Crocheted LALApop doll I crocheted for My Daughter for Christmas 2011

I originally purchased a pattern from someone who made a similar crocheted doll, but was wxtremely disappointed after I purchased the pattern. The original pattern was so difficult to understand because of major errors in the pattern, not to mention, one of the features of the pattern was a dowel that was inserted in order to keep the doll from falling over due to her oversized head and skinny legs.  The body also was nothing like the plastic version of this doll.  After wasting more than one day figuring out the pattern, and finding numerous errors, I decided to make a pattern myself. The body and legs are made to be just like the plastic one, allowing the doll to sit rather than keep in a fixed standing position like the original pattern. The head is sewn in a manner that doesn't require a dowel to need to be inserted into the doll ( a hazard for children since they would most likely be sleeping with the doll) . The shoes were also made to be separate and be removable unlike the original pattern where the shoes were crocheted as part of the dolls legs. My version allows for multiple styles to be made and used interchangeably with the doll.  The dress, is actually the original, although I have a dress I made later to better fit the doll. This dress had a wide neck, and her sleeves start much lower than the arms in the original doll began. In order to fix the dress, I folded up the sleeve and inserted a ribbon tied at the top of the sleeve. For the neck, I single crocheted a row decreasing every two stitches and folded the neck down twice and had to sew it in place. The dress has a single button in back and is removable. I added a ribbon around her waist to pull the dress closer to the doll since the original dress had a wider waist. Due to time restriction and having to finish the doll in time for Christmas, I kept the original head. It too was not shaped as It should. the head was tear drop in shape rather than the more rounded look of the plastic version. As far as the hair, that too, had a problem. the original pattern required only 14 curls. After making the exact number per the pattern, I found it would only cover the bottom neck line of the dolls head. I had to make an additional 20 or so curls to give her a fuller head of hair. the only thing I kept as original was the wig (cap) and a hair 'puff' in the front. I opted to add an additional hair 'puff' to save on having to make even more curls for the LaLa pop doll's head.  The bow, was my own design. I used a La La Loopsy pencil topper and glued it to a hair bow I made with coordinating ribbon purchased online as well as some ribbon I had in my craft stash. The hair bow is removable and can be used as a pin due to the pin back being added behind the bow.  This doll took quite a bit of time to finish. I started the re-do for this doll on Dec 23rd and I ended up completing her at exactly 10pm on Christmas Eve. This was a real challenge, but well worth it in the end.