Clothes for Sister

This is Sister.  Sister is an 18" doll belonging to family friend Lady Bug.  Lady Bug will turn 5 soon and when I asked her momma for birthday present ideas, Momma said that if I want to make something, Lady Bug loves clothes for her dolls.  I hadn't made doll clothes before but man what a rabbit hole that is!  I spent some time on youtube and got some great ideas and figured that I could play around on my own.  

The first dress I made is this fancy dress that's actually a leg of my son's sweatpants!  The other leg had a hole in it, so this was an easy first fabric to play with and not feel bad if I screwed it up.  But I actually quite like it.  The back of the neck lays a little weird but I'm going to call it high fashion.

Next I made a denim jumper.  I had planned to cut up an old pair of my jeans but I actually found this denim fabric in a drawer and it was the perfect length.  That's pre-made bias tape for the top, bottom, & straps.  I accidentally bought the super-skinny bias binding but it looks good and in proportion on this small scale.  This jumper is a little plain and I plan to embellish it a bit before Lady Bug's birthday party next weekend, but I haven't decided exactly how yet.

 

Having been successful with one jumper, I decided to make a second but with ruffles this time.  That red ruffled trim is left from my Red Riding Hood Halloween costume of several years ago.  Good thing I have a bin with bits of trim and lace in it! I think this dress is my favorite.

Next was a nightgown.  Lady Bug's mom mentioned that Sister did not have any sleeping clothes, so a nightgown seemed necessary.  Knowing that shirts would be difficult for me, I bought a 3-pack of preemie sized onesies so I didn't have to make a top.  I added a skirt of gray star fabric and got out my rubber stamps, looking for something night-time-ish.  I found a moon with stars and used a fabric marker as ink to create a repeating pattern of the moon & stars.  I hope it's obvious that it's a nightgown but I guess if it's not, it's fine as a dress.

I'm gonna look in my button bin to see if I have any heart-shaped buttons to add to the straps

 

Somewhere in my internet searching I had seen a circle skirt and I thought that would be relatively easy, so I tried that.  I did add interfacing to the heart fabric to give it a bit more heft.  I had jumbo pink rickrack in my trim bin.  After making the skirt I saw a youtube video tutorial with a head kerchief so I made one that coordinates with the skirt.  Then of course she needed a shirt for the outfit.  The shirt is more of those sweatpants of Fire Monkey's, this time the other leg but less fabric was needed so I cut off the hole.  More rickrack so it matches.  It actually looks like a dress in the photo but it's a skirt and top.  Here's just the skirt and headscarf, though if you are offended by a half-naked doll, scroll past it! 

I actually like the skirt better on its own, maybe she has a plain shirt at home

Since I bought the 3-pack of onesies, I knew I should use them so I looked through my novelty scraps for a fun fabric to use for the skirt of a t-shirt dress.  I absolutely love this rainbow unicorn fabric and I had a piece that was a great height for a skirt, so that was an easy choice. The onsies were long-sleeved and too long for Sister's arms, so I cut them down and added ribbon, probably the fiddliest part of the whole doll-clothes making experience.

I originally was going to make another dress from that third onesie but I was running out of steam and time, so I figured I would save it for another time.  But as I started to clean up and put away a bag of novelty scraps, I noticed a strip of balloon fabric.  And I knew I had cupcake fabric in the same bag.  This was for a birthday party, after all, so clearly Sister would need a birthday party outfit! The strip of balloon fabric became a tube top and I made a second circle skirt out of cupcake fabric.  Now Sister is ready for a party!

ready for a birthday party!

This is clearly not my normal sewing but it was a lot of fun! I don't think any of the other kids in my life are into doll clothes, but hopefully Lady Bug will stay interested for a while and like these enough to ask me to make more!