then double crochet in thenext unmarked stitch to close the "loop" onto the neckpiece. Now double crochet to the next arm area, and create a chainwith the same number of stitches as your previous chain,close that loop as well, and then double crochet to the endof the neckpiece.Now chain 3, turn and double crochet one row, while addingthe same number of double crochet stitches onto the "loop"as you had for number of chains.Chain 3, turn again and double crochet to right underneaththe arm. If your doll has "breasts" then you will want toplace your bodice on your doll, and mark the stitches thatlay right over the dolls "breasts".Note: If your doll does not have breasts, then just doublecrochet across.Now double crochet to the "breasts" section of the bodice,and based on how large your doll is you will need to add afew double crochet stitches in the breasts area.Typical fashion dolls only need to have 3 double crochetstitches added, in one stitch over the breasts.Whereas larger dolls may need to have 6 stitches added into2 stitches.To determine how many stitches to add, crochet 3 doublecrochet stitches in the first stitch you marked, try thebodice on the doll and see if it fits comfortably. If itappears to be too tight, just add 3 more double crochetstitches into the next stitch, and so on until it fits well.Double crochet to the next breast area, repeat the increasedstitches, then double crochet to the end of the row.Chain three, turn and double crochet back to the breastareas, DECREASE the same number of stitches to form the"cups" and double crochet to the end of the row.If you have a rather large doll, then you will want to do arow of double crochet stitches before you close the "cups"to make sure that the cups fit snugly.Chain three, turn and crochet one more row of double crochetstitches.Now try your bodice on your doll, pinning it closed in theback, to make sure that it fits snugly.If it fits, you’ve done a great job and can continue to theskirt. If it seems to be too tight in some areas, you willneed to unravel and start again increasing stitches in thoseareas.Once you get used to using this method, you’ll find that youwon’t have to unravel as often as you may when you firststart designing. If you do need to unravel, don’t getupset. You’re just now learning something new, and as witheverything that you learn, practice makes perfect.Once you have a snug fitting bodice, you will need todetermine what type of skirt you would like to make.First, do rows of double crochet until you get to where youwould like the waist of your skirt to be.Once your bodice is the desired length, then you will wantto double crochet in each stitch across. This makes thewaste form outward to fit over your dolls hips.Now you can begin designing your skirt. If you want a skirtthat flairs, then do a row of three double crochet stitchesin each stitch across. If you want a tighter skirt, then doa row of one double crochet stitch in each stitch across.Chain three, turn and double crochet in each stitch across.Now you can close your skirt into a circle by joining theedges together with a single stitch. Try your bodice onyour doll again to make sure that it will pull onto the dollsnugly then complete your skirt by crocheting it to thedesired length.Once you skirt is completed, you will have completed yourbasic dress. You now have a wonderful dress, designedcompletely by you, and as you can see it wasn’t hard at all!You can add sleeves by joining your yarn into the arm loops,and crocheting ruffles around the edges.You can also add ruffles into your skirt.Once you get better at designing the basic dress, then you canuse other stitches to make fancy details and patterns inyour designs.Ad ruffles or single stitches around the neck for collars,or sew beads onto the necks for a decorative edging.Before long you’ll be designing your own doll dresses like aprofessional in no time!Don’t forget to always write your instructions down, and forways to profit using the patterns you design then pleasevisit the following URL to obtain your copy of "ProfitableCrafts ~ Consignment Sales And Getting Your ProjectsPublished".http://www.daintywork.com/crafts/vol2main.htm


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maria Vowell is a published designer that has crochetedsince she was 11 years old, who has successfully mentoredliterally hundreds of crafters, both online and off, and whohas over 13 years experience at designing her own crochetpatterns. Ms. Vowell also provides a series of manuals tohelp other artisans and crafters profit from their arts &crafts related sales. Learn more at:http://www.daintywork.com/crafts/volumes.htm