My Felt Dolls for Christmas

I have been wanting to make more of these felt dolls and had the perfect excuse. These went along with the American Girl Doll dresses from the last post.

The doll design and some of the accessories and clothing is from the book My Felt Doll by Shelley Downes. But I also added some of my own ideas.

I could not decide on a dress design that I liked so I made one for this doll out of fabric instead of felt. 

I prefer to sew the dress, shoes and some accessories to the doll so the tiny pieces don't get lost.

This one below was the dress, headband and shoes for the fairy doll. I added a unicorn horn to the headband and changed the flower pattern slightly and for the shoes I embroidered the unicorn eyes.

I found the best yarn for her hair, I don't even know who it was by but it was on the clearance rack at A.C Moore, I will have to go back and see if I can find it in different colors. It does fray more so if you use this yarn you will have to secure the ends.

18" Doll Dresses

Merry Christmas to all!

I had so much fun creating these new dresses for 2 of my niece's dolls. I was so happy to hear that they had been wanting one of my handmade dresses. I based them off of their favorite (unicorns and foxes)

Isn't the quilt in the background perfect? My mom just finished that for our new master bedroom. It goes perfectly with the wall color and decor.

Christmas Stocking for Dolls

New Items in the Shop

Dolls need Christmas stockings too.

Felt hair clips for child and doll.

Reversible Vest

I don't know where it's coming from, but I have been very productive this Christmas season. I decided Nolan needed a vest to go with Savannah's Christmas skirt. I found a wonderful pattern here, it includes full size pattern for sizes 12 month-10? I can't remember what it goes up to. They were supposed to wear their outfits to church today but Savannah has a fever so she couldn't go.

Ok, so the pattern was very simple and of course I changed it slightly. Here is what I did:

It was not meant to be reversible but was easily done. Skip the welt pockets, instead of folding the hem to the inside stop all bottom seams 1/2" from bottom, when you go to do the hem just fold up the bottom of the lining 1/2" and press, do the same with the outer vest then pin together and topstitch around the whole bottom to enclose the hem. Do your buttons and button holes normally, then put buttons on the other side of the buttons you already have, I would use flat buttons for more comfort while wearing.

Just a few more must do changes, make sure you clip all curves before turning right side out otherwise it won't lay flat, and topstitch around entire vest at 1/8" including arm holes. This helps it lay flat and adds a really nice look.

The sizing was perfect.

Christmas Skirt

I finished a few things I was working on for Christmas including my quilt! Then Savannah's school said Friday is red/green day. I couldn't think of anything cuter than a handmade Christmas skirt. My mom gave me the fabric, leftover from a quilt she made. I had not planned on getting to use it any time soon. This skirt was super easy, and took me 2 days. In be-tween skirt

Take into mind I changed a few things, and wish I would have changed a few more (I will explain)

The pattern given is for a size 12, Savannah is a 4T. My measurements were:

20" waist

Main fabric A-Cut 2 @ 21"X 11", cut 1@ 21" X 5"

(so the main skirt is changed to 11" long, and the waistband is 5" total but you fold it in half)

Main Fabric B- Cut 1 @ 11" X 5"

Accent fabric, cut 2 @ 21" X 5 1/2"

(bottom band was changed to 5 1/2")

Interfacing 11" X 2 1/2"

For the elastic casing in the back I sewed a line 3/4" down from the fold, then 3/4" down again from the first line. I would cut both elastic strips at 10" (half of the waist measurement) It was very small at fist then I had to go fishing for the elastic and leave an awkward space in the back.

When you attach the skirt to the band she does not specify if you stretch the back out. Best thing I figured was to gather the length of the back part of the skirt to 11" or half the waist + 1" for seam allowance, then ease in the waistband (you will have pleats)

If you finish your raw edges you don't really need the binding for the inside waistband.

Unfortunately you need the zipper to get it over the hips but I would measure your elastic and make a mark that far down from the top of the skirt. Sew up from the bottom 1/2" seam allowance and stop at your mark, then attach the zipper as you normally would.

I didn't like the look of the long section on the bottom so I folded up 1/2" from the bottom raw edge, then matched that fold line to the seam line made when attaching the bottom of the skirt. Sew this together from the right side of the skirt to make it look better, stitching 1/8" down from the seam. This encloses the raw edges on the bottom also.