From Socks to Doll Sweaters

Well, two weeks later (argh!) I finished the next project on my craft list.  A recycling project too!

For this project, I had some old socks and tights to turn into something new and cute.

Doll Clothes!

The socks became cute little sweaters using this tutorial, sort of.  The pattern for the tutorial was for 1/3 scale ball jointed dolls, mine are smaller than that.  They are 1/4 and 1/6 scale dolls.

So I had to make my own patterns.  If anyone is interested, I decided to post the patterns on my doll blog.

With the tights I made actual doll tights and socks.  Two pairs black tights, two pairs of white tights in two sizes, and three pairs of white sock in two sizes.  Whew!

But they are quick and pretty easy to make, even by hand.  Actually I made all these sweaters and legwear by hand sewing except the first sweater.  Machine sewing is not recommended at all.

Anyway, this first sweater (for Hikaru) is made from a navy blue knee sock that didn’t fit right.  Knee socks are great for this because you get plenty of material to work with.

The sweater has lace along the neckline and a row of faux pearl bead “buttons” down the front.  It closes with sew-on snaps.

The tights, I think are pretty much fool proof to make.  The material is stretchy enough to fit well and hide any goofs you make while sewing.

Now doesn’t her outfit look so cute, and perfect for an Arizona “winter”?

I made this sweater (for Usagi) with the other navy blue sock.  It has thin ribbon along the neckline and bottom hem and closes just at the top with a snap.  I added a “large” button at the top “to close” it.

In addition to tights, I made this doll a pair of thigh high socks.  They are basically tights with the top cut across and hemmed, and no elastic needed.

Paired with a plaid skirt, it kind of looks like a school uniform.  She just needs more appropriate shoes.

And finally, I made these two cute white sweaters using little bobby socks.  Smaller socks for smaller dolls.

They are both embellished with ribbon bows and more pearl “buttons”.

The tights came out just as well on this smaller doll as with the larger dolls.  It makes me wonder how easy it would be to make tights for fashion dolls, like Ever After High dolls.

The socks are knee length and are super quick to make.  I found they look cute both when worn to the knee and when scrunched down at the ankle.

They both are so adorable now all bundled up.  All the dolls look so cute, it makes me want to make more sweaters.  I guess it’s time to dig out more socks.

Here’s the updated list:

• Pink dress
• Accessories
• Socks
• Headbands
• T-shirts
• Tank Top

Four down, just two more to go.  And I will either have it done by the end of the week, or just postpone it until January.  Christmas is coming quickly after all, and I need to start working on those crafts.  Look forward to it.