Free Pattern - Bell Sleeve Doll Jacket

Turn your 18-inch doll into a little lady with this elegant jacket/coat with bell sleeves.

This pattern is primarily for American Girl size, but fits thinner 18-inch dolls (such as Gotz Happy Kidz and Gotz Sarah) just as well. 

SKILL LEVEL

·         Medium

MATERIALS

·         Worsted weight yarn (or other yarn producing required gauge)

·         Size 3.5 mm circular knitting needles

·         1 button

·         Needle

GAUGE

·         12 stitches – 10 cm

·         18 rows – 10 cm

Gauge is provided in Pattern B (stockinette stitch).

SIZE

The jacket is 20 cm long (as measured in the back). Length of sleeves measured from top is 17 cm.

PATTERN

The jacket is worked using the following patterns:

Pattern A:    Popcorn stitch (Row 1 – *1 knit, 1 purl*, repeat between ** desired number of times, end the row with 1 knit stitch. Row 2 - *1 knit, 1 purl*, repeat between ** desired number of times, end the row with 1 knit stich).

Pattern B:    Stockinette stitch (Row 1 – knit stitches, Row 2 – purl stitches)

Neckline, panel edges, bottom edge and sleeve edges are knit in Pattern A. The rest of the jacket is knit in Pattern A.

DESCRIPTION

At the beginning the jacket is worked as one unit, incorporating raglan sleeves.

Cast 29 stitches.

Row 1-3:    

Work in Pattern A (popcorn stitch). This will create a neck edge of the jacket.  

Distribute 29 stitches as shown in the table below. Separate them with markers for easy identification and knit stitches of left and right panel edge in Pattern A (popcorn stitch) and the other stitches in Pattern B (stockinette stitch).

Starting from Row 6, increase 1 stitch on both sides of raglan lines. It is recommended to do an invisible increase. Number of stitches for panel edges and raglan lines will continue to be the same, but the number of stitches for panels, sleeves and back will continue to increase.

Row	Edge L	Panel L	Raglan L-1	Sleeve L	Raglan L-2	Back	Raglan R-1	Sleeve R	Raglan R-2	Panel R	Edge R
Row 4	3	2	2	3	2	5	2	3	2	2	3
Row 6	3	3	2	5	2	7	2	5	2	3	3
Row 8	3	4	2	7	2	9	2	7	2	4	3
Row 10	3	5	2	9	2	11	2	9	2	5	3
Row 12	3	6	2	11	2	13	2	11	2	6	3
Row 14	3	7	2	13	2	15	2	13	2	7	3

Body of the jacket:

Row 16:  

Using circular needles, work stitches of the left panel as follows: 3 stitches (Edge L), 7 stitches (Panel L), 1 stitch (Raglan L-1).   

Place stitches of the left sleeve on a stitch holder to work on them later: 1 stitch (Raglan  L1), 13 stitches (Sleeve L), 1 stitch (Raglan L-2).

Using circular needles, work stitches of the back as follows: 1 stitch (Raglan L-2), 15 stitches (Back), 1 stitch (Raglan R-1).

Place stitches of the right sleeve on a stich holder to work on them later: 1 stitch (Raglan R-1), 13 stitches (Sleeve R), 1 stitch (Raglan R-2).

Using circular needles, work stitches of the right panel as follows: 1 stitch (Raglan R-2), 7 stitches (Panel R), 3 stitches (Edge R).

Continue working stitches of left panel, back and right panel as one unit.  Two stitches incorporated from raglans will work as separator stitches between the back of the jacket and the left and front panel.

Rows 17-21:   

Continue to work panel edges in Pattern A and the rest of the jacket in Pattern B.

Row 22:

Conduct 1 invisible increase on both sides of the two separator stitches as follows: 3 stitches (Edge L), 8 stitches (Panel L), 2 separator stitches, 17 stiches (Back) 2 separator stitches, 8 stitches (Panel R), 3 stitches (Edge R).

Rows 23-27:   

Continue to work panel edges in Pattern A and the rest of the jacket in Pattern B.

Row 28:

Conduct 1 invisible increase on both sides of the two separator stitches as follows: 3 stitches (Edge L), 9 stitches (Panel L), 2 separator stitches, 19 stiches (Back) 2 separator stitches, 9 stitches (Panel R), 3 stitches (Edge R).

Row 29-35:

Continue to work panel edges in Pattern A and the rest of the jacket in Pattern B.

Row 36-38:

Work all stiches in Pattern A (popcorn stitch). Tie off.

Sleeves

Remove stitches for left and right sleeve from a stitch holder and work them in Pattern B as follows:

Rows 1-6:

1 edge stich, 13 stiches, 1 edge stitch.

Row 7:            

1 edge stitch, *1 stitch, 1 invisible increase* in Pattern B, repeat until the number of stitches is doubled, 1 edge stitch.

Rows 8-14:     

Work all stitches in Pattern B.

Rows 15-17:    

Work all stitches in Pattern A (popcorn stitch). Tie off.

ASSEMBLY

Using a needle, stitch together sides of sleeves.

Conceal yarn ends.

Sew a button on the left top corner of the neck edge. Using the same yarn or matching thread, sew a button loop that is the right size for the button.

TIPS

·         If you don’t like the shape of bell sleeves, continue knitting sleeves until desired length without   stitch increases in Row 7.

·         You can adjust length of coat and sleeves, adding or reducing the number of rows.

·         If you’d like the jacket to have buttons, incorporate buttonholes on the right pane.