Susie and her vintage knitted clothes

My doll Susie was given to me in 1970 by my Nanna who knitted clothes for her (I do not recall an original 'shop' outfit). The first photos of me admiring her are a bit blurred, but do show that she came to me in her knitted coat and beret, with white shoes and socks. However they don't show the dress, knickers and cardigan which could have been concealed by the coat.

Susie with her original hair - quickly getting messed up!

Certainly the photo taken a year later when I had a Triang pram show that Susie was wearing her green knitted dress.

Not the greatest photo of me,
but it clearly shows Susie in her green dress

Whilst browsing photos on Flickr at the weekend I came across a Gotz Sarah doll wearing a knitted dress, which although in a completely different yarn, was clearly the same pattern (though lenghtened a bit), and the description explained that it was from a vintage pattern - see http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothkids/3904043893/ so I searched through Clothkids photos and found two further photos of the dress in progress http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothkids/3723264427/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/clothkids/3701076566/in/set-72157606632892122/ and I instantly recognised the green dress on the pattern book in these photos. I made contact with Clothkids who told me it was a Hayfield pattern often available on ebay, and 3 days later I had my own pristine copy bought via ebay.

Susie in her green dress with the pattern
showing the green dress in the centre of the picture.
This photo doesn't show how close the green
is to the pattern photo colour, in reality they are the same shade

Susie wearing her cardigan over the dress, with my Gotz Anna.
This cardigan is the one on the bottom left front cover of the Hayfield pattern

I had noticed on the front cover of the pattern another dress that I remembered - the white yoke neck with pink pom poms - this was a dress that went missing during my childhood. On receiving the pattern I was able to confirm that the short sleeved white cardigan was also from this pattern book, as were Susie's green knickers that match her dress. It seems that my Nanna knitted the clothes using the colours shown on the pattern book.

Knitted knickers on Susie, and on
the boy Kathe Kruse doll in the pattern photo

However her pink coat and beret are not included in this pattern, so I'm now on the look out for the right vintage pattern. Her coat sleeves are actually too long so have always been rolled up, which means that the coat would fit the Gotz girls (I haven't tried). It would be nice to knit it for one of them, though in a different colour perhaps.

Pink coat and beret, not included in this pattern

Thank you Clothkids on Flickr for your help in finding the original pattern for some of Susie's vintage clothes.