Results of My One Week Challenge!- Five Doll Fashion Pieces from One Junior Top!

This is the original junior top that I started with...

  ... On my last post, I gave myself a one week challenge to see how many doll clothes I could make from this one 50 cent thrift item... and here are the results (I did finish in one week but it is taking me a while to get this post finished!)...

Item #1- Peasant top

This was made from the bottom hem for the body, and for the sleeves I used the original sleeves of the top with their existing elastic cuffs.

Item#2- skirt

This simple skirt was made from the middle stripe, I cut a 8" wide and 22 1/2" long rectangle and I added an elastic casing and a machine stitched hem. The finished skirt length is 5".

Item#3- Banded waist skirt

For this skirt I used the middle stripe pattern cut 8 1/2" wide and 22" long folded in half horizontally. By doing it this way I eliminated a need for a hem! I considered making this a reversible skirt but I didn't care for the pattern on the other side. The waistband is made from a purchased knitted headband 1 1/4" wide that I adjusted to fit the doll's waist and attached to the skirt with a stretch zig zag stitch. The finished skirt length is 4 3/4".

Item#4- Sundress (with sash)

Item#4- Sundress (without sash)

This dress was made from the back of the dress using the patterned yoke already attached to the dress skirt. I used the front V-neck edge details for the shoulder straps and collar. I added 3 little buttons from my stash. For the detachable sash, I simply cut a length 26"long of the original 2" wide tie.

Item#4- Sundress (back view)

Item#5- Headband

For the headband I cut a piece of the 2"wide tie 10" long and gathered each end by hand and added a 4" piece of 1/2" wide elastic and sewed in place.

Here is how the top looks with the green skirt...

...and with pink Capri pants.

The green skirt with a cream colored top. I made the cream top from an old knit top of mine: I cut and braided strips of the knit fabric for the neck trim.

The black striped skirt with the cream top and headband.

The dress with the sash.

The dress without the sash.

The headband.

And in the end I only had a little of the cream patterned fabric left over! I love the way the  multi colored striped patterns enabled me to create so many different looks and how some of them even have a border print look!

I hope you enjoyed this challenge... I had fun doing it!

Creatively yours,

Donna

Fabulous Finds Friday! - 4/27/12

I found this cute junior top today at a church sale for only 50 cents! It has a broken side zipper, but I won't be needing that... I am challenging myself to see how many doll clothes I can make in one week out of this one item! Wish me luck!

Creatively Yours,

Donna

Easter Basket- doll sized!

   This Easter Basket started with a really cute mini wicker basket that I found in a thrift shop for only 25 cents! I added a sheer pink ribbon wrapped around the handle and held in lace with just a dab of glue on each end. Then I tied a double bow on each end of the handle with the same ribbon. I added some green "Easter Basket grass". Then for the fun part.... some Easter "candy" that looks like the real thing!

I started with some real foil wrapped chocolate eggs.

...And some craft styrofoam eggs slightly smaller in size.

Carefully remove the chocolate egg from the foil wrapper... and enjoy! Go ahead, why not?

   Replace the chocolate one with the styrofoam one, and carefully smooth foil around egg. Add a dab of glue to hold in place... you don't want anyone trying to unwrap this one and eat it!

   I also made Chocolate foil wrapped bunnies... I started with these cute Lindt bunnies. They also sold a larger size of the same bunnies so I thought these mini ones would work great.

I also made a smaller foil wrapped bunny that came in a bag of assorted colors.

(See above)

   I used a Model Magic air drying clay in brown to recreate the bunny shapes. You could use any color since it won't be seen any way.

   Here you can see how the bunnies looked after they were done in the clay, next to the wrapped chocolate ones. The shape doesn't need to be exact, just as close as you can and let the foil do the work! I then carefully unwrapped the chocolates from the foil and replaced them with the dried clay ones, add a dab of glue to each. On the golden bunny I added a red 1/8"W ribbon tied at the neck just like the larger one had in the store! Now they are ready to place in the basket... just make sure everyone knows that they are for decoration only!!!

Sweet!

Happy Easter!

I hope you are inspired my ideas!

Creatively yours,

Donna

Easter Bonnet

   I decided that the Spring Dress, from my last post, needed an "Easter Bonnet with all the frills upon it"!

   I found this straw hat in the section of my Christmas Tree Shops that has baskets and "silk" flowers. I think that it was meant to be hung (even though it didn't come with a way to hang it). For just $1.99, I thought is was a good buy and I could remove the decoration that was on there and add my own. I took a chance that the size was right, and it worked purfectly! It is 9 3/4" wide at the rim. I bought this a while ago, and I am just now getting around to using it!

I also bought some "silk" flowers at a dollar store, for...well...only a dollar!

   The pink trim I used was a 3/4" wide stretch trim meant for headbands. I like this because it looks "crocheted" and goes well with look of the dress, and because it is stretchy it bends nicely around the hat (a grossgrain ribbon didn't lay flat). I cut it to length and sewed the two ends together. I then attached it to the hat with a hot glue gun.

I took the flowers off of the stems, using only the pink ones. I also took a set of three leaves off.

I hot glued the flowers and leaves in place.

The finished "Easter Bonnet"!

Thanks for stopping by!

Creatively yours,

Donna

How to recycle an infant top into a doll's Spring Dress

   I made this dress from an infant's summer top. A few alterations later... it is now a dress for a doll! I used mostly hand sewing for this project, using the sewing machine only for the side seams. Not one piece of fabric was waisted making this project! And since this was a thrift shop find, it only cost $1.00 to make!

This is the halter top I started with, in size 18 months.

A back view of the top.

  1) I started by pinning the top onto the doll to see how I wanted to alter it. I thought one way would be to keep the neckline as is and change the placement of the armholes. However, I decided that it would be easier and look better to do as a "mock wrap". This way I kept the armholes as is and was able to keep the full sweep of the original hem.

   My original plan was to make the straps crisscross in the back as shown here. I still wasn't sure if the shoulders would lay right this way, so I decided to wait and see before I made the final decision.

   2) I started by cutting a small snip, about 3/8" long, at the point in the center front tip of the v-neck. I then turned back each side of the neck edge based on the first pinning I did on the doll. I hand sewed this in place along the neck edge and most of the way the way down the straps (I knew that I wanted to use the ends of the straps for a bow later so I left a portion unsewn for now.

When I did both sides it looked like this.

  3) Next I pinned the overlap that created the "mock wrap" look. I hand sewed this in place on both the inside(as shown) and on the front along the lace trim edge only.

4) Next, I put the dress on the doll inside out and pinned the sides as shown.

5) I tapered the side seams so that at the bottom I used the original ruffle and side seam (see above).

      6) I turned the dress right side out and tried it on the doll. At this point I decided to keep the dress as a halter style and tied the straps at the neck to see how long the straps needed to be, and marked the length with a pin. Allowing for a seam allowance, I cut the ends of the straps off and set aside the extra pieces for the bow. 7) Next I finished sewing the straps; turning back the raw edges of the ends and folding the straps in half the rest of the way and sewing in place.

  8) Sometimes the design process changes direction several times along the way, I try to keep this in mind as I am working. At this point I thought I might like to keep the bow with rounded on the ends and use the rounded end of the original tie for one side and sew a rounded finish for the other side.

  9) The above photo shows the two pieces I used for the bow. On top is the main part of the bow and on the bottom is the piece I used for the center of the bow. I folded the bottom piece in half lengthwise and wrapped around the center of the bow and sewed in place on the back side of the bow.

   To help me decide whether to keep the bow rounded or to make the bow have straight ends, I took a photo both ways so that I could compare. I decided that I liked the straight sides better. 

10) I sewed the bow into place all around.

So here she is... ready for Spring and Easter egg hunts!

Thanks for visiting, I hope I have inspired you to try a dress for your own doll!

Creatively yours,

Donna


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