Doll Flower Girl Outfit

I’ve got a show-and-tell today. I made an outfit for the doll of a young flower girl. She really, really, wants to take her doll to the wedding. So of course the doll needs an appropriate outfit, including white slip-on shoes with tiny pink bows! (Modeling this outfit is my doll, a 9 inch Waldorf style baby doll. I also made the doll going to the wedding).

Here is Lucy Birch trying on all the pieces of the Doll of the Flower Girl’s Outfit. She’s a baby doll and normally wear diapers, but Lucy Birch thought she really should, (yes, I CAN!) , wear big girl pants to go to a wedding!

The wedding is still a ways off, but I can’t wait to hear how this all works out!

Using my 1930's Fabrics for Clothing, not Quilts!

I’ve been digging around in my quilting stash for fabrics to make other projects. I just made 2 projects using my stash of reproduction 1930s fabrics. I love these reproduction fabrics, but since most of my recent quilts have had a modern edge, I just haven’t been using them.

The baby dress above, is made with one of the 1930s reproduction fabrics, with a solid cotton as the interfacing. The pattern is NEWLOOK 6568. This baby dress is a lot like the doll clothes I make. Except, it has a button closure in back, not velcro.

Gasp. Buttons mean making button holes. That’s not a skill in the quilter’s wheelhouse! I knew my second hand Bernina wasn’t up to the task. So I got out my newer Janome Memory Craft 6700P machine, watched a couple YouTube segments and now I can make button holes! Easy Peasy!

Buttons! The button holes aren’t “perfect” but they definitely are good enough!

There is lots of gathering in this sweet little baby dress and I love the flair they give the skirt!

Here’s the other outfit using reproduction 1930s fabrics that I’ve finished recently. This is for the little Waldorf baby doll I designed. it’s a little pioneer outfit.

Prairie outfit for a little Waldorf type doll

I used the tutorial for making prairie bonnet pattern from the blog ScatteredThoughtsofaCraftyMom to draft a tiny bonnet for this doll. Jamie’s instructions are for a custom fit bonnet so it was super simple to use it to make a doll bonnet.

I drafted my own patterns for the dress and apron.

Here’s the back of the Prairie outfit.

This tiny 1930s print is just perfect for this little doll!

I just pulled out another 1930s reproduction, a black fabric with dogs, to make a child’s skirt. I have the perfect pattern….and it has lots of buttons!! So I’ll get more practice making button holes soon!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

Finding Commerical Patterns Online

Our favorite discount fabric store often cuts “generous” yards. I purchased this whimsical mushroom and fairies fabric to make doll clothes. But I had way more fabric than I needed, so I decided to make a matching dress for a young friend.

I looked at my books which have patterns for children’s dresses but didn’t see anything I liked for this project. Our local Joann’s closed a couple years ago and the nearest one is a hike. A doable hike, but it’s now an outing, not a quick errand. So, I decided to see if I could find a commercial pattern on line. And no surprise, you can!

I found this dress pattern and two others at www.simplicity.com. And several days later, they were in my mailbox. Pretty awesome!

The flutter sleeves on the girl’s dress make me smile. It’s Simplicity pattern S8897. The rick rack trim is shown on the pattern package and I love rick rack.

I’d already made the two doll dresses (which are patterns I drafted myself) but I went back and added the rick rack to the hem of both doll dresses and sleeves of the larger dress. So now my young friend will have two dolls with dresses that match hers.

The Waldorf type doll models live at my house. You’ve seen the little blonde before. She’s Lucy Birch, and I drew the pattern for her body and all her clothes. The larger doll is Clover. She’s a Sitting Friend, made by Bamboletta.

Here’s a detail of the back of the dress, which is closed with 3 loops. I used flower buttons, to match the colors in the dress.

Back closure of the dress

Oh to be 5 again, so I could put on this dress and take my dolls out for an adventure. Then again, making these dresses made me just as happy!

Notice: This blog is not monetized: I do not use affiliate links. When there are links in a post, they are to give credit to another creative person, because I like or have used a product, or to help the reader easily find supplies for a project.

A Bit of Sewing for Dolls (and Animals)

I’ve been having fun sewing a lot of doll clothes lately. I just designed this bomber jacket for my little Waldorf baby doll. I took the fleece sweatshirt pattern I designed a while back and modified it by adding ribbing to the bottom edge of the garment. I might try putting ribbed cuffs on it if I make another one.

Lucy Birch modeling the Fall Bomber Jacket

It’s good to have a lightweight jacket for fall!

Another Waldorf Type Boy Doll, and a Lesson Learned About Tying Heads

I've been wanting a ginger haired boy Waldorf type doll. So I made one!  Here's Russell.  His named even means redhead in old Anglo-Norman!

Russell didn't come together as easily as some of my dolls.  When I tied his head, I didn't anchor the strings around the cheeks. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I found out with Russell that it's wiser to anchor them!

Here are photos of a head (not his) with the cheek strings not anchored on the left and anchored on the right.

When I pulled the tight fabric "skin" over Russell's head, the left cheek string slipped up. I didn't noticed it right away when I could have easily fixed it.  But when I did see it what had happened, I figured it probably wouldn't matter a lot. It did.

By the time I had the doll's head stitched on to the body and the first layer of head was attached at the center top of his head,  a raised ridge had formed across his rather flat left cheek.  There was no way to move the strings back on the finished head. What to do???

I finally took a deep breath and decided to carefully clip and unpick all the stitches holding his head to his body.  I don't recommend doing this. The fabric skin is a knit and can easy develop runs. I was fortunate. No damage occurred. I was able to pull up his head covering just enough to put the strings back in the proper position. Then I anchored them and stitched the head back onto the body. Whew.

Russell now has two chubby cheeks. There is a line across his left cheek where the ridge had been is just barely visible. He's staying with me, so I'm fine with that.

I designed most of his clothes except his sweater is pattern which is the "Heart to Heart Pullover Vest" designed for Heart to Heart Bears based in Shanghai, China. It's available on Ravelry.com. I needed to narrow it bit through the body but the pattern made that adjustment easy to do.  I drew the pattern for his socks but got the idea to form the toe seam from socks sold by Bamboletta.com.

Here are his moccasins.  If found some rawhide laces for crafts at Joann's. They are rated safe for children age 14 and older. Fine for my doll, but not something for a young child. But they sure are cute!!

100% Wool Felt Moccasins with rawhide laces