Pink Lace for…A Doll?

At long last, the last project on my craft list.  And it’s more doll clothes, plus more of that pink lace fabric.

As you can see, I used the fabric leftover from my Easter dress (see Pink Lace for Easter) to make a doll size version along with accessories.  An underskirt to give the dress a boost, a matching purse and head band, and a necklace.

And it looks adorable on her.  I’ve had this ball jointed doll for two years, so I wanted to make her a special new outfit (check out the doll blog to see her reaction).

I used the same technique for the bodice as for my doll dress tutorial (see Doll Dresses for All, With a Tutorial), and instead of a row of ribbon roses along the neck I made three little roses.  One at each of the straps on top of a ribbon bow and a larger rose on the ribbon sash.

On my dress I used a nice wide ribbon for the sash, but for this one the narrower ribbon I had left worked just fine.

I made the matching headband using jewelry wire just like in my doll headband tutorial (see Doll Head Bands with a Tutorial).

The same with the little purse, it’s similar as the simple purse in my doll bag tutorial (see 5 a Week: Cute Felt Bags for Dolls with a Tutorial) only with fabric instead of felt.  I glued on the some faux pearl beads to make the look of a clasp.  It really uses Velcro to close.

The cameo necklace actually came from my mom.  It was perfect for dolls because of the small size of the cameo and the thinness of the chain, I just needed to shorten it.

The underskirt was made as a separate piece so dress can be worn with or without it for different looks.  It can also be used as an actual skirt with another top.  Three separate looks from a couple of pieces.  Man, this is one well dressed doll.

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress
• Accessories
• Jeans
• Baby
• Little dress

Five down and out, finally!

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Pink Lace for Easter

This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info.  Thanks!

Well, a few days after Easter and I’m finally getting around to posting this. 

It’s my Easter dress!

I used that over all lace fabric I bought as SAS (see A Quick and Pink Craft Haul).  I wanted something pink and floral this year and while thinking about that I got the idea to use lace.

I made little roses from ribbon to decorate the neckline.  It took a while because not only did I have to make each one by hand, but I also had to re-learn how to do it.  It’s been a while since I last made them. 

Funny thing is that the last time I made ribbon roses was also for an Easter dress (see Time for Some Catching Up).  Actually a lot of the design for this dress was inspired by that dress.

I added little faux pearl beads to the center of each rose for an added touch.

I used a wide ribbon the same color as the roses as a sash around the waist.

The “sleeves” are made solely from the lace, so they have a sheer appearance.  I originally wanted to make a section on the front of the bodice with just the lace, but I thought that might be a tad too revealing.  Not to mention too complicated and time consuming to complete in such a short time frame.

Instead of hemming the edge of the lace of the skirt, I added ribbon to finish it.  It helps to balance out the top.  It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I’ve ever sewn.  Those who sew lace and netting a lot would understand.  And I think I would recommend using clips instead of sewing pins.  The pins mostly got in my way and snag the ribbon.

Now for the accessories, because why make a pretty dress without completing the outfit?

I made a pretty headband using the pink and white flowers I bought from SAS.  I actually had to make it twice.  The first time it looked pretty, but I realized it didn’t look as pretty on my head which is necessary for a “head” band.  So I took it apart and put it back together again.

I also made a necklace of faux glass pearls to help tie in the headband and stuff.  I bought these pearls ages ago at Joann.  Makes for a simple yet pretty necklace that I can wear with just about anything, super plus.

Since I bought a ton of fabric, I whipped up a matching purse too.  It’s simple little bag with a flap, similar to several I’ve done before.  The flap closes with Velcro.  I normally use snaps, but I was lazy this time.  It’s so much faster to use Velcro, at least when you use a sewing machine.  I made a larger ribbon rose to finish the bag.

Speaking of larger ribbon roses, I made a pair of them to make the final accessory, shoe clips.  Because my cute white shoes needed a little something to tie them in with the rest of the outfit.  I made them just like the shoe clips I made last year (see Lace Rosette Shoe Clips with a Twist and Tutorial).  A simple and cute way to finish off a pretty pink outfit.

Here’s the updated list:

• Dress
• Accessories
• Jeans
• Baby
• Little dress

Two down, three more to go.  I’m running late with the next two, but I should have them up soon.  Look forward to it.

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5 a Week: Cute Felt Bags for Dolls with a Tutorial

It’s Sunday, and time for week 4 of this year’s edition of…

 

…The Five a Week Pledge.

If you haven’t been around here, it’s where you pledge to do five things each week of your choice (see here for more info).  I pledged to make five small crafts each week.  Feel free to grab a button and join me.  If you already have, post a comment or a link to share what you accomplished.

This week’s craft:

Cute Bags for Dolls!

I made five adorable doll sized purses using felt, snaps and embellishments.

They are perfect for my dolls (see the doll blog for their reaction.)  And they were super fun to make and super easy.

So easy that I just had to make a video tutorial.

All you need are:

• Felt
• needle and thread
• scissors
• snaps (like these)
• tiny beads

Any any ribbon, lace, etc. you want.  Some fabric glue (like my favorite glue) is optional.

Enjoy, and make plenty of doll purses!

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Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories…

Finally some crafts from my list to show off.  Still have more to do before Easter, but at least these are complete and ready to share.

I bought this pretty off-white floral print fabric for a particular project and I thought it would be great to use some of it for a small simple purse too.  One that I could wear with tons of different outfits instead of just that particular project.

I made this bag roughly based on this easy messenger bag tutorial, just with a few little touches.  It came out ok, except I think I goofed a little on the edges where the strap is attached.  The strap by the way is made by twisting together four strands of ribbon into a cord.  I learned how to do it when I was about 10 years old.

The purse is nicely trimmed with cream colored lace. I bought the lace years ago at SAS for $1 and have used it in tons of projects since.  I think it look great with this fabric.  The funny thing about the fabric is that when I got it home I realized I already had the exact same fabric in white instead of off-white.  I bought the white at Wal-mart and used it to make a dress (see Time for Some Catching Up).

The cute lace rosette on the flap is actually a pin.  I thought it would nice to be able to swap it out with other pins and broaches to make it easier to match different outfits.

Speaking of other pins and broaches, I whipped up these four.  The two on the left are made from lace and fabric yo-yos with some ribbon bows.  The ones on the right are just bows made from wider ribbons with pin backs sewn on.  Simple yet effective.

I also whipped up these simple hair clips using more lace rosettes with more of that cream colored lace.

I just used hot glue to attach the rosettes to some clips.  I covered the clips with some ribbon first to make them look better, plus it helps the rosettes stay on better too.

The beauty of these simple clips is that I can dress them up a bit if I want to by adding some of the pins.  See how well they look with the red ribbon pins?

Here’s the updated list:

• dress
• hair accessories
• small bag
• pins
• clips
• doll clothes
• video

Three down, four more to go.  The next project will be up in a couple of days, but here’s a little sneak peek.

Some lovely red floral fabric trimmed with lace and more red ribbon.  Still sewing down the ribbon by hand.  But what is it that I’m trimming?

And here is a panel of fabric embellished with pin tucks and lace.  Now where is this going?  You will find out soon.  Look forward to it.

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Time for Some Catching Up

Well hello, I thought it was about time to let you all know what I've been up to these past few, or shall I say many months.

For starters, I did start working at a new place last December.  I totally love it there, my coworkers are great and our customers are super nice to me.  Plus I get an employee discount that has really helped me save money especially when used with coupons. Did I mentioned I have discovered the joys of couponing?  More on that lator. Another change is that my family moved into a new apartment last spring.  It is definitely an improvement from before (see When Life Happens, or Why I've Been So Quiet).

As for sewing, I've mainly done a lot of mending and taking things in because I've lost some weight.  That doesn't mean I haven't done anything crafty though.

Here is the dress I made for Easter.  Lovely isn't it?  I found the fabric on clearance at Walmart.  So glad they started selling fabric again.  I loved it so much I actually went back to buy a few more yards of the same fabric.  Anyways, it has puffed sleeves, criss-crossing ribbons at the neck, a wide ribbon sash, and it's trimmed with eyelet lace and braided trim.  All materials except for fabric came from SAS in Tempe, another great place for fabric by the way.

For accessories (of course there's accessories) I made a flower headband and a purse.  The headband was made with wire stem rosesbuds.  All I had to do was wrap each stem around a blank headband one by one. I then wrapped and covered the rest of the headband with matching ribbon.  I only burnt myself with the glue gun 2 times. :)

The purse is just a simple square shape with a flap added.  The strap is made from ribbon twisted into a cord.  A little bit of braid and a bow was all it needed to look cute.

Here's photo of the dress worn, fits well don't you think?

Now I did mention I bought more of the fabric, so guess what I did with it.

I made another dress of course.  I find it beneficial to make multiple dresses/skirts when I have enough fabric because then I have more things to go with the accessories.  This dress I wore to Phoenix Comicon last July.  It features ribbon roses near the straps.  After many attempts I finally figured out how to make them.  If I get better at it I might make a tutorial.  I'm afraid I never got a picture of it but, in addition to this dress I made a matching tote bag that looks similar to the purse. I thought it would be handy to have something larger to carry things like programs and souvenirs. It really came in handy.

Finally I should mention that two of my dearest friends are expecting their first child.  It's a boy and he's due next month, super exciting. I should show all the stuff I made for him, but I'll leave that for another post, or two.  Look forward to it.

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Think Red

A while back I bought some red fabric from Goodwill.  The second I saw it I knew it would be perfect for a dress, something fairly summer-y too. 

Three days of sewing later and here is the dress.  It has puffed raglan sleeves and the bodice is fully shirred which took loads of time but was worth it.  It makes the dress very fitted while still making breathing possible.  Plus, it is so easy to pull on, no stretching like a pretzel to reach a zipper.

And what’s better than a great fitting red dress?  A matching purse.  I gathered the fabric before sewing for an interesting effect.  The funny thing is that it wasn’t until after I finished struggling to get this purse right that I remembered that I actually have a Simplicity pattern for a similar bag.  What’s the point of having patterns if I never bother to used them?  Anyway, I sort of messed up the snap on the flap.  Simple fix was to embellish it with a fabric yo-yo made from a fabric scrap and a simple bow.  Nothing like the inspiration you get from goofing up.
Here’s the updated list:

• Notebooks
• Little skirt
• Red dress
• Red purse
• wallets
• Tiny wreaths
• Stockings
• Ornaments
• Trees
• Doll makeover

Four down, six more to go.  The next one will be up by either Monday or Tuesday.

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More Lace and Excuses

It’s kind of funny.  I said before that I would post the next project “this Thursday”, and by that I certainly did not mean two weeks from Thursday.  But that’s precisely what has happen.  The excuse?  More like excuses.  First, I had several projects for school to work on including a few “surprise” ones.  Throw in the end of Tax Season which meant being slightly busier at work for a period.  And the biggest and saddest excuse of them all.  A game.  I found a free RPG and since it had been some time since I played one I thought I would try it out a little.  It’s called Ahriman’s Prophecy and it’s surprisingly addictive.  See for yourself if you don’t believe me, you can download it here.      

Anyway, using that floral print fabric, I have made a skirt, a dress, and a bag.  So now here’s the final piece from it, a sleeve-less top.  It’s great because I can wear it together with the skirt sort of like a dress, or with other pieces to avoid blinding people with too much matchy-matchy-ness.  It has shirring in the back so I can pull it on easily and breath easily.  Still are some little quirks to it.  I made the straps slightly too long which isn’t too bad since I “fixed” them.  It just baffles me, I was so sure I measured them properly.  Also, I like the ruffle at the bottom but I can’t help but think that it might not be the most flattering place to stick a ruffle.  Otherwise I am satisfied with the way this came out.

Continuing on, remember Jenny, my Our Generation doll?  She’s the model for this pretty and dressy new dress I made using another commercial doll clothes pattern.  The fabric was an old remnant I got from my mom.  It’s from a stack that she dumped on me, perfect for making doll clothes.  Anyway, I do love how pretty it is, even if it was a pain to sew.  The fabric is so slippery, my poor sewing machine.  Anyway, the pattern was a cinch to use, the only problem with it is that I think the skirt would look better if it was a little shorter.  Same with the sleeves.  Other than that, I love the dress.  I kind of reminds me of a flower girl dress for a wedding.  Maybe I should make some accessories to go with it.  That would be cute right?

This last one is a bag idea I sort of tried before, but in white.  Basically covering the pieces for the bag with rolls of lace before sewing them.  This one I used black lace that is considerably wider than the white lace I used before, so it was noticeably faster to make.  A few other differences with this one is that instead of a zipper to close I used a clasp I ripped from another bag I didn’t like anymore.  Also, with the white bag I made the strap by twisting strands of lace into a cord.  With this one I just folded the lace in half and sewed.  The lace is the perfect width for that, plus it helps to show off the design of the lace.  Over all I’d say it came out well, although I guess it is kind of strange to be making a black bag when it is getting closer and closer to summer.

Here’s the updated list:

• Floral bag
• Wreath
• Doll
• Top
• Doll dress
• Gloves
• Black purse
• Tiny plushies
• Tiny “men” clothes

Six down, just three more to go.  I should have the rest done by Monday at the latest, I mean it this time.  Also,  I should warn you that the next project list will probably up a little later then expected (expected date is the first of May).  I have a quiz, two major tests, and finals coming up in the next two weeks.  Enough said.

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The Finishing Touch, and Some Menswear

I was going to post this yesterday, but after waking up early and attending and singing for two church services, I was exhausted. 
Anyway, I mentioned before that the first two projects on my list needed to be done by the end of the week.  Rest assured I did finish them right on time.

The first is this little bitty bag.  I have already used this fabric to make a skirt and a dress and there is still more than enough to make another skirt or something.  So I thought I might as well make a matching purse to go with all these somethings.  It is about 7 inches in diameter, small enough to fit under my choir robe.  It was a perfect edition to my Easter outfit yesterday.

And the second project was the finishing touch to my Easter outfit, a wreath for my hair.  I had a different idea for it in mind, but that plan kind of fell flat.  This is plan B, take wire stem roses and twist them together to form a ring.  Then wrap green ribbon around to cover the wired part.  Loop on long hanging ribbons and it’s ready to wear.  It barely took 10 minutes to make, but it made quite an impression yesterday.

I got one other project finished this week, clothing for a “man”.  I wanted to make some doll clothes for my nephew, “Ken” doll sized ones.  It presented a slight challenge for me.  The clothes had to be just right to fit a Ken doll, be easy for my nephew to take off and put back on, plus look like something a guy would actually wear.  Sadly this meant no lace.  This translated to a pair of yellow elastic waist shorts, a white open top with a tank underneath and a blue messenger bag.  All easy to slide on and official approved by my nephew.  The shorts I made based on a store-bought pair I had lying around.  They are actually pretty quick and easy to make once you figure out how to do it.  There may be more in the future.  Much more.  By the way, the doll in the picture isn’t my nephew’s it is one of mine.  I got it years ago from one of my nieces,  She didn’t want it because the head kept on popping of which creeped her out.  I traded it for a doll with a more secure head, problem solved.
Here’s the updated list:

• Floral bag
• Wreath
• Doll
• Top
• Doll dress
• Gloves
• Black purse
• Tiny plushies
• Tiny “men” clothes

Three down, six  to go. The next one should be up by this Thursday.

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It All Started With Goodwill

I had intended to post this earlier, but I had midterms this week, enough said. 



Anyway, I got this bag on sale at Goodwill for 50 cents.  It’s a roomy straw bag and proved to be extremely useful, I used it carry home the other goodies I got that day.  It just needed a personal touch.


A few minutes with a glue gun resulted in this.  I added three rows of two different kinds of lace along the top.  The thinner lace I got at the same time as the bag (so much for my “no more craft supplies” resolution).  I used it to cover the straps in order to both make them pretty and hopefully to make them stronger.  Only time will tell if it worked.



I thought it had been a while since redid a t-shirt, you know how much I love it.  So here’s the before.  A large size one that I got for less than 25 cents.  It has stains in odd spots, a pocket I don’t like, and is too big for me.



Here’s the after, after a lot of cutting down to size.  As I usually do with these, I added lace along the new neckline and along the edges of the sleeves.  I put the elastic about an inch from the sleeve hem to give it that sort of ruffled look. 

If you look closely, you’ll see that in addition to the lace edge on the sleeves I added a row of the same lace I used on the straw bag.  It’s also along the bottom of the t-shirt.  I usually don’t do anything special with the bottom hem when I alter t-shirts, so I thought I should try it this time.  Otherwise it would be like I’m mass producing these shirts and where’s the fun in that?



Now with this one you can see just how crazy I am about that lace.  It’s a simple little purse made with two squares of fabric and a zipper and lining.  The difference is that before sewing those little squares I covered them with rows and rows of the lace. 

So it’s sort of like a little beaded purse except with lace instead of beads.  It was easy to make but extremely time consuming.  Almost as long to make as would have been if I did bead it.  At least the results were worth it.  I think I will make another one in black, but maybe I’ll wait a while.

Here’s the updated list:

• Doll dress
• White purse
• Shoes
• T-shirt
• Heart bag
• Pins
• Cuffs
• Straw bag
• Parasol
• Dress

Three down, seven to go.  I should have the next one up by either Wednesday or Thursday.

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Heart that Holds

I got the idea for a small heart shaped purse some time ago, I thought it would be cute for my niece.

I made it from the leg of an old pair of jeans and part of a cotton dress for the lining.  I shredded strips of of denim to make the strap and the little ruffle.  I love the contrast between the denim and the shredded edge.  My niece absolutely loved it when she saw it, she stuffed it full of little odds and ends.  Maybe I’ll make her a matching wallet someday.
Here’s the updated list:

• Rosettes
• Doll aprons
• Zipper charms
• Refrigerator
• Heart purse
• Doll
• Kitchen sink
• Cupboards
• Clothes
• Vase
• Dishes
• Curtains

Five down, seven to go.  Today was something for my niece, tomorrow is something for her little brother.

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