FO Friday – doll clothes

I’ve been in the business of helping some hand-me-down dolls from being cold and naked!

Chelsea really needed some sort of dress. Little Chick found her in a bag of little dolls at a rummage sale that she just had to have. But poor Chelsea came with no clothes. She’s been borrowing clothes from the bigger girls for a couple of years now. Being just 4″ tall, she really needed something of her own. Nana will probably recognize this dress… it’s made from a bit of the leftover yarn she used to make Little Chick a dress.  Now they match :-).

Last fall I signed up for a Barbie dress swap in a Yahoo group called At My House. I created two of these red dresses, kept one for Little Chick and sent the other one off to my swap partner. She in return sent back a lovely bright colored dress (which I haven’t taken a picture of!) along with a bunch of shoes – because Barbie can never have enough shoes!

This dress was a simple and a lot of fun to make.  The funny looking stuff at the bottom is part of a stash of yarn I don’t quite know what to do with.  It’s odd looking to be sure, but incredibly soft!!  Besides, the name of the yarn is “Carmen” … I couldn’t resist purchasing it.  I’m glad I was able to put a tiny bit to use.

Barbie also needs the occasional wrap to keep warm – and as a fashion statement. I created this lovely pink shrug for … um, I can never remember her name! In my defense, I think other than “Barbie” (who is actually a Junior version), “Cinderella” (she has blue painted undergarments) and “Raquel”, the others seem to change names daily.

This month, I signed up for the Barbie dress swap again. We haven’t received our dress yet, but this blue and white dress is the one I sent off, along with a matching white shrug. The plan was to make a matching or very similar dress for Little Chick’s dolls. First however, she said she wanted a longer dress – floor length. Then when I had it 1/2 made, she decided I should turn it into a cape. So I stopped. But now I’m trying to decide how to make a cape fastener for such a little item. Think I can fashion a tiny Frog fastener? Hmm….

I seem to have misplaced the tiny snaps my mother donated last fall … ones that look like they are as old as I am (judging by the cardboard, not the snaps themselves). I almost panicked, but realized that the way I made the white top on the dress would be perfect for a little pearl “button” – it’s just a pearl bead sewn on.

Over a year ago, I found a great, simple pattern to make a sewn dress for 11.5″ dolls but I haven’t gotten around to try it yet. So many ideas … so little time.

One of Little Chick’s favorite activities when visiting Nana & Da’s house is to play with the hand-knit / crocheted / sewn doll clothes that my mother made and kept all these years! Some might even be in fashion again (except those orange striped pants; I’m not sure they ever were in fashion!!). I hope Little Chick gets many years of enjoyment out of these projects and perhaps we can pass them down to her children!