Doll clothes, everything in miniature

Last holiday season, I really wanted to make Liz some clothes for her dolls. She had 2 11-1/2" dolls, both of the Disney Princess variety, and that was the only clothing either doll had.

I decided to make each doll a nightgown and a day dress. I also wanted to make some accessories,if I could. My friend Sheila had recently sent me a number of doll patterns, and I selected Simplicity 9334 (my PR review here), an OOP pattern with lots of cute outfits.

I used satin lining fabric, and also old satin pillowcases to make the 2 nightgowns and the matching nightrobe. I was very lucky to find this beautiful white and gold lace trim for the white nightgown, so it has a wedding gown sort of look to it. My blue lace didn't have ribbon in it for the gown straps, so I had to sew some matching ribbon onto the lace myself.

I admit, I had a lot of fun posing the dolls in the dollhouse for the pictures, probably more fun than someone my age ought to have with Barbie dolls. Haha. :)

I thought the flounced dress was the cutest dress in the package, so I decided to do that one next. Wow, that one is harder to make than it looks! I took extra pains to make sure the fabric pattern lined up. Hemming the circle skirt flounces and sleeves was almost nightmarish, but totally worth it when finished.

I decided to try the coat, skirt, top in view 5 as well. Although it turned out really super nice looking, in hindsight I should have realized that a 3.5 year old wouldn't be very excited by a drab grey wool suit....

The red satin top is again a pillowcase, with the rosebud straps being some leftover trim from a apron I made for my MiL.

I also made a matching bag for each outfit. Black with silver sparkle quilting cotton (remnants of my bellydance costume), with a very pretty silver button and some trim I found that I thought was an awesomely perfect match for the handles. And yes, the pale pastel bag turned out cute, too. :)

And the best thing is they are actually function as bags!

My daughter LOVES these working bags; the dolls can go shopping, and carry little coins or items in the bags.

Oh, and here is the outfit with the wool coat, and the felt button belt as well.

I swear, her barbies are now better dressed than I am....

But as I said, I realized that the a-line skirt and coat might not be too exciting to my daughter, but the red top was super cute, so I thought I'd try another outfit with the same top.

I decided to try the "poodle skirt", view 6. As I didn't have a poodle applique (And didn't intend to make the matching accessories), I just used the rest of the rosebud trim so it matched the top's straps.

Again I used a wool remnant, so it is kind of stiff, not drapey. But that is not a bad thing, it gives it the look of the proper 50's undergarments...

To me, it looks like something right out of the Donna Reed Show, very 50's/early 60's.

The following spring, PR had a Look Alike contest, and I thought I'd make Liz a dress, and a matching doll dress as well.

I selected Simplicity 9838 (PR review) for the doll dress. I thought Liz's dress really resembled a German dirndle apron over a dress, and this pattern allowed me to try and replicate that.

Liz's dress is McCall's 6062 (PR review). It turns out to be the dress she requests to wear most often of all the dreses I've made her. It is very colorful, and comfortable. An excellent pattern if you can find enough contrasting/matching fabrics! lol

And because it has elastic in the neckline and a tie back, it has lots of growing room!

I do hope to make more doll clothing in the future. It is far more work than it appears. Everything has to be very precise on such tiny clothing, and the hemming alone is cringeworthy, but the results are well worth the effort. And I have to admit, it's kind quite a lot of fun, too.
I have 3 other unused doll clothing patterns. This coming holiday season, expect 4 or 5 new Barbie outfits!

Dinosaurs duds

When Liz finished pre-school this year, the teacher gave me a very nice gift basket as a thank you for my volunteer work. I was kind of embarrassed to get this in front of a big crowd of parents, as I really wasn't expecting anything.
And the teacher and I had really gotten to know each other, and she was obviously paying attention to how much Liz loved dinosaurs, and how much I loved sewing. She gave me 2, 1 yard cuts of dinosaur prints fabric, a bag of dino buttons, and some plain hair clips to decorate myself.
Liz loved the fabric so much, she asked me to make her something right away, so I immediately picked out a pattern I thought would be suitable for the fabric, and for the upcoming warm weather. An OOP pattern, Simplicity 9650 (my PR review here), very cute looking child's jumper with lots of accessories (hat, doll, etc.).

I immediately noticed how the buttons and straps sat pretty high on the shoulders, but figured that wouldn't be a big issue. This was just for a summer play outfit. I considered, trying to modify the pattern, but lengthening the back straps would make the buttons sit low on the front straps, and I just couldn't work out a simple solution. So I decided to make it as is.

As this pattern was a gift, it was already cut to a size 4. I trimmed the widths down to size 3's, and left the lengths at 4. This is pretty typical sizing for Liz lately (thoughat the rate she is growing, I'm going to have to make the length a 5 soon, though width is staying a 3).

After getting the bodice and shorts sewn separately, A fitting showed both to be quite wide, even at a size 3. I took them in 1" on each side (2" total).

Basting the waist together showed me the crotch was too deep. Sadly, I misjudged here, and removed a bit too much (2"), and I should have only removed 1". I didn't realize that you need more room in the bottom and crotch on overalls/jumpers because there is no "give" at the waist when you bend over, as there is in a typical pair of pants.

So, the crotch was too tight when she bent over. I found away to let the crotch out 1/4", and move the buttons up 5/8", which gave her enough room to move comfortable, but no room to grow. Still, it will at least last through this summer, and she seems to really like it! :)

Liz and I received a number of compliments on how cute she was in that outfit (and how nice it was that I had made it) when we went out to the grocery store. I was pleased, but also concerned as this was the first time just about everyone we met recognized an outfit as "homemade".
I'm not terribly pleased with it. I also forgot to take into consideration the fact the that dino buttons are SUCH an odd shape, that Liz cannot undo them by herself, and so requires extra help going potty, and it can quickly become an emergency, as they take a moment even for me to undo.
The buttons sure are so cute though!

In the end, I shouldn't really label it a dud, as it is cute and wearable. I guess I had just hoped for more ?? Perhaps it is just that I've been sick for the last 2 weeks, so this wasn't my best work. Still, here it is.

I'm headed tot he Doc tomorrow to hopefully get some antibiotics to kick this Bronchitis int he bum. Every coughing fit seems to re-injure my neck, so I just can't wait to get better. I won't be doing much sewing for a few days at least, but I still have plans going round in my head!

I'm hoping to enter both the Sewing for Children's contest, and the One Pattern Many Looks contest next month. The Children's contest lasts 2 months, so I'll be doing the OPML first, I think. I've got a few options running around in my head. Since I have some thinking time, being sick and injured (haha!), I'll probably just spend time going through my little stash and trying to think up creative variations for each of my 2 patterns ideas.

I already know pretty much what I want to do for the Children's contest, but I'll go over that it my next post

I'd also like to throw a big thanks out there to Sheila, who has really facilitated my sewing habit lately. Her patterns have been great, and fun. And the fabric has been quite useful, so thanks ever so much!

Until next time, happy sewing everyone!