More Fun With Dolls

Here's a cute little apron and pot holder sized for an 18" doll.

The Sweetheart Apron pattern was designed by Laura Johnson. It's fully lined, has a real pocket, and is very easy to sew. You can download a free copy of the pattern here.

The tutorial for the potholder is at Pixiefair.com.

The set is being modeled by Katie, a Madame Alexander doll which I found deeply discounted at Tuesday Morning. I bought her because I thought she would be nice for modeling strappy dresses, sleeveless dresses, or dresses with a low neckline. (Madame Alexander dolls have vinyl chests and shoulders, unlike American Girl dolls whose torsos are cloth from the neck down.) I'm a bit disappointed in her hair though. It's very fine and fragile, and looks as though it would not stand up to ordinary play.

In fact, my hunch was recently confirmed; my little niece has this same doll, but her hair was in a dreadful state. She asked if I could fix her doll's hair and make her a dress (since she also was stark naked.) So first I bought some braid spray as recommended by American Girl Wiki, and wrapping her in a towel, I spritzed braid spray and water on her hair a section at a time. Then, using a doll brush with metal bristles, I slowly brushed her hair from the bottom up to take the tangles out. When it was finally smooth, I braided her hair  into two pigtails in hopes of keeping it nice for a while.

"Welcome to the doll spa!"

"I'm having a very bad hair day."

"Are we done yet?"

I was pleased with the way the braid spray helped me untangle the dolls hair. After it was dry, it felt the slightest bit sticky. I wonder if I should have washed the doll's hair first. Perhaps it was dirtier than I thought. I wiped the surface dirt from her limbs with a damp micro fiber cleaning cloth and then dressed her in a quickie sundress I made from a free pattern downloaded from Pixie Faire. I think it would have looked cuter if I had used self-fabric for the ties instead of bias tape.

Her hair was cut or broken at several different lengths, so I couldn't make the braids as long as I would have liked. I had to trim her bangs because they had lost their original curl and were now too long.

"Thanks for the make-over."

This was fun. I hope that someday I'll find a used American Girl at a thrift store or yard sale. I'm really interested in learning how to refurbish dolls.

Update: I was so sleepy when I wrote this last night, that I forgot to mention that the person who originally had the idea of using braid spray on dolls is the author of the blog American Girl Outsider. Please see her post here.


This week I'm joining Jennifer Fulweiler in writing seven posts in seven days. To check out other bloggers who are doing the same, see the list here.

DAGMT Update and Invasion of the Dolls

February is nearly over, so it seems a good time to take stock of Drop And Give Me Twenty 2014. The first half of the month was fantastic! Making a priority of quilting for at least 20 minutes per day made me feel great. And since I often ended up quilting for more than 20 minutes, my baby quilt was progressing nicely. And then THINGS began to happen. LIFE began to intervene, a tax appointment needed to be prepared for, and all of my spare time began to revolve around an insidious new interest.

Yes, dolls (specifically American Girl and other 18 inch dolls) were taking up more and more of my online time. I was reading doll reviews, doll blogs, and doll forums as I researched various brands of dolls, browsing eBay and the websites of various doll dealers. And well is it said that no man can serve two masters because there are only so many minutes in a day, and more and more of them were being sucked up by the Invasion of the Dolls.

In a previous post I wrote about how much I've enjoyed sewing clothes for my granddaughters' American Girl dolls. But I originally fell for American Girl a long, long time ago -- when they first came out in the mid '80s. My little daughter and I used to devour their catalogs, but we couldn't  afford to buy one. So she saved her minuscule allowance and requested money for her doll fund in lieu of birthday and Christmas presents from her parents and grandparents. Finally she was able to buy Felicity who was also one of my favorites. I also loved Samantha and Molly because of their time periods. (Addy and Josefina were not yet available.)

But I couldn't justify ever buying a doll for myself, especially since my husband always worked more than one job so that I could be at home with the kids. Even now, as a widow financially on my own whose children are all adults,  I couldn't justify buying myself an expensive doll because I'm an adult, and I wouldn't actually play with it. Would I? But I do love sewing for them. And it would be so much fun to make or find tiny little artifacts to complete their world. (Have I mentioned that I've always loved miniature things?)

I was able to justify buying Alejandra, who was on sale at Target for only $15.00, to use as a dressmaker's dummy. And then, somehow, modestly priced 18 inch dolls began to cross my path, and I had to bring them home. Without meaning to, I now have ten 18 inch dolls. No wonder my mother says I'm entering my second childhood! I've also amassed a nice little stash of patterns, and I look forward to sewing clothes, both current and historical, for my family of dolls. And I'll enjoy introducing them to you once I've gotten them clothed. I've even become interested in restoring scruffy American Girl dolls. (I'd love to find a cheap one in a yard sale!)

DAGMT has been a valuable exercise even though I "failed" the second half of the month. It's taught me that I'm happier when I regularly make time to be creative. And "7 Posts in 7 Days" is confirming the same thing, though in a different area. The one thing I think I have to be careful about is excessive Internet reading about my creative passions. As a quilter, I already know what a time sink the Internet can be. It's inspiring to be able to see amazing quilts online and to talk with other quilters. But too much of that results in too much dreaming and precious little sewing getting done. Ditto with articles about writing or blogs and forums about dolls. Well, Lent is coming up, and what better time is there to work on discipline and moderation. Who knows, perhaps I'll actually get the hang of Thursdays.



This week I'm joining Jennifer Fulweiler in writing seven posts in seven days. To check out other bloggers who are doing the same, see the list here.

Dolly Quilts and a New Book to Read

It's another late night blog post, so I'm typing as fast as I can. I just took my nightly dose of muscle relaxant, so here's hoping I can get done before side-effect of drowsiness kicks in. (I hurt the ligaments near my left knee a few days ago though I'm not sure how I did it. I didn't do anything.

(Oh, no! The yawning has already started!)

Well, let me show you this cute little doll quilt. I made it out of some "twosies" left over from another project. Alejandra, an Our Generation Doll from Target, looks nice and cozy.  The finished size of the squares is 2 inches which is about as large as you can make them without their looking horribly out of scale. I used a very thin batting for this quilt, but it still too stiff to drape nicely over the side of the bed. I think next time I'll use flannel for the middle layer.

I'm currently working a on doll-sized quilt with 2 inch Log Cabin blocks. And the logs are 1/4 inch wide. That means I'm saving even tinier scraps that I used to. Here a picture of a completed block next to my rotary cutter -- just to give you a feeling for scale. As you can see, these blocks are made using a stitch and flip method. The sewing lines are printed onto thin muslin with a rubber stamp.

Well, the yawns are starting to overcome me, so I'll just leave you with a very brief book recommendation: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge.

It's a YA fantasy with a gorgeous cover. But what's inside is even better. It's being marketed as a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast, " but I also see a strong influence from  the myth of Cupid and Psyche.

Here is the blurb from the publisher:

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.

Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her. As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

I'm not a big fan of Young Adult books. But this one was different. For one thing, it has more depth because of the moral compass within which the characters operate. I like the world building. And what's really cool is that the author uses many elements of YA fantasy which normally leave me cold. But in this novel they work. And I found myself loving them.

I'm about to fall over with dizzy fatigue, so for a really competent appraisal of Cruel Beauty, please read Happy Catholic's review here.

And here's where you can read the first 70 pages of Cruel Beauty for free.

Disclaimer: I am personally acquainted with the author, but I bought my own copy. My opinion of the book is honest and frank -- though possibly incoherent due to sleepiness.


This week I'm joining Jennifer Fulweiler in writing seven posts in seven days. To check out other bloggers who are doing the same, see the list here.

First Steps to Second Childhood

A while back my granddaughters were given some used American Girl dolls. And when I say used, I mean very used, Somebody's brother must have gotten hold of these because one of them suffered from burned toes, another had been partially scalped, and a third had a very loose arm. Nevertheless, the girls loved them tenderly and their daddy hinted that these mostly naked dolls might appreciate some doll clothes if Grandma felt so inclined.

Which of course she did. Because 18 inch dolls, such as American Girl, are the perfect size to sew for. Her clothes are more interesting than a baby doll's. And they aren't impossibly tiny like Barbie's. And there are so many lovely patterns out for them. Not only can you dress them in clothes from many different time periods, but you can make Star Trek uniforms or Star Wars costumes or Steam Punk outfits or almost anything you can imagine.

Of course, I really needed a doll of my own to use as a dressmaker's dummy. Not an American Girl -- they are far too expensive. Though I had wanted one since the mid-1980s, I could never justify buying such an expensive toy for myself. So I bought Alejandra, an Our Generation doll from Target who is the same size as the American Girls. She had a cheerful, appealing face, the long dark braids I'd always wished for as a child, and she was Hispanic. (Something you never saw during my childhood.)

Soon "Allie" was helping me fit all kinds of outfits for her "cousins" in Ohio. And even for my niece's doll in California.

We started with the basics: underwear from Kwik Sew 2830.

Of course, everyone needed a nightgown.

This one, made from McCall's 6137, was kind of meh.

This is better. I used the same pattern, but changed the sleeves, lengthened the gown, and added a ruffle.

My favorite nightgown is also from Kwik Sew 2380. It's the easiest to sew and the best looking.

Here's a drop waist dress from a pattern I found online. (I couldn't seem to get the collar to lie flat.)

A classic little girl's dress from Kwik Sew 2921 which demonstrates that it is much easier to sew a fully lined bodice than to make facings for it.

And here's a lovely pintuck blouse designed by All Dolled Up Doll Clothes. (It's easier than it looks if you have a pintuck foot for your sewing machine. And the pattern includes instructions for those who don't have a special foot.)

And finally, here's a hospital gown in case dolly gets sick. Here's the front view.

And here's the back -- authentically chilly!


This week I'm joining Jennifer Fulweiler in writing seven posts in seven days. To check out other bloggers who are doing the same, see the list here.

Let's Make Baby Quilts 2/24/14

Welcome to anyone who has come here via Jennifer Fulwiler's "7 Posts, 7 Days" challenge. In case you're wondering, a bibliophagist is someone who devours books. And when I'm not reading, I quilt.

This past week both books and quilting took a back seat to Obsessive Research on the Internet (about which, more later). Nevertheless, a few things did get accomplished.

My Storytime Stars quilt is slowly growing, but I don't have a lot to show for it. Since each star features a different novelty print, each block requires a different color scheme. Selecting fabric is my very favorite part of quiltmaking, but having to do it 16 times for one small quilt is time consuming. I hope I can finish this quilt before my new grandson outgrows it. (Maybe I should make it larger so that he can use it longer. But then it would take even longer to make... )

I tried two more different ways to make my flying geese units. I tried the No Waste method demonstrated here in a video by McCall's. Lots of people swear by this method, but my units came out too small for my center square.

An eighth of an inch may be "close enough for government work," but it's not in quilting. So I switched to doing my geese with the Sew & Flip method.

I drew a diagonal line across a 2.5" square. Then I opted to draw a second line using a cardboard template that was a right triangle with 2" sides. (See Bonnie Hunter's Bonus Triangle tutorial. She goes into a whole lot more detail which includes some invaluable tips which will increase your accuracy.)

Stitching on both lines and then cutting between them allows you to end up with a perfect Flying Geese unit and two perfect 2" squares.

I end up with eight of these bonus Half Square Triangle units from each star. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but it's fun to see them pile up.

I've cut out the parts for six more stars. The Banana Star is completely finished.

The Nursery Rhyme Star is almost finished.

Before I made the star points, I laid out the other components and realized that they made a pretty nice block all by themselves. I guess I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble if I'd just made all the blocks like this! Or maybe I'll make another quilt someday using this simpler version.

Today I'm linking up with "Let's Make Baby Quilts" at Michelle's Romantic Tangle.

Let's Make Baby Quilts & Stash Report: February 2, 2014

I gave away a baby quilt last week as a shower gift. It was a simple whole cloth quilt using a floral fabric which I thought would be appropriate for a little girl even though it's not actually babyish. I quilted it in an all-over Hearts & Loops design which tends to impress people, but is actually pretty easy once you've had a bit of practice.

Unfortunately, I finished this quilt last October, so I can't count it in my stash report this week.

I also continued work on my Storytime Stars quilt. Currently I've made 210 black & white "twosies" out of the 360 required. So far I've only finished one of the star blocks and I'm unhappy with my Flying Geese units. The sides of my block seem wavey. Such a pity, since I love my fabric choices.

I'm going to try again, possibly doing the Flying Geese by another method.

Weekly Stash Report February 2, 2014

Added this week: 0
Added year to date: 59.5
Used this week: 0
Used year to date: .25
Net year to date: 59.25

For more baby quilts please visit Michelle's Romantic Tangle.

I'm also linking to the the Stash Reports at Patchwork Times.