"You know," Mandy told Veronika, "This is a good time of year to refresh our wardrobes, don't you think?
"I think so, too," Veronika replied. "I was just remembering when we did that fashion show. Let's have another look at that story. It was our 200th story."
And so they did. I'll let them tell you....
Knitting and sewing for us is what got The Writer started writing the stories, so we decided to give you a fashion show using all of her designs. By way of a disclaimer, The Writer is very grateful to all the designers of the patterns she has also used for us.
These are patterns she made up for us when she couldn't find exactly what she wanted among the many beautiful knitting and sewing patterns already available. The names of the designs are linked to where you can find the free patterns or instructions online.
Please check with an adult before you start clicking on links, though. It's always best to do that when you're online, to make sure it's OK. There are dangers for human children in the internet, and your grownup human people will know how to keep you safe.
Mandy, why don't you go first, since you're our knitter. More of The Writer's patterns are for knitting.
Sure, Veronika! We'll start with the simple patterns first. First we have our Everyday Play dress. It's very simple. The stripes in this one Charlotte is wearing are made by using special yarn for knitting socks. This kind of yarn changes color, so it makes stripes as you knit.
There is a smaller size of this pattern that fits Pippa. It's called Everyday Play for Little Kidz Doll. There's a jacket that comes in both sizes. Pippa's is the Small Everyday Play Jacket. For the larger size, we use the Everyday Play Jacket.
Of course, you can use yarn that's all one color, or a tweed (yarn that has little flecks of color) is nice, too. Here's Pam, wearing the dress in a tweed yarn The Writer dyed using Kool Aid drink mix. Isn't it Kool?
If you're looking for something fancier, there's the Viipuri Dress. You say it like VEE-poor-ee, which is the Finnish name for a city in Russia that used to belong to Finland. It only comes in the size for the larger dolls, like us, but a clever knitter might be able to figure out how to make it smaller using lace weight yarn and smaller needles. Thank you, Jolena!
Sweaters or jumpers are very useful. This is our Wonderland Turtle turtleneck pullover, modeled by Veronika. This design is called a pullover because it looks like the kind of thing a human person can just pull on over their head, but dolls don't like to have things pulled over our heads. That's why all of our pullovers button down the back. So they're really pullovers in our imagination, then.
Pippa has the smaller size, Pippa's Wonderland Turtle. Hers is made from the same tweed yarn The Writer dyed with Kool Aid.
This turtleneck pullover is good for boys, too. Emil and Billy don't like dresses, but they like to wear turtleneck sweaters. Here's Pippa wearing a plain orange version and Emil in purple.
We have some other cardigans, too. This one is the Cables and Herringbones cardigan, modeled by Mariah. The pattern is a little more complicated, but fun for knitters who have been knitting longer.
Billy likes to wear a vest over his best shirt. This vest is called Dapper Doll, because he looks very dapper in it. Girls like to wear vests, too, of course.
We also have a knitted polo shirt. It's called the Everyday Play Shirt. You make it just the same as the Everyday Play Dress, only it stops before you get to the skirt, and it has a collar. Thank you Billy! (That was a quick change!)
Another pullover for knitters who have been knitting longer is this one, Lotte's Lotta Colors, worn by Charlotte. You have to know how to knit with two colors at a time to make this one. This kind of knitting is called stranded colorwork.
Almost the same, but smaller and with different motifs (moh-TEEFS)––those are the things that look like lines, flowers or stars––is Pippa's Chilly Days of Fall, modeled, of course, by Pippa. (Pippa wore this in the story "Sky Blue," from our book More Classic Tales Retold.)
As I said, we don't like to have things pulled over our heads, so all of these sweaters that look like pullovers actually button down the back. That means you can turn them around and wear them as cardigans if you want, as Charlotte did with this one.
Some sweaters are just made to open in the front, like this jacket of mine. It's called the Stavanger Cardigan. Instead of buttons, it has something called clasps to keep it closed. Jolena has one with kittens and fish on it and green trim instead of this cranberry color.
That's all the knitted stuff. I'll let Veronika tell you about the sewing projects.
Thank you, Mandy! It's so nice having knitted things, especially when the weather is cool. Many really important items of clothing, though, are more often made from pieces of fabric that are sewn together, like pajamas. Pippa's Bedtime is the pattern we used to make Pippa's PJs.
All of us, even the boys, like these Easy Pajama Pants. There's only one pattern piece. You cut out two of them. You fold the fabric in half, place the pattern piece down on one side and then cut out both at the same time. You get two pieces that are mirror images of each other. That means that one piece looks like what you would see in a mirror if you held up the other. Besides the hems at the waist and the bottom, there are only three seams to sew. Elastic goes in the waist. Then you can sew a piece of cotton yarn in the front and tie it in a bow, so it looks like the pants have a drawstring. Thank you, Mandy!
The girls really like to have underwear, especially panties or knickers. Dolls don't always come with panties. It's important if you wear dresses and skirts, unless you have tights on. The pattern we like is Gotz Doll Underwear and Bathing Suit. It has a camisole, (KAM-uh-sohl) as well. (A camisole is sort of a top you can wear under your clothes, like an undershirt, only fancier.) Here are Jolena and Charlotte modeling the camisole and panties for you.
The panties and camisole are made from girls' socks. The socks we used for these came with lace around the cuff. It adds a nice touch, I think, at the bottom of the camisole.
We also make our bathing suits out of socks. We bought a package of socks that had different colors. It was easy to make a one-piece bathing suit. Here's Jolena, wearing one of the one-piece bathing suits I made.
You can also make a two-piece bathing suit using the top of the cuff for the top. These socks had animal faces on the heel of a very short cuff. Another nice touch we were able to use. Here's Mandy again, this time, wearing the two-piece version.
You may have noticed our pleated skirts in some of the photos with sweaters. They are all made from the Lotte's Pleated Skirt Instructions. You can do the pleats different ways. If the fabric has lines in it, like a plaid, you can follow the lines to make pleats. There are instructions included for Pippa's size. too. Here's Mariah wearing the Wonderland Turtle in purple and the pleated skirt in lilac.
We like to put the buttons on the other side for the boys. Billy's shirt is made from a plaid fabric.
Children can learn to knit and to sew with a sewing machine. There are videos online to help you learn, if you don't have an adult handy who can teach you, but check with your grownups first to make sure it's OK to use the machine. All of the patterns we have are free. There are lots of sewing and knitting patterns available online. Many are free, like ours, and most of the ones that you have to pay for don't cost that much. They often show you step-by-step how to use the pattern, which is nice. That's what's known as a tutorial.
Well, that's our fashion show. We hope you enjoyed it. Maybe you will do some knitting or sewing for your dolls, too. If you do, it will make them happy.
Well, Veronika, that went well, I think.
Yes, Mandy, it did, and it was fun.
A join-along is like a knit-along, only instead of only knitting, you can knit, crochet or sew your project. Everyone makes a project based on a theme the leaders come up with. The Writer doesn't have any crochet patterns, but there are a lot of them on a website called Ravelry. (Ask your grownup humans if it's OK to go and look.)
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.
Copyright © 2022, 2025 by Peggy Stuart
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