Manga Sweater and Pants

To round out your wardrobe of Manga Spirit outfits, here is a collection of pants and tops in both knit and crochet.  Knit pullovers in worsted weight yarn; a crochet Aran sweater with mock cables in sportweight, two pair of pants that can also be made up as shorts, and a crochet top with sleeves, or not, of your choice.

Crochet Aran Sweater

Crochet Tops

Crochet and Knit Pants

Knit Pullover Sweater

I have surely enjoyed making these big-eyes sweethearts and their various outfits.  I hope you enjoy them as well :-)

A Fun Tutorial from Joyce

Joyce makes the most delightful crochet dolls!  This is Sammy, a heavily modified Lily doll, from the Lily Sugar and Cream website.  The pattern is free on the Lily website, but you do need to become a member (also free).  Joyce has made many dolls from this pattern, each one very uniquely a creation of Joyce's.  See her set of Lily dolls here.

Joyce is happy to share her quick and easy tutorial for making Sammy's bobble hair style:

Bobble Hair Tutorial by Joyce

The bobbles are made individually, then sewn to the dolls head.  Add little bows of yarn or ribbon to sweeten the look :-)

Here are some of Joyce's thoughts on modifying a pattern, in this case the Lily doll pattern.  Joyce also jointed the limbs; she has a tutorial for this technique as well.  Look on the left side of the blog page for 'Tutorials by Joyce.'

"Here is a little lesson on how you can take a pattern and make it your own.

This doll was made using “components” of the Lily Sugar n Cream doll pattern.

As you can see, I changed her head substantially and some other body parts. She came out to be exactly 13” tall using Vanna’s Choice acrylic Size 4 medium worsted yarn. Hooks E and G.

Here’s what I changed:

It called for joining the rounds and I opted to not join and used continuous rounds and a marker. I don’t like the seam that joining rounds produces when creating dolls.
      * Her facial features; made a wig; added ears.
      * Lengthened her arms to 24 rows; used a bobble for her thumbs.
      * After I made the legs, I used Beth Webber’s method of crocheting the legs and continuing with the body rather than closing the body cavity and sewing the legs on.
      * For the head attachment, I used a Darice 30mm doll joint (AC Moore), which is an awesome joint for attaching larger doll heads. I highly recommend this joint as it has a larger, thinner washer and the doll head and body sit on top of a nice flat dishlike surface (about the size of a quarter) rather than a small button. Those of you who use joints for attaching body parts will love this. Or, you can sew everything together as the patterns calls for.
      *
I really tried to follow the pattern trail and for the most part I did; like the body, feet, legs. The main changes were to the head and in the way the body parts were sewn or attached to complete the doll.

This is a fun easy doll, with a wonderful result."

Thank you so much, Joyce, for sharing your tutorial and your inspiration with all of us who love making dolls.