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.

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Vintage Floral – Pretty Dress to High-Waisted Skirt

After far too long, I finally finished another project on my craft list.  Not exactly the one I had plan to finish next either.  That one hit a few snags, but I will finish it eventually.

Anyway, this is a dress I made ages ago using a vintage pattern I found at Goodwill (see Knifty Does It and Working with Vintage). 

I love the high waist and the corset style lacing on the back, but the top isn’t as pretty as it could be.  Plus, being a dress, it can only be worn so many ways.  So why not turn it into a high-waisted skirt?  Being able to swap out the top would make it incredibly more versatile.

First I carefully separated the top of the dress from the skirt.  I shortened the zipper too naturally.

I had to replace the interfacing and facing on the waist.  I couldn’t find the original pattern I used for this part, so I had to use the skirt itself as a guide for cutting the pieces.  It’s not perfect, but since it’s on the inside where it won’t be seen it’s good enough for me.

Then came the fun part, adding new lace.  I found this beautiful crocheted lace at SAS a while ago that I knew would be perfect for a skirt.  I used it along the top of the waistband and along the bottom hem. 

And now it’s done!  I now have a beautiful and versatile high waisted skirt.

And what about the top of the dress?  I thought would make a cute little shrug. 

I first took it in a little.

I cut the opening in a curve shape to make it cuter and more flattering.

I thought the sleeves were too bulky, so I cut them at an angle to shorten them and used a zig-zag stitch along the edge of the fabric.

I did the same to all the cut edges.  I set the stitches to the smallest setting to make it looks nicer.  A serger would probably be great for this, but since I don’t own one (yet) this is okay.

After adding elastic to the sleeves, it looks almost cute enough to wear.  Almost.

Now after adding a lace ruffle, more lace trim, a snap and a bow, it is ready to wear. 

One pretty dress, morphed into a pretty skirt and a pretty shrug that can make even more outfits.  That’s a job well done. :)

Here’s the updated list:

• Pink eyelet
• Sunflower dress
• Denim skirt
• Velvet dress
• Blue plaid
• High-waist

Two down, four more to go.  The next one will definitely be done in a couple of days.  Look forward to it.

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Just a Couple of Sweaters

I still haven’t finished drafting my new list, that should be up by tomorrow assuming I can finally decided on a few of the projects.  Anyway, this morning I decided to work on a few little things I had lying around.  Call them “mending” projects.

This is a sweater thing I got for free from a thrift store downtown.  See why it was free?  The crocheted edge was ragged and had come undone in various spots and some of the buttons were missing.  It was mostly a job of removing the rest of edge and buttons in order to fix it.

So after removing the “mess” shown here and adding some ribbon…

…I got this.  Noticeably better.  The ribbon was threaded on a needle and “sewn” on with a running stitch.  I tied it in bows at the ends on the bottom and at the neckline to tie it close.  It’s cute, but sadly it looks very Spring.  Just when we were finally starting to experience Fall weather here.

I guess that where this comes in.  I forgot to take a before photo but it was a pullover sweater made of the softest cashmere ever.  I got it from a friend as a hand-me-down, aren’t friends wonderful?  Anyway, pullovers aren’t quite my style so I opened it up.  I just cut down the front, then sewed some peach-colored ribbon along the edges before turning them under and sewing them down.  After that, all I did was sew a hook and eye to the top and glued two faux pearls.  This was to cover the stitches from the hook and eye which weren’t entirely hidden.  Plus it makes it prettier.  Now I have two similar sweaters for Fall and Spring, and they didn’t cost me a dime.

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One Week to Go, Eek!

Okay, starting to panic.  Due to several distractions (i.e. social stuff, sleep, the sniffles), I am officially behind schedule on my list.  But that shouldn’t be a problem, it happens every year.  Sort of a holiday tradition, the ones you don’t want.

First up is this sweet little purse I made for one of my nieces.  I used scraps of jeans and lined it with a cute pink cotton print with dots.  It’s trimmed with an off white eyelet lace and snaps shut with a pretty snap that was a pain in the butt to get on correctly.  Hopefully she will love it.

Next is these ornaments I made with pinecones.  I basically drenched them with glitter and Mod Podge and then glued on little bows and cord to hang them.  My niece thought they looked like little Christmas trees.

I realized I forgot something else from my list, again.  How does that happen twice?  Anyway, this is a doggie hand puppet for another one of my nieces.  She is a natural when it comes to dogs, so I thought she would love a cute dog puppet. 

If anybody has been paying attention, this is that sweatshirt I got from that last rummage sale (see Numbers Game and Perfect Heels).  I loved it because it was pink, but that was about it.  I wanted to make it prettier, so here’s the before…

…and here’s the after.  I chopped off the hem and neck and cut it down the front.  I covered the new neck with ribbon and added ruffled lace along the other edges.  Now it’s really cute and extra girly.   Perfect sweater for this weather too.

Here’s the updated list:

• Doll jacket
• doll clothes
• Tissue pouch
• Pins
• Scarf
• Boxes
• Purse
• Ornaments
• puppet
• Wreath
• Sweatshirt makeover
• Mascot
• Stickers
• Robot
• Collar
• Red skirt
• Tie
• Christmas cracker
• Dress

Ten down, nine more to go.  No worries, I will have this list done by Tuesday without fail.

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Frills and Lace

I saw this sweater tutorial on Tea Rose Home and totally loved it.  I decided to make something similar to it except I used ruffley lace instead of ruffles.  Although ruffles are pretty and feminine, too many make me look like I’m in costume.  This sweater is just right for me and looks lovely with dresses or t-shirts.

Since I had the lace out, I decided to make a pretty little pin to match.  I’ve just been into pins lately, and this was so simple.  I just formed a bow, like the kind used for presents, and stitched it in place.  Then I glued on some faux pearls and attached it to a pin back.  It would probably make a nice little gift for someone, but who?  Hmmm.

Here’s the updated list:

• bunny hat
• hair clips
• toilet
• curtains
• rug
• sink
• sweater redo
• bathtub

Four down, four to go.  Exactly even.

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