For the last few weeks I have been making dolls from the patterns of Carla Vigliucci, which can be found on Ravelry, and Etsy. Each of her patterns include a doll, anywhere from 7 to 11 inches tall, and at least one if not more simple outfits for her to wear, and a beautiful hair design.
Carla has some unique dollmaking techniques, and I always love learning something new. How to make a sturdy one piece head/torso, how to eliminate that tiny gap under the arms when crocheting arms into the body, how to make a TERRIFIC pair of shoes. These are just a few techniques. And if you are like me and do NOT like sewing parts, these are the patterns for you.
The dolls all have very similar builds, so most of the clothing is interchange-able, or will work with just minor tweaking. I used size 3 crochet cotton (primarily Aunt Lydia's Fashion 3 and Knit PIcks Curio 3), and a B hook (2.25mm) to make the doll, and a B or C hook for the clothing.
Two other tips to 'up' your dollmaking game. The Yarn Under Single Crochet: this blog post by Earl Grey Crochet explains this better than any I have found on the internet. Your crochet fabric will be tighter, and little if no fiberfill will show through.
The other is the Invisible Single Crochet decrease. This blog post by Planet June explains the invisible decrease, and it really is!
Here are some of the lovely outfits I made for Elinor, above, who is a combination of Carla's Ema patten, for the body, and Alys pattern, for her hair.
As always, enjoy the day, and enjoy the crochet!
