Dress-Ups, Part 1--Treasure Box

All this year my daughters and I have been collecting girly things from thrift stores and yard sales, stashing them away with an eye toward a fabulous dress-up box for the little girls' Christmas.

This month we opened the stash and felt like kids ourselves at the assortment of fabric and treasures we had to work with!

When we found this 60's sewing box for $1.50 at the thrift store last month we knew it was the perfect thing to hold our collected treasures and adornments! We pried off its broken handle and covered the holes with dollar store jewels, then padded the lower compartment and lined it with some sparkly fabric.

The compartments of the clear upper tray, which were meant for notions, show off the fabulous jewel collection. The giant jewelled rings are from the party favors aisle at the dollar store: lots of bling for $1.00! They display beautifully on the bobbin spindles, next to the pretend makeup (made from nail polish and empty makeup compacts.) In the lid pocket are some shiny plastic bracelets.

Under the tray are our accumulated glittery necklaces, belts, wands, crowns, and masks-- and plenty of room for additional treasures!

We added some old stretchy gold spring-style belts, which were easily shortened to child size by prying off one buckle finding, cutting the belt with wire cutters, and crimping the finding back on. A length of stretchy sequin trim and velcro made another fabulous belt.

Our long, long lengths of fused-style beads were cut and glued into child size necklaces.

Lots of creative fun for a very small investment--and the girls will have fun, too!

More about the dress-up clothes to come.

Doll Cape--from Santa Hat!

This dollar store Santa hat almost begged to become a Christmas cape for my 18" doll!

This particular hat had some appealing pluses that add to it's transformability: the reverse side of the fabric is attractive and looks like lining, and the furry border is only one hemmed layer of fabric. Here's how to do it:

1. Fold your hat with the side seams together, fur trim folded down, and slash along what will be the center front-- if the hat has a pompom, snip it off first.


2. Turn under and stitch a 3/8" hem along each side of the center front. Leave the fur unhemmed.

2. Cut off the pointed end of the hat so you can


3. Turn it inside out and wrap it around your doll. Pin along what will be the shoulder seams.



4. Stitch and trim the shoulder seams.


5. Fold along the center back, matching the seams and neck edges. Lower the front and back neckline by triming curves from the center front and center back to the shoulder seam.


6. Staystitch the neck edge: stitch a line 1/4" from the cut edge of the neckline you made. Clip the curve by making snips from the raw edge to the stitching line, about 1/4" apart--this will allow the fabric to lie flat when turned under.


7. Make the finished neck edge: with the wrong side up, turn the clipped seam allowance to the wrong side along the staystitching and stitch alongclose to the fold. Almost finished!

8. To finish the furry edge, turn up the fur strip, right sides together, and pin along the raw edges. Stitch, and turn the fur right side out.


9. On the right side, pin the long edge of the fur up, covering the seam where it's stitched to the cape. Machine or hand stitch. Add a hook and eye or ribbon ties for the closure. That's it!Felicity is ready for Christmas.

Dollar Store Christmas Stocking #4

Okay, the stocking IS made of scraps--but the fabulous trim was only $1.00, starting with this:

Three yards of ribbon-and-bead garland from the decoration aisle at the local dollar store!

I cut a piece of scrap fleece for the cuff and drew a pencil line along what would be the fold line, then folded the ribbon at an angle between each bead:


I pinned each fold along the pencil line, starting and stopping at the side seam allowances, then stitched along the fold line.

I stitched the piece into a tube and folded the tube along the trim stitching, with the line of stitching behind the fold and the beads hanging down.



The stocking is made like the previous Dollar Store Stockings: cut out and seam the front to back, with the right sides together. Clip curves and turn. The cuff tube is stitched to the top with all three raw edges together, and the seam is turned down to the inside. Festive!

Dollar Store Santa Dollies--Part 2

I have equipped my dollar store Santa dollies and sent them out into the world to sub for Santa! I have to admit it was hard to let them go--almost like sending my children off to school.

Each doll has a blanket; jammies and a knit hat; a sundress, head band, and bloomers; a bib; a diaper; and a diaper bag to carry everything, at a cost of about $2.25 each. My challenge to myself was to make fun gifts for four little girls, while spending as little as possible. Here is the breakdown:

-four DOLLS from the dollar store--$1.oo each

-four lined DIAPER BAGS with inner and outer pockets, made from a piece of pink twill someone gave me--lining, flowers and yoyos from scraps, buttons from the button box--free

-four 18X18 inch BLANKETS from flannel scraps--free

-four pairs of JAMMIES with KNIT HATS made from my granddaughters outgrown infant sleepers (see previous post)--free

-four DIAPERS and BIBS made from flannel scraps, plus ribbon and
velcro from my mom's ribbon-and-trim stash--free

-four HEADBANDS made from one pair of knee-high hose, a bit of ribbon trim and buttons from the button box--$.35

-four SUNDRESSES and BLOOMERS from a thrift store fabric remnant. The rickrack is from my mom's ribbon-and-trim stash. Although it pained me, I was forced to buy the buttons, as none from my button boxes were just right--$4.36 total

Four cute presents: $8.71. Fun of creation: priceless.

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone for their comments on the vinyl bag-with-fabric giveaway! There were 211 comments, and it was fun to hear from you all.

With the input of an on-line random number generator, the winning number is 63, sandyandcosmo, whose comment said,

"I can never have too much Christmas fabric! Thanks for the giveaway!"

Look for an e-mail, sandyandcosmo! I'll be shipping the package tomorrow.
Thanks everyone!

Dollar Store Santa Dollies--Part 1

If you are a dollar store shopper, you may well recognize these little girls--they seemed to be just the thing for my Sub-for-Santa project this Christmas! I'm making them each two outfits, a blanket, a bib, a diaper, and a diaper bag to carry everything in--my challenge to myself is to make them as inexpensively as possible. but more about that later!


The tiny sleepers are made from some of my granddaughters' outgrown infant sleepers. I had fun following Care's excellent tutorial 'Baby Clothes to Doll Clothes' at ObsessivelyStitching.blogspot.com, found here.

When the jammies were finished, I wondered what I might make with the remaining fabric, and realized the babies needed matching hats--here is how I made them.

We'll do some very simple pattern drafting! You can DO this, it's easy. And just think--you can then casually mention the pattern you drafted! You will need:

-Knit fabric scraps
-Scissors
-Pencil
-Paper
-Ruler
-Measuring tape
-Sewing machine and thread

1. Measure the circumference of the doll's head. Divide this by two, and use this measurement. Draw two parallel lines this distance apart on your paper. (Your ruled, clear quilting ruler would make this easy.) These are the side seams.

2. Draw a curve at one end, slightly shallower than the curve of Dolly's head. This the crown of the hat.

3. Measure from the crown of your doll's head, down her face to her lips. This will be the hem fold line. Measure it out on your pattern from the top of the curve you made, and make a line across. Mark it 'fold line'. (See chart).

4. Now measure the side of the hat ABOVE the fold line to just below the curve--on my pattern this is 2", on yours it will probably be different. The wide hem allows you to turn up the cuff.

5. Mark the cutting line this same distance BELOW the fold line.

6. Mark a 1/4" seam allowance on the edges except the bottom cutting line. Your pattern is complete! Cut it out.

To make the hat:


1. Place two scraps of your knit fabric right sides together. (I'm using leftover sleeves.) Pin on your pattern, making sure the stretch of the fabric goes ACROSS the pattern piece. Cut.


2. Sew around the sides and curve, using your 1/4" seam allowance.

3. Carefully pin up the hem on the fold line you established.


4. Machine stitch the hem close to the cut edge. This may seem tricky if your hat is small--just keep pulling the seam out straight in front of the presser foot, sewing a short distance at a time.


5. You're finished! You shouldn't even need to clip the curves on a this stretchy knit. Turn the hat right side out, turn up the brim, put it on your doll!

More about the Santa Dolly project later.

Holiday Giveaway!--GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

It's December, and Giveaway Day hosted by SewMamaSew.com! To help spread holiday cheer, I'm giving away this handmade vinyl totebag filled with 32 different pieces from my Christmas fabric stash, which was collected over three decades.

These cute Christmas light window clings were at the dollar store--naturally I asked myself how they might be used in a sewing project, and I thought of a remnant of clear vinyl I had on hand. The bag is 3" deep, and measures 11"x13" inches. It's made of two layers of vinyl, with the window clings in between.

I'm including 32 pieces of Christmas fabrics, in random sizes from about 2"x4" to about 6"x7", which have been collected over time. I hope they inspire projects and ideas!
The winner must be located in the USA, as I'm planning on shipping within the country. Here are the rules:

1. Leave a comment to enter. Remember to leave your e-mail address or I won't be able to contact you if you win.

2. If you're a follower, enter twice! Just leave another comment.

3. Comments will be accepted until Sunday, December 6 at 10:00am.

I'll choose a winner by random number generator on Sunday, December 6 and notify the winner.
Click on the Giveaway Day button above to check out lots more giveaways, coordinated by sewmamasew. com--Merry Christmas!