Title – My Crochet Doll
Author – Isabelle Kessedjian
Publisher – David & Charles
ISBN – 978-1-4463-0424-2

I could not resist this adorable book, My Crochet Doll, with over 50 patterns for an amigurumi doll, her clothes and accessories.

The book measures 8″ x 10″ (21cm x 28cm) and has 95 full colour pages.The patterns themselves only start after page 60, so nearly two thirds of the book is large “coffee table” pictures of the projects.

The Crocheted Doll

I could not find any mention of how tall the doll actually is, but am assuming she is about 6 inches. She is simple to crochet in a spiral and one can insert an alluminium wire skeleton to make her poseable. There are no instructions for customizing the dolls, nor for how to do the various hair styles shown, but I am pretty sure it would be easy to work them out from the pictures.

The Crochet Doll Clothes

The book contains patterns to knit a selection of clothes for your doll. The patterns included are:

Underwear – basic knickers (can double as shorts)
Shoes
Boots – variations include moon boots
Trousers – variations include dungarees
Sweater – variations mentioned throughout the book, including as a tshirt and blouse
Pyjamas
Nightcap
Bathing Suit
Raincoat
Rain hat
Scarf
Anorak
Bear suit
Pinafore dress
Coat dress
Apron
Head scarf
Superhero outfit including cape

 

A lot of fun could be had customizing these patterns to make lots of other clothes. They are all simple to create and look sweet.

Crochet Doll Accessories

There are also patterns for accessories to go with the outfits. Again these could easily be customized to create other things. The patterns are:

Suitcase – to store the doll and clothes
Simple granny square blanket
Teddy bear
Bucket
Airbed
Paddling Pool
Camera
Penguin and fish
Basket
School bag
Cake
Cupcakes

The Instructions

The patterns are in written format and use UK terminology (there is a conversion table for US knitters so they can easily use this book too). The patterns are clear with the round numbers maked.

The book includes a written reminder of how to do the various crochet stitches required. Some previous crochet experience would be required but this book would be suitable for a fairly new crocheter. More experienced crafters will be able to find many ways to vary the patterns to create their own variations.

The samples in the book use Bergere de France yarns. There is a helpful table showing what colours and types of yarn are used for each pattern. There is also a table showing the approximate weights of the yarns used so you can easily substitute whatever you have available. The doll is crocheted in a Lightweight DK yarn and the clothes mostly use DK and 4ply yarns. You could of course use a different yarn and adjust your hook size accordingly to create different scales.

Summary of My Crochet Doll

“My Crochet Doll” is a very attractive book and the doll and her outfits are very cute indeed. I felt that perhaps there was less actual patterns than I had initially thought as most of the book is pictures, plus many of the clothes are variations on each other. However the book has a good basic wardarobe included so one could create countless clothes for a loved doll.

It would have been nice if the pictures could have shown more variations to inspire. There are numerous images of the dolls, but all have the exact same skin colour, same eyes, same face. There could also have been a picture showing some different designs for the sweater, for example. I found myself imagining how to adapt her to make a goth girl, a princess, a boy version and so on. Doing so would be quite easy, so I am surprised that the large amounts of included images could not have perhaps included this.

This is a great book for any crocheter who is looking for an ongoing project that is easy to get going with, but offers a massive amount of potential variation and customization.

And, of course, the doll herself is adorable and would make the most wonderful gift for a youngster (or mascot for a not-so-youngster).

If you would like to create amigurumi style dolls, but prefer to knit rather than crochet, may I recommend my review of Knitted Toys by Tatyana Korobkova.

These links lead to the item on Amazon.com (left) and Amazon.co.uk (right). If you purchase it from this link then I would get a small commission from Amazon for sending custom their way.