More Dollar Doll Clothes!

Playing with my Dollar Doll Clothes patterns inspired me, so last week I went on a quest for new dollar undies to work with.  At K-mart I hit the jackpot--2 packages of 6 briefs each, some in cute prints (AND x-large size) on clearance for $4.99 each!  That's $.83 a pair.

I am delighted to think that I can make two or even three items from each pair!  And I paid for the whole project with my (about to expire) $10.00 in-store points, making my dolly wardrobe virtually free. You can check this post for general instructions for the project..

 Felicity's long striped skirt above is cut from the center of the undies' back panel.  I used the 'leggings' pattern for the waist size, and cut the center back seam to flare as wide as the fabric allowed.  My finished length is 9.5", so I cut the skirt 10" long to allow for a 1/2" hem.  I hemmed the piece, then stitched the back seam last.

I used the 'leggings' pattern to make the cute black ones above, and used the 'socks' pattern with leftover bits from the black fabric's waistline to keep her feet warm.

Let me tell you about the two t-shirts--I used my favorite 'Trendy T-shirt' pattern, downloaded from Liberty Jane, and fabric from the undies.The pattern is fun and simple to make. I got my copy from their free Friday downloads.  Check them out!

A tip--these particular briefs have attractive covered elastic bands:  cute on the doll clothes, but a little less stretchy than the classic elastic finish.  I compensated by cutting the pattern pieces slightly narrower at the waist.

Dollar Doll Clothes Patterns

Twin Kittens Scrap Project

I have been having an enjoyable time organizing and planning my projects for the new year!  In my sorting and arranging,  I came across a little Xeroxed pattern from my Mom's files, which I think she must have used for a bazaar project years ago--so I decided to try it out in her honor, and in honor of Baby K's second birthday this month.  And since I am doing the sewing, of course it had to be a scrap project!

I cut bodies for two little kittens from the pattern, using some 'tea dyed' muslin from my stash, and sewed all the way around each with a 1/8" seam.  After clipping all the curves and angles, I made a slash (about 1-1/2") vertically in their backs, turned and pressed them, and stitched across the base of the ears to keep them flat.  

I stuffed the kitties and sutured up their incisions.  Let me just say one more time how much I LOVE Morning Glory 'Cluster Stuff' craft stuffing!  The fibers are curly and springy, and fill stuffed spaces lightly and evenly with no effort at all!  I got mine at Walmart.  It's a must!

Even though there is no talent for painting in these hands of mine, but I did bravely paint on their little faces with acrylic paint according to the pattern, and made little whiskers with a super-fine Sharpie--this is far outside my comfort zone!

The fabrics for the kitties' tiny dresses also came into my fabric stash from my Mom's fabric stash, as well as the eyelet for their collars.  I hemmed the fabric rectangles, slashed the armholes and treated them with Fraycheck, and turned and hand gathered the top edges around the kittens' necks.  A stitched-on little bow finishes them off.

I'm afraid they look cold--maybe a little blanket. . .

Dollar Store Dollhouse Furniture 5--The Dresser

The Dollar Store's little dollhouse dresser (or chest of drawers?--what do you say?)  is pretty cute as it is, but I'm unable to resist an update.  Plus, I still have that mirror, left over from my sofa table transformation . . . two pieces from one!

My little miter saw did a quick job of removing the dresser's bottom drawer, and a piece of molding left over from another dresser project finishes the raw lower edge.

A bit of wood from my craft scrapwood pile and some glue make a lid for the new low chest.

My leftover mirror is the perfect width for the top of the dresser--it's glued to a bit of the footboard of a bed!  (More on that later.)  A treatment with spray paint, and they're ready for my dollhouse shelf!

Dollar Store Dolllhouse Furniture 4--Dressing Table

 

The little Dollar Store dressing table is just too short to be in proportion--the chair just won't slide under.  (While the dolls may not care, it bothers me, so it must be fixed!)

 

Quick fix-- I popped off the skirt with my little pliers, and glued a bead to each of the legs to give them height (and style!).

Some paint, and it's all finished!

Miniatures Monday--Painting Project

Just a couple of pointers learned while painting my Dollar Store dollhouse furniture--it was a bit less straightforward than I had anticipated!

Spray paint seems to be the obvious solution for a quick paint job, so I got out the remnants of a can that was on hand:  less successful than I had hoped.  Since the furniture comes dyed and not painted, the grain of the wood hasn't been sealed, and the dye seeps through the paint:

Kind of pretty really, but not quite what I'm after.  Since I needed to replace my spray paint anyway, I picked up a can labelled 'Paint with Sealer'--and still had about the same results.

What to do?  Being reluctant to go out again,  I rifled through my disused nail polish and came up with a couple of mostly empty bottles of clear top coat. An hour outside in the shade coating the pink areas took care of the color bleeding, and another coat of spray paint did the job.  Here's the final version of two of the  narrow tables:

The little handles on this furniture are actually pegged into holes--easily pulled out and replaced with beads or jewels.  

(You can stick a piece of a Post-It note, cut to size, to the mirror before painting to keep it clean.) 

Next:  the dressing table.

Dollar Store Dollhouse Furniture 2--Narrow Table

Hmmm. . .it seems I was looking so hard at the dollar store for a nicely finished narrow table that I missed something!

There's only one problem with (most of)  these cute narrow tables from Dollar Tree--they are just a bit too tall for 1"/12" scale.  Easily fixed if your table has all four legs--I used the wire-cutter part of my needlenose pliers to snip the legs to the proper length (tables are 2 1/8" high in 1/12 scale).  I'll be leaving that particular table red for the dollhouse shelf--it's a great little table for a desk, buffet, or work table--mine is for the tiny sewing machine.

This one, though needs a little work!

 I scrounged up two more dollhouse bannisters from my craftwood pile and adjusted them to length at the top and bottom with my little miter saw, and glued them in place with craft glue. 

This little table will be painted white to match the rest of the fixed up furniture for the dollhouse shelf.  More about painting later--it turns out to be a little tricky!

Miniatures Monday--Little Swimsuit

Warm weather is here, and C-K's doll, Abby, was in need of a swimsuit.  Luckily there were some cute candidates for a restyle at the dollar store--in the infant section!

I'm sad to say I have forgotten to take a before picture--again. Sorry.

I decided the tiny suit would be in the same style as the infant suit--just smaller.  The front neckline is separate, and the back, armholes, and straps are a continuous piece. I started by removing the continuous binding and cutting the front neckline width to fit.  (I always feel bad for the dolls when their cloth body shows, so I made the neckline seam just a bit wide to try and camouflage.  Next time I would make the front neckline a bit narrower for better proportion.)

I was able to pin the suit around the doll to create new cutting lines for the back and upper edge--my disappearing marker was a great help.  I then sketched in new leg openings which are finished with elastic and then turned under.

This was a very fun project--C-K and Abby will be ready for summer!

Thrift Thursday--Dollar Store Valentine Project

I've been looking forward to a little Valentine's Day project for the grandkids--ever since Christmas.


I picked up these little plastic boxes of Holiday Gum at the dollar store in December--they hold tape-style rolls of pink chewing gum--then got to thinking the shape of the boxes looked familiar. Sure enough, they were (almost) hearts!


Since then, I've been on the lookout for just the right heart-shaped stickers, and found these foam stickers last week for 50% off at the craft store--$1.50 for a big package.

I had hoped the Christmas stickers would peel off the boxes willingly, but it took some soaking and scraping, and then a dab of Goo-Gone to wipe off the residue. Sticking on the hearts was the fun part! Now to get them in the mail.


Just for fun, I figured out the cost per item--$.25 each for a total of 18. Hmmm.

Kids Sleep Masks

Deep into my annual pajamas-robes-slippers project for my grandkids, I have come up with a new variation this year--sleep masks!

I actually had all but two of these fleece colors in my stash, so it's almost a scrap project. I developed the patterns from a basic sleep mask pattern, with inspiration from Google Images. All credit to real artists!

Check out Care's clever, fast, and easy technique for working layered patterns in fleece--it's fun and works up fast! I worked the designs on a single layer of the basic fabric, then top-stitched the fronts to a second layer, sandwiching in the ends of the elastic at the sides--two rows of elastic help keep the mask on. The outside shape is cut out after the edges are stitched--much easier!

Merry Christmas!

Thrift Thursday--It Was Cabbage Day at the Thrift Store

Just when I thought I must already have a ceramic example of each and every item found in the produce section. . .

. . .a bok choy leaf--a bok choy leaf divided relish dish! It's about 10 inches in diameter, divided in four sections by the raised ribs, and that perfect yellow-green bok choy color and texture. There are no marks on the back, but it's really very nicely made, and cost $1.50. It delights me!

We had just picked up the fabulous majolica cabbage teapot that I posted earlier, and then on the way to the door spotted a little cabbage creamer pitcher which had seen better days and stayed at the store. Cabbage Day at the thrift store! It almost seems like a sign from the Yard Sale Gods. . .but what could it mean?

If the little cabbage creamer is still there next time, it's coming home with me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chocolate being a classic Valentine's Day gift, Ibu made me these fabulous crochet chocolates to celebrate the day--and they go so very nicely with my fabric Valentine strawberries, seen here with Care's tiny quilt.

Check out the candy's delightful details--you can just see the edge of the white chocolate-covered pretzel. The white chocolate has a pale pink flower on top, and they're all displayed in valentine papers--I'll try to post a link to the pattern Ibu used.

The two ceramic baking dishes were thrift store finds, found in different stores and months apart--I love it when that happens!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Vinyl Revival Project #9--Speed Scrabble!

We do love our word games in this family! Scrabble is a big favorite, and when time is short there's always Speed Scrabble, which is similar to another commercial word game called Bananagrams.

Daughters Lol, Ibu, and I have collecting old Scrabble games from yard sales and thrift stores. We've come up with 4 or 5 games--some complete, some partial--to carry out our crafty plans. What better than our own Speed Scrabble game from our bounty of tiles, complete with it's own recycled vinyl pouch? And let me point out the Scrabble-box colored zipper from my stash!

This pouch is about 8" by5"--could have been just slightly deeper. I think that Speed Scrabble is another game where many people have house rules, but instructions are available on line. We tallied the letters from a Bananagrams game, and chose our tiles accordingly.

This will not be a fun and inexpensive gift--it's mine, all mine!

Vinyl Revival Project #7--Manicure Set!

Okay, I do have a few more vinyl-recycle projects--I'll admit that I haven't put it down yet! Now for a few fun and inexpensive gifts inspired by the dollar store!

My original vinyl-recycle zipper bag was fun and fast to make, and I love the look of the exposed zipper in the clear vinyl--so when I found a cute, colorful manicure set at the dollar store I rifled through my stash for a matching zipper.

This little pouch is 6" by 3-1/2" and took only a few minutes to make. I'm just thinking I'll find a bit of pink ribbon or trim from my stash to tie into the zipper pull--a quick, cute, and inexpensive stocking stuffer!

Mario Mushrooms!

So, I am deep in the middle of a few big projects around the house and yard that have to be done before bad weather sets in. Progress is being made, but smaller creative projects are on hold for now--with the exception of a few mushrooms!

Mr. S.'s fourth birthday party was a Super Mario bash--check Care's blog, I'm hoping she'll share her fun ideas! A few Mario mushrooms seemed in order for Mr. S., so I referred back to Rose Langlitz's fun book 'Tasty Crochet', a library favorite , and adapted her cute crochet mushroom pattern into Mario's companions. (Grandma confession: not being too familiar with Mario and his world, I had to check Google images for details!)


Each little guy is about 2-1/2 inches tall. (Of course the blue one is a little smaller.) All the yarn was dug from my stash--I stitched on the white crochet circles, and their eyes are single stitches of black yarn. I love how jolly and friendly they look!

Back to other projects. . .

Second Cabin Project--Sweater Flower!

One more product of Karen's sweater-project bag at her cabin--she has been making fabulous flowers from bits of sweater and scraps of fabric. Here's one made with a bit of our pumpkin-colored sweater!

Karen says instructions are most likely available on the web--for our version, we cut an 8" piece, 1-1/2" wide, along the finished edge of the sweater's ribbing, and stitched it into a ring. We gathered the cut edge and pulled the stitches up tight, making a flower shape.

We stitched a torn strip of scrap fabric into a ring and folded it along the center of the strip, then gathered the folded edge in the same way, pulled it tight, and stitched the fabric circle securely to the sweater circle.

By then it was looking a lot like a poppy, but we had no black scraps for the poppy's center, and then Care had a brilliant idea: we clipped the black tag from the back of the sweater's neckline, and made another tiny flower shape for the center! (Good thinking, Care!) The printing is almost invisible. When I got home, I glued some gold-washed black seed beads (scrounged from a tacky old ear ring in my stash) to the center, for some poppy-like texture.

I'll stitch a safety pin to the back, and wear my new fall creation! Or maybe it will become a magnet for the fridge. . .

Vinyl Revival Project #6--Sleepover Backpack!

Felicity's sleepover gear is now complete, with her matching pajama pants and her new recycled backpack to hold Project #5 (her sleeping bag and pillow)--and I think I may be about finished for now with vinyl recycle projects! A few more ideas for later, though. . .

This little backpack measures 7" by 3". I started by cutting a rectangle of vinyl, 9-1/2" tall by 12-1/2 around, and a vinyl circle 4-1/2" in diameter for the set-in bottom. (I had hoped to make a tutorial--it turns out clear materials don't really lend themselves to photography!)

The straps are scraps of black ribbon stitched down the center of wider scraps of pink ribbon, then rolled up in 1-1/2 inch strips of vinyl and stitched again. I stitched the straps to the flat main piece before sewing it into a tube, and then set in the bottom circle. The top of the backpack is finished with a 5/8" casing, and more scrap pink ribbon is threaded through the casing for the tie. (I've used 1/4" seam allowances here.)

And how about a very odd coincidence: head over and check out Care's Dollar Dolly Duffel Bag post for today. As we were describing our projects to each other over the phone yesterday, we realized that, strangely enough, my sleeping bag would just fit in her duffel bag! Who knew? It must be a sign. Of what, it's hard to say!

On to other, non-vinyl projects, I think!

Vinyl Revival Challenge--Project #4!

Something-from-nothing is my favorite kind of creation! Inside yesterday's vinyl recycle project, the gift bag, is a little vinyl backpack that holds a set of 24 crayons--the straps and ties match the trim on the gift bag, and the beads are from my stash. The crayons were at back-to-school prices recently, so this little gift cost $.75--a fun and inexpensive gift! Click on the button above for other Vinyl Revival projects.


I was curious to know if a casing would work in my recycled vinyl, so I did a test run--the light weight vinyl seems to pull up with a ribbon very nicely! I made the body of the backpack the same size as the crayon box, plus 1-1/4" or so for the fold-over and casing at the top. The straps are made in the same way as the handles for the gift bag, and were stitched down before sewing the side seams.


Next I stitched the side and bottom seam and boxed the bottom to make it square, then stitched the casing for the ribbon--I snipped a slit in the center front to run the ribbon through and tied on the beads, which as I recall were scrounged from an old project and have been waiting in my stash. Big fun!

On to another vinyl recycle!

Vinyl Revival Challenge--Project #3!

For project #3, I've made a small vinyl gift bag with cute ribbon trim from my stash. The little bag measures 6-1/2" by 4" by 2",and holds a little matching gift--made with vinyl, of course!

I started with a rectangle of my recycled vinyl, and stitched the top hem on one long side, using yellow-green thread to match my color theme. I decided to top-stitch my two ribbons together and ran them through my hem with a safety pin, then realized the hem needed another line of stitching to hold the ribbon in place--I like the decorative effect of the stitching lines!

Second, I stitched the side seam--in this case, I have set in the bottom rectangle, but a good option would be to cut the bag longer and box the corners by stitching across them as shown here. To figure the extra length for a boxed bottom, take one-half of the desired bottom width, plus the seam allowance, and add this amount to the length before cutting.

Next, the handles are made from lengths of ribbon, rolled up in strips of vinyl and top-stitched. You can just see that they are attached by running them through a pair of slits in the bag, with the buttons stitched on to keep them from pulling out. I was thinking clear oxygen tubing would make a pretty cute handle here--I gave up and sent my piece to the thrift store too soon!

All in all, a fun project to do--it would be fun to mass produce these in a holiday theme, to hold little gifts for the neighbors.

Tomorrow, the little gift inside the bag!

Thrift Store Yarn Project #3--Cheeseburgers!

It was my daughter-in-law's birthday, and since she is an avid lover of the cheeseburger, what better gift than the cheeseburger that lasts? Two cheeseburgers that last!

I couldn't resist checking out"Tasty Crochet", by Rose Langlitz, when I saw it at the library--it's a book of 33 patterns for crocheted food, from felafel to pizza. Who knew?

I have to say that I personally find knitting to be more satisfactory than crochet--I have seen nice crocheting, but it did not fall from my hook. However, I simply could not resist the idea of a crochet cheeseburger or two, so I hurried to my stash of small scale thrift store yarn--it really was fun choosing plausible yarn colors for the different parts of the burger.

The patterns are written for worsted-weight yarn, so with my lighter-weight yarn I had to experiment to find the right hook--I had a few false starts, but Rose's instructions were well-written and easy to follow.

Is this a practical gift? A tasteful gift? All I know is it was a fun gift to make!

Valentine Tissue Pouches

Valentine's Day is a cheerful spot in the dead of winter. Here's my batch of Valentine tissue pouches, ready to spread Valentine cheer!
Or maybe to soothe a cold or case of the flu. See my tutorial here.

Happy Valentine's Day!