Frozen Inspired Crochet Dress for American Girl Doll or other 18 inch dolls Free Crochet Pattern

Frozen Inspired Crochet Dress for American Girl Doll or other 18 inch dolls Free Crochet Pattern

I got inspired by our Frozen Custom American Girl Doll, Elsa, to make her a crochet dress. I know cold never bothered her anyway, but a little handmade crochet dress never hurt anyone :)

The dress is an improvised extension of a free pattern for a top for an American Girl doll or other 18" dolls, already available on Ravelry, so you need to refer to that pattern for the top part first - this free crochet pattern is amazing and so versatile and I totally recommend :).

Frozen-inspired crochet dress for our Custom American Girl Doll Elsa

I am happy to share my pattern notes to extend the free pattern for the 'SC top' to make it into this American Girl doll frozen-inspired crochet dress pattern for free, providing that you follow this copyright notice:

Copyright Notice
Feel free to share a link to this pattern by linking to my blog and giving copyright credit to the original pattern owner for the SC Top pattern, and the rest to © CraftsAdore, but do not copy the pattern and claim as your own. The pattern is as-is, and I cannot provide any individual support on it. This pattern may not be used to produce items for commercial purposes - you may crochet from this pattern for own personal use only or for charity. Please feel free to share your finished project by adding your comment to this post or tagging me on Instagram. ❤ Happy Crocheting ! ❤

Size:
Since my dress is totally improvised to fit my specific American Girl doll (originally Grace Thomas), you may need to adjust the pattern slightly to increase or decrease extra stitches, as not every American Girl doll is the same size (older dolls are more "chubby" and newer dolls are more skinny), and other 18" dolls may be slimmer/different shapes

I use US Crochet terms:
sc = single crochet (double in UK terms)
dc = double crochet (treble in UK terms)
ch = chain
hdc = half double (half treble in UK terms)
dec = decrease 2 stitches together to make 1 st
inc = increase in 1 stitch to make 2 st in one stitch

Yarn used: Paton Baby Aran in blue and Hook H / 5mm. Any other Aran / Worsted 10ply yarn can be used - you can check your tension by trying it on your doll. I used DK weight yarn for the "belt" and trimming which seemed to work well together.


Top – make as per SC top pattern, up to the Row 15 in blue, then change colours to White for the "belt" i.e. Row 16&17 (I used same white for belt and edging)

Frozen-inspired crochet dress for our Custom American Girl Doll Elsa

Row 16 SC in white, then continue in white:
Row 17 *(SC, CH1, DC) in next st, skip 1 st * repeat till last 1 st. 1 sc in last st. (basically the same as row 21 of original SC top pattern).   Switch colour to blue.

Row 18 - continue in blue: Ch4 for button loop, then SC every other st to end up with 45 st again at the end of the row. (note: if you want to use ribbon as "lace" closure for the dress, you need to do loops on either side of the top)

Row 19 - DC all round, but increase in the beginning (2 DC in first stitch) and every 10st or so till the end, to end up with 50st.
Row 20 - SC all st till end
Row 21 -  DC all st till end, join in the round at the end
From now on, you'll be trying the dress on from time to time every few rounds to check how long you want it and how much decreases to do to fit the doll (it fits legs first rather than through the head...)
Continue in pattern of 1 DC row followed by 1 SC row (it builds up in length quite quickly)
After 5 times of (1dc+1sc) rows in total as counted from white belt, check the fit, and dec evenly to 45 st in SC row by sc2tog (I use invisible decrease)
After total 9 (1dc+1sc) rows, dec to about 40st and continue in pattern of 2 rows consisting of 1dc+1sc rows till ankles are reached. Once happy with length, fasten off and do finishing touches as follows:

Finishing touches:

For Sleeve edges  I used 4.5mm / 7 hook and white sparkly DK yarn – SC all round, and then
*SC, CH1, DC, skip 1 st * all round


For Neck  edges – just SC all round in white DK / 4.5mm hook.

For white frilly bottom edge: white yarn and hook as for sleeve & neck edge:
Round1: SC all round,
Round2: HDC all Round,
Round 3: 2HDC in each st all round. 
Round 4-5 Then 2DC  in each st all round for 2 rounds

Weave in all ends.
Sew on the buttons on the back (alternatively you could have done "button loops" on both edges of the top and use a ribbon to tie it as "laces")

Due to the tight nature of this dress design, your doll won't be able to sit in it, but she'll look super cute standing :)

Frozen-inspired free crochet dress for our Custom American Girl Doll Elsa

If you make this free crochet dress for your American Girl doll or other 18" doll, don't forget to tag me on Instagram : @craftsadore so I can see your makes :)

x AC ~ +CraftsAdore's American Girl Dolls Channel 

Our Generation RV Camper for American Girl Dolls or 18 Inch Dolls ~ Makeover

Our Generation RV Camper for American Girl Dolls or 18 Inch Dolls ~ Makeover

Inspired by some lovely pictures of OG Campers from Our Generation / Battat we've seen on Pinterest, we've had a go ourselves to make it a little bit more cheerful.

Our Generation RV Camper Makeover

Curtains

The existing curtains in OG RV Camper are non removable, so to change them, you'd need to cut them off. The new ones I've made are designed to be removed, so you could, e.g. remove them for washing, or have a different set for different seasons!
Finished size 4"x6"
Make 4:
Cut fabric  4.5" x 8"
Fold under 1/4" inch and top stitch the edges to stop it from fraying

Sew on thin strips of velcro (hook & loop tape, I cut it in half lengthwise so it's thinner) at the top end (on the "wrong/back side" of the fabric" 1.5" apart (as measured on the outside) as it needs to go around the rails to hang on

Note - I made new curtains slightly longer then existing ones, and just simply tied them with thin 4mm ribbons

Before : Left Window ~ After : Right Window

Cushions

Make as many as you wish - we've made 6. We used matching fabric and left one of the original pillows. We made our own inserts for the pillows by cutting dress lining fabric - 2 squares 4"x4" for each pillow, and stuffing them with toy stuffing and sewing shut. Pillowcases are removable for washing.

For cushion covers:
Finished Size 4x4"  - cut 4.5" x 4.5" fabric square for pillow front, and 4.5" x 6.5" for pillow back (cut into 2 parts at 3.5" & 3"), so you end up with 3 pieces like that:

Turn under 1/4" of the longer side of the two "back" pieces and top stitch to stop it from fraying:

Put the fabrics the right way together - the big square at the bottom, and on the top, the longer rectangle overlapping the shorter one, like so (so shorter back piece is below the larger one):

Sew all the away round (I use 1/4" seem allowance for all doll size sewing), leaving a gap for turning inside out (the right way out). I use a wooden point turner to "finger press it" and push the corners out. 

Now you can put the pillow inserts into your pillow cases. 

Duvet Cover

To make a cover for the "duvet" that comes with OG Camper, which is roughly 7x13", I cut the 9.5" x 15.5" for the front, and two pieces for the back = 2" x 9.5" and 14 3/4" x 9.5"

It's made exactly the same as the pillow cases, except this cover is "Oxford style" so after turning it the right way out, I top stitched all the way round about 5/8" away from the edge to create a decorative "flap"

Under sink curtains

Just like the curtains, you can't take them off, they need to be cut off. You could leave it as open space, so the shelves show, or add the curtain. The sewing is similar to the curtains - cut 8" x 9.5", top stitch 1/4" under all the way round, and sew velcro / hook & loop tape 1/4" thin along the side 2.5" apart (outside measurement). You may need to use tweezers (or small screwdriver or flat tool) to push the fabric around the rails, it's a bit of a tight squeeze.

Tea Towel

Cut 5 1/4" x 8" fabric, fold in half, right way together. Stitch 3 sides, leave short one open, turn the right side out, and top stitch all the way around, closing the gap.

Table Top Cover

Finished size 5 1/4" x 3.5"

Cut 7" x 5 5/8", fold 1/4" under on short edges and top stitch them, and then fold in half along long edges that are NOT top stitched (right way together) and sew along those two edges only. Turn right side out and slide onto the table. You can also cut a matching piece of fabric to lay on the worktop behind the "table top".

Please do not repost these instructions, but you may link to this post. Thank you!

You can watch the final result on our channel:

I'm downsizing my crafting... to 18" dolls

I'm downsizing my crafting... to 18" dolls

As the first month of the New Year came to a close, I have been busy planning what to do this year. I have looked back at my last year of crafting, and with a great sadness as I have to admit that I have not done as much as I wanted to (many projects still sit unfinished, craft room overflowing with craft supplies not even used yet, I bet it it all sounds familiar...) so decided that I needed to seriously downsize.

I love all manner of handmade crafts, but there simply isn't enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do ! And with 5 kids in tow, one of them being a very boisterous toddler boy, I don't have as much time to sit down and make stuff as I used to. So with a heavy heart, I decided to downsize my crafting... to dolls.

Last Christmas we discovered the joy of playing with 18" dolls, mainly due to Santa bringing one of my daughters a "Hair Play" doll from Smyths Toys UK by Our Generation / Battat . Now all my girls all wanted a doll, including me!

As much as I love Our Generation Dolls, they mostly look the same, with the same face mold but different eyes and hair colour, and I think they are mainly suitable for children rather than an adult collector. So as I researched what other 18" dolls are available, I discovered American Girl dolls. I fell in love with them there and then. There is SO much variety in American Girl dolls and I adore them all (well, quite a few).

So it's time to come clean: I am now officially an AG doll collector and proud of it :). The possibilities and crafting opportunities for my dolls are endless, so needless to say, I'll be even more busy. My girls all want to join in the crafting so that's great news for family crafting.  At the moment we are starting slowly, with some doll opening videos on our YouTube channel and some dress up fun. But I couldn't resist making a quick "Frozen-inspired" Swarovski necklace for my beautiful Caroline:

And of course, I couldn't resist a few knitting and crocheting projects, most of them inspired by Ravelry free knitting patterns for dolls, as modeled by my lovely Rebecca:

This year, I'm planning to concentrate more on smaller projects for my dolls, and few bits and pieces of home decor in Tilda fabric for the house. And more photography, featuring the dolls of course!
If I can achieve that, then my crafting year will be a success. Fingers crossed!