Things have been a little quiet here, mostly because of real life. When things get busy and even a little unpredictable, I always choose some comfort knitting. Lately that’s been knitting for the girls, as well as mittens and socks. Today, we’ll look at my latest completed project for the girls.

This is another free pattern from Sticka till Barbie, this time for a knitted coat. It’s amazing that I’m always learning more about fitting clothes for the girls – this time, I learned that vintage Barbies have shorter arms than modern Barbies. MTM and Silkstone (articulated and original) all have longer arms than vintage B.

I knitted the first coat following the instructions for #101 Yellow Coat. Here’s a Ravelry link for the pattern. The original website was taken down in 2022. The wayback machine’s backup of the original site has changed now – previously you could download individual patterns from there. There is also this other backup at the Internet Archive. Scroll down for the link to download a zip file of all the patterns. I’d do this soon, as it seems the content is vanishing. There are so many clever patterns in this collection.

Here’s my first coat in Patons Kroy sock yarn, on a MTM doll.

This coat is knit from the front hem up over the shoulder and down the back. You knit one front, then the other, then join them at the back collar line and knit down the back. The sleeves are added as you go – it’s shaped like a T, kind of like a kimono. Stitches are picked up at the neck for the collar.

This coat took 35g of Patons Kroy – I just barely made it with my partial ball of the red mix, so couldn’t make the hat shown with it in the pattern picture.

I cast on a second version and cast on two less stitches on each sleeve, to make shorter sleeves for vintage B. Here’s that one – this time, I had enough yarn for the hat, too.

The hat is cute and quick to make. I joined mine in the round so there wouldn’t be a seam, although the instructions are to knit it flat. The hat pattern is A-41.

I’m working on a modification of the coat, resizing it for the 16″ girls. I’m knitting it in a kettle-dyed Koigu that is quite pretty. It’s amazing how much more knitting that requires, but I’m headed down the back now and should have it done soon.