Trying New Things—the doll edition

The girls got an American Doll knock-off last weekend, and I made my first foray into the world of making doll clothes.  I feel like I’m learning this sewing thing all backwards…I should have followed the natural progression of sewing by making doll clothes as a kid and moving up to eventually making quilts and more complex things.  Instead, I am a thirty-five year old making doll clothes!

It’s been a real learning curve for me.  Amazingly, none of it was much of a challenge though.  Maybe my quilting experience paid off.  I just drew out a shirt pattern and it worked!

I did make one silly mistake.  I finished the seams on both the back parts of the first shirt exactly the same, so on one side they are on the side that shows.  Nothing new there!  I make mistakes like that all the time even when I’m following a pattern.

I attached the first shirt in the back with velcro.  The second one I made out of an old t-shirt.  This was my first time sewing with knits.  On one hand it was a success because it did come out looking like a shirt.  But on the other hand, I need to learn how to sew knits without getting the fabric snagged down under my throat plate a hundred times.

On this second attempt, I even made a little matching trim for the bottom of the skirt out of leftover t-shirt material. 

I never really understood the allure of making doll clothes until now.  The dress she came with is made of the same substance as gauze—I’m sure it wouldn’t survive the washing machine and the velcro would never hold up to my kids’ handling.  So I’m proud to say that while not perfect, both these outfits will last.

Linking up to Trying New Things Thursday.

Table Runner for Preschool Auction

Bea, my oldest daughter, and I just finished up sewing a table runner for her preschool's annual spring auction.  I was planning a reprisal of the popular Easter bunny table runner, but I gave one of those to the charter school so I decided to do something different.  For Valentine's Day I gave Bea a set of Farmer John's fruit and vegetable fat quarters I bought at the local quilt shop.  She is now 5 and wants to (and is ready to) learn to sew.  So, we made our first project together:

The binding is finally sewn on and it looks great!  She is itching to make another one.  If I could just get the baby to stay asleep when I lay her down we could get a lot done around here.  It's kind of hard to operate the sewing machine with a baby on your shoulder:)

When Bea first showed an interest in sewing we went to Michael's and picked up one of the American Doll crafts they carry:

With this one you sew both a big and small owl plush stuffed animal (one for yourself and one for your doll).  Bea doesn't know diddly about American Dolls, but she was all over this sewing project and made the little one for her baby sister Veronica.  I highly recommend this product!  The box says for ages 8 and up, but anyone 5 or older with an adult to help read the directions and provide guidance could do it.  The only thing I didn't really like were that all the stitches were already prepunched so you'd know where to insert the needle.  I'm not sure if they were necessary, and my little girl got frustrated a lot when she couldn't get it "exactly" right.  But, all in all, it was a perfect first project and I'm sure lots of little girls out there would love to make these.  Plus--you can use the 40 or 50% off Michaels coupons on it!  It doesn't get much better than that.  It'll run you about 10 bucks with a coupon.

When I was at my LQS I picked up some fat quarters for myself, too.  They are from Eleanor Burns's Victory Garden collection that came out a couple years ago.  I know they are intended to be more patriotic than Eastery, but I will be using them for the Easter bunny tablerunners I mentioned.  I think the stars will add just the right amount of whimsy.  Notice there is one 30's repro on top---I couldn't resist!  30's repros are my major weakness!