Matching doll costume for Halloween

A 4 year old girl named Bella decided to dress up as Strawberry shortcake for Halloween.  (If you read this blog regularly enough, you are probably very familiar with by now.)  I promised her a matching outfit for her 18 inch doll Emma, which turned out to be more work than I anticipated.   That's okay, though, because I enjoy the process.

Bella & her doll: Strawberry Shortcake Twins

In the second picture you might notice that Bella decided to give her doll's costume a personal touch with some foam stickers:

I love a challenge but hit some road bumps along the way.  I used my "fit doll" to help ensure it would fit Bella's doll Emma.  Here she is wearing the costume that finally worked out (bench decorated by Bella).

Here is the story of my process, including all the snags I hit. 

Skirt:   

I thought I would have no trouble finding fabric that was pink with red dots in the fabric store. Wrong.  I improvised with fuchsia satin overlayed with a netting  of sparkly red dots in different sizes (a divergence from the true strawberry shortcake).  I basted a 38 inch by 7 inch rectangle together and that part turned out fine.  Then I added sparkly red dot fabric, which is fun and which Bella had on her skirt, but which my sewing machine hates to the bottom of this fabric piece.  I used a wide ribbon for the green bottom ruffle and though I would have no problem attaching it, but my sewing machine refused to baste on it, making tiny seams instead.  I basted the ruffle of for a doll skirt by hand; that is how invested I had gotten in the project.  The rest of  the skirt was cake: the elastic waist went in smoothly, and the green bow and strawberry button were fun to sew on.

Leotard: 

Bella's strawberry shortcake costume had a leotard, so I decided that the doll must have one, too.  I didn't have any patterns for long sleeved leotards, so I searched the internet and found one that looked good.  I then tried to fuse the strawberry patch and small diamonds I cut out to the leotard front.  My iron burned or stained the fabric 4 times (yes I cut out 4 leotard fronts), and did not fuse the fabric when I used a cloth between the leotard and iron.  Finally I sought help in that place of ultimate wisdom: Faceboook.  

The next day, using the advice of a friend, I bought a special silk cloth designed to help with applique, and everything worked out perfectly.  I went back to the fabric store, seeking white and green striped knit fabric for the sleeves.  Of course they didn't have it, so I made my own, cutting and sewing together green and white stips as if I were making a quilt.  (Thank you Cyndi and Quilter's Corner)  I finally got almost the whole thing together, and realized there was no way the neck was going to fit over the doll's body.  I don't know how the other people who raved about this pattern did it.  Maybe I was supposed to use special elastic thread?  I decided to make a cut in the middle of the leotard back (already sewn to the front) and add some good old velcro.  Luckily, I was using dance/swim fabric that didn't fray, so this worked.  Hurrah! I always feel good when I complete something challenging, even if it is a silly doll costume.

Class project: Texture boards

I am taking a couple of childcare classes right now, and one of them is Children and the Arts.  It's a lot of fun: we get to play with children's art supplies during part of each class.  We also have gotten to do some fun projects.  As usual, I went a little over the top in making my texture boards.

Texture (or sensory) boards are designed to help develop young children's sense of touch and tactile awareness.  They can also help develop motor skills as the child moves his or her hands to feel the different textures.  Even Bella, age 4, loves to explore my sensory boards when she visits my house.


Here is a close up look of one board:

These are the materials used, from left to right:

top row:    large buttons, random piece of knitting that I found in the basement, fake fur
2nd row:   blue metallic scrubby cloth, shelf liner, sponge
3rd row:    aluminum foil, practice free motion quilting sample, big bubble wrap
4th row:    real textured silk, carded wool from a Cornell sheep, netting
5th row:    poly-fil micro beads in a self-stitched vinyl pouch, flannel, a piece of plastic lid
6th row:    bumpy poly plush fabric, sequenced dot fabric, scrunched up wax paper
final row:  canvas, cardboard, felt


A close up look at the second board, and an apology for the quality of the picture:

top row:   sandpaper, bubble wrap envelope (with bubbles facing opposite direction), burlap
2nd row:   denim, thin metal grating, pleather
3rd row:    real velvet, fake feathers, carpet-like upholstery fabric
4th row:    polyester satin, glass plant filler beads, polyester plush fabric
5th row:    hair gel mixed with glitter sealed in a plastic bag (a fave of many because it's squishy), leftover elsa cape fabric - sheer with bumpy glitter snowflakes, cork board
6th row:    textured vinyl tablecloth fabric, mop fabric, fake grass
final row:  corduroy, scrubby sponge, terry cloth

Whew- that's a lot of materials!  My favorite texture is the velvet, and my second favorite is the silk. I love different textures myself - thus my obsession with sewing, and the overabundance of fabric in my collection.

Elizabeth Makes is back...with another doll dress

I've been busy making, but I just realized that I hadn't posted anything here for over 3 months!  I'm sorry I neglected you, little blog.

Most recently, I sewed a doll dress for one of my favorite 4 year-olds, when she got her bargain 18 inch doll from AC Moore:



This simple little pink and purple dress is blinged out with a sparkly pink belt, because glitter just makes everything better  - just ask Bella.

I've been making a lot of doll dresses lately, because I have family and friends with 18 inch dolls. (Some of the dresses are Christmas projects, so I won't post them here until after Dec 25.)  I love the creativity and over-the-top-ness that can go into these tiny clothes.  Plus the satisfaction of completing the project in a relatively short amount of time.  Plus - I'll be honest - the ability to avoid practice free motion quilting, which is what I pledged to myself I would focus on.

I have done some free motion practice, including taking a couple of excellent classes at the fabulous Quilter's Corners.  I'll show you some of that (embarrassing as my progress is) and  more of what I've been working on during my three month sabbatical from this blog over the next few days.

Dreaming of Autumn...

I hate this hot, sticky weather we are having in upstate NY.  Not even the unusual appearance of the sun can keep me from dreaming of Fall weather, not to mention the changing leaves and abundance of colors.  I haven't been home during Fall in a long time.

So as soon as I spotted this fabric, with colors that reminded me of autumn, I knew I needed to base a Fall-themed quilt around it:

Here are some of the blocks, up on my quilt board:

I envision quilted flowers on the plain blocks, and leaf scrolls on the orange brown boarders.  But I have a lot of machine quilting practice to do before that can happen!  (sorry for the quality of the pic - the lighting around my quilt board is not so great right now.)

Blue & Green Quilt ready for basting

I finally added a border to this quilt, after doubling its size since I last posted on it:

I used my reject border fabric for the back.  I didn't have quite enough, so I added some piecing:

quilted cards

I made a trio of quilted greeting cards:

It was a fun project, but I think I need to brush up on my rubber stamping!

Lots of Blocks.

I need help arranging all my bright modern blocks! 

Don't worry, it won't be that bright when the quilt is done.  I have lots of white strips to separate and provide contrast to the blocks:

To be exact: 11 80.5 X 3.5 '' strips, 10 18.5 X 6.5 '' strips, 10 8.5 X 6.5 '' strips, and 60 2.5 X 6.5 '' strips.  Putting all this together will keep me busy for a while!

Paper pieced Tulip

I took a break from all the borders & sashing that I've been cutting & made a paper pieced tulip.  It's not perfect but it was a fun project:

Tulips and lilacs are my favorite flowers - but it would be hard to piece lilacs, I think!  It bugs me that the yellow corner on the right side doesn't match - not sure what will happen to this little guy.  I like the fabric combo, except for the center yellow which I accidently put in wrong side up.  I may redo a few for a wall hanging...sometime.

5 "Cross" Blocks from Tula Pink's "City Sampler"

I completed 5 cross blocks from the "Crosses" chapter of Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Blocks, which happens to be the first chapter:

I guess I like to do things backwards.  My favorite block from this section is block number 1 - the very first block to appear in the book!

5 blocks + 65 blocks = 70 blocks, which means I'm done making blocks!   I am using the layout "Sliding Scale" (page 250 of the book), to assemble my blocks.  It also allows  for less exact-ness. 

Even so, I'm nervous about cutting the lattice properly.  This is my first quilt top with a lattice, and I am afraid I won't be able to cut out the long strips evenly.  We'll see how it goes...

15 "Haiku" Blocks

I finished the Haiku blocks chapter in Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Blocks:

  Some I am not so crazy about, but hopefully it will all come together in the quilt.  With these blocks, I have 65 total.  I need 70 for the quilt I want to make, so that's only 5 to go. 

The two chapters I haven't done are the "triangle" and "crosses" chapters.  I feel a little weird about adding in random crosses - I suppose it's a religious thing; to me, crosses are symbol of my faith.  But I'm lazy, so I'm choosing this section over the trickier triangle one. 

If I had to pick a favorite haiku block, it might be block 96:

 

 

I love the framed picture blocks, and this is a fabric combo I haven't used a whole lot.   For someone who doesn't like orange, I've sure used a lot of it in all my blocks!  I do like this pinkish orange - almost coral - better than most shades of orange.

My "square" blocks from Tula Pink's book

I completed the "Square Blocks" chapter from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Blocks:

Quick little jelly roll quilt top

I wanted a break from the fussier sewing I've been doing, so I made a quick and small jelly roll quilt top in blues and greens.  Pre-cut strips make for fast work!

I wanted a quilt top that I didn't put so much work into to practice sewing the quilting stitches, and I think this will work for that.  I have had very little practice with machine quilting, and the thought of it makes me nervous!

 

funky mod "square" and sweet hourglass quilt blocks

I completed 6 blocks in the "Square" chapter of Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt blocks:

 

I love using Tula's book, but I was getting a little tired of zany fabric and block combos.  To switch things up, I decided to practice my half square triangles by making some pastel hour glass blocks:

 

 



 

It's a very different look!  I'm pleased that most of the center corners matched up.  I only had to redo 1 set.  Yay!



35 Blocks from Tula Pink's 100 Modern Quilt Blocks

I've finally finished the "Stripes" chapter of Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.

 Here they are, from 56 to 70:

 

 

Here are all my blocks from the "Rectangle" chapter in order, from number 16 to 35:

 

 

 

And now I'm beginning block 71, from the "Squares" chapter (14 more blocks)...  I've decided to make 70 blocks total and use "Sliding Scale" for my quilt layout.  So that means I'm halfway through with the blocks!

 

 

I've also been working on this for a special little girl:

 

 

It still needs sleeves, but maybe you can guess which Disney princess / queen this costume is supposed to be for?  Sleeves make me nervous, but I am determined to finish it tomorrow.  Minus the hemming.  I think it will need lots of that. 

 

 



5 more modern quilt Blocks designed by Tula Pink

 

I skipped the triangle section, opting instead for the easier blocks from the rectangle chapter of the book, because they looked easier.  I even skipped number 59 for now because of all the small pieces.  What a wimp!

Snow queen Gown for my first Disney princess doll

I made a snow queen gown based on the movie Frozen for B's Elsa doll:

It is modeled here by Belle.  Bella's comment on seeing it was, "Belle doesn't wear that dress!"

Here is the back.

 

 

The cape is detachable, and fastens on with snaps.

 

 

Why make an Elsa dress for an Elsa doll?

 

Here is the dress Elsa wears in the movie...

 

 

 

And here is what the doll reimagined as a toddler wears:

 

 

It's a cute dress, but a far cry from the movie version. 

 

I think mine comes a little closer without being too adult: I left out the slit and the v shaped bodice.  Hopefully B. will like it.

 

 

 



20 modern quilt blocks on the wall

From the rectangle section of Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  Still not sure about my palette of colors, but it's too late to go back now.

Doll dress with sleeve

Adding a sleeve to a pattern designed to fit a dress for a 15 " doll with no sleeve is a pain in the butt. This was my practice for the Elsa dress: I promised to make a matching Elsa dress set for Bella and her doll.  I think I am making progress with the sleeve:

The other sleeve was a bit messy, though and it's too tight in the back. Now I know to make the back even longer. 

 

Dolly has a new blue satin-y dress.   Cotton is so much easier to sew, but it doesn't shimmer like this!

Bella's Yellow dress

Bella's mom sent me this photo of her peacing out on memorial day. 

Her doll has a matching dress but was wisely not invited to the pool party.

A tail for Ariel

 

A few months ago, I promised 4 year old Bella that I would make a tail for her Ariel doll.  Today, I finally had time to devout to this task. 

 

I love a challenge but I don't know if this is something I would want to take on again: small stretchy fabric pieces, one less so than the other.  It is far from perfect: baggy, with some imperfect seams.  The perfectionist part of me wants to redo it, but the more sensible (and exhausted) part knows that it's good enough for Bella to play with.  I hope she likes it!

 

 

I couldn't have Ariel going around topless, so I made her a little tube top:

 purple, but fabric instead of shells.

 

 

The extra bagginess means that Ariel can sit down and move around when she is wearing her tail. :)

Four more funky blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks:

Four plus four makes eight blocks:

 

 (Quilting math is the only math I like.)

 

This color combo is not one I would normally pick, but I loved the floral fabric, and had to find colors to go with it.  I wanted to do some solids, but could not find a solid to match the medium blue flower.  So it's a very busy bunch of quilt blocks!

 

Yesterday I also made Alton Brown's baked macaroni and cheese, but I didn't think you'd like a picture of that, even though it took longer to make than 2 quilt blocks.  It was delicious, and my dad and I ate way too much.  Inspired by my mom's hog farm roots, I added ham.  My favorite part is the crunchy top - isn't it everyone's? 

 

4 funky quilt blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks, displayed on my fancy-schmancy new quilt board.  (My dad helped me put it together.  The board, not the blocks.)



Two pictures with Bella and her doll, wearing the dresses I made for them before shortening the shoulder length. (Mom wanted the dresses long so she could wear them next year.)

Bella and Belle in their green dresses.

 

 

Bella and Belle in their blue dresses.

 

Girl and Doll Summer Dresses take 2.

Same patterns as previous posts; different fabrics.   I love a strong floral print with a '60's vibe, but I know that not everyone else does.  Hopefully, Bella won't mind this, even if she doesn't love the fabric as much as I do. 

I am eagerly awaiting my model / recipient.  I've only basted across the top of both dresses to hold the shoulder seams and am looking forward to completing the projects entirely.

Dresses for Bella and Belle

I made matching dresses for the 4 year old daughter of a friend (Bella) and her "My First Disney Princess" doll Belle.

The girl dress was made from McCall's pattern 4817, view E.  This was the easiest view, but I accidently sewed the self-made lining to the front of the dress before gathering the skirt or sewing the zipper on: oops!  Luckily, this didn't cause too much of a problem.

The doll dress was trickier to make.  First of all, I had a problem with finding a pattern: there are tons of 18 in doll dress patterns out there, but I had trouble locating any for this smaller doll.  Finally, I found a simple pattern on Etsy, by Susan Bischoff: "Libby" for Disney's Toddler Princess.

It was very easy to use, with clear instructions, but it's been a long time since I've sewed such tiny seams - what a pain!  But I love when it all comes together: I can see that I've accomplished something tangible if imperfect .

Bella's mom requested another girl-sized dress, which I am currently finishing.  I also am trying to draft sleeves for the doll dress pattern, which I am finding to be a challenge - but an interesting one.

Making Things.

This is not a fancy blog.  It is a blog where I will post things I make.  I like to sew; I like to bake; I like to do kid-friendly crafts (with kids); I like to make sentences with semicolons.  I am not a professional at any of these things, and I am willing to run with an idea even if it doesn't work out.  You will probably find pictures of mistakes.  Some of the things I make you may find interesting; some you may not. 


My mother taught me how to sew and bake and appreciated creative work and play.  She died two years ago, and I still miss her everyday.  Making "things" helps me to feel connected to her.  So maybe this will also a blog about grief-work.  If it evolves into that, this kind of grief-work will be accomplished more by my hands than my words.