Doll Clothes Marathon

The sewing I've been doing lately is just for fun... a while back I organized my scraps and made a dent in the cleaning project in my sewing room by putting all my doll clothes fabric into two bins, one for 'bottoms' like skirts and pants, and one for tops and such.

In February I was contacted by someone from the youth group in our church about a donation to the Youth Auction in April.  The kids are going to the Youth Gathering in July, and they need to earn money for the trip.  There's a dinner and an auction where they sell goods and services that have been donated to the cause.  Last year I donated a wardrobe for an 18" doll, and I'm doing that again this year.

Making doll clothes has always been fun for me.  I started when I was about 10 or 11 years old, making clothes for my Barbie.  I had one of those original blond Barbies with the boobs and the impossibly small waist and feet.  And the black and white striped bathing suit, remember that??  Oh, yeah!  By the time I stopped playing with her, my Barbie had a career wardrobe, a ton of pants and tops, and several very nice ball gowns.

I moved on to making clothes for the dolls belonging to younger cousins.  They too were pretty well set in the suit and gown department.

My own daughter disdained Barbie.  She was in love with the Cabbage Patch Kids.  And I made a ton of clothing for those kids.  AND I made clothes for the dolls belonging to girls she played with too.

Fast forward to 2003 or 2004 and I now had a granddaughter, who just disdained dolls in general.  BUT she loved stuffed dogs and they all had sweaters and scarves and blankets and hats.  She learned to sew herself and now she will help once in a while with the doll clothes, when she's in the mood.

So I had a marathon sewing session, and all I have left is to sew on a few pieces of Velcro and some trims.  Here's what I am working on:

This red tee was part of an adult sized tee with a few stains on it that became 'fabric'.

The dark denim is a skirt, the light blue is striped pants, and the zipper top is a windbreaker.

Purple tee and lavender corduroys.

Princess pjs and a plaid robe.

Several dresses in various degrees of red prints.

Faux suede pants, a yellow tee, and a leopard fleece coat.

And just for good measure, I spent some time making some clothes for a cast off new style Barbie:



She's got some cool leggings, made with a scrap of stretch lace, plus a ball gown from a silk drapery sample.

These all need snaps, but you see two short skirt and top outfits, plus three denim pieces.

This is the ball gown suite... one in burgundy silk, one knit dress with a flounce, and the silk drapery dress with stole.

The Barbie outfits were made for a friend's granddaughters, whose own dolls are apparently naked at this point.  Of course my youngest grand likes to leave her dolls in the sandbox.  That's how I got my model!

Lucky for me my middle granddaughter likes dolls and plays with them.  She requested some additions to her wardrobe, so there will be no shortage of customers for these items.

I only wish making things for myself was this easy!

Sew on...