It's already time to start thinking about Christmas, so I did a nice long search on the web yesterday for Barbie and Kelly clothes for my 10yo's Barbie collection. I found an interesting and easy pattern for a Barbie tube dress: A Tube Dress with a little Extra found at Susan's Stuff.

I made two of these tube dresses today. The first was trying out the pattern to see what I needed to change (yes, it seems I almost always change patterns ) I used a deep purple worsted weight (Red Heart) yarn and size 5 dpns. I used the garter stitch for the first 4 rows - but stitched straight and then went to double points after I decreased, having 4 on one needle, 12 on another, and 4 on the last. This made an interesting collar in the back, but I sewed the small seam insteading of leaving it split. I didn't drop down to a smaller needle for the waist, and did a k1p1 ribbing for 4 rows instead of three. (seems there was a row missing on the pattern). I only did a straight skirt, and did 2 rows of ribbing at the end of the skirt before binding off with a knit binding. This one ended just above the knee.

The second dress I changed a little. I used a soft white fuzzy type yarn (Caron Dazzle-aire) and at the top when I started knitting the garter stitch collar, I added white sTARS by Adriafil (an eyelash type yarn that sparkles). Then I knitted the rest of the dress in the plain white yarn. I changed to a size 3 dpns for the ribbing for the waist, and then went back to the 5's. I made this one a bit longer - just below the knee. This one looks quite elegant on Barbie.