5 a Week: Cute Doll Mini-Skirts

 

It’s Sunday, and time for week 3 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:

Doll Skirts!

I made five doll sized mini-skirts for my ball jointed dolls using fabric scraps and lace. 

Two off-white ones (with fabric from this dress), a red violet floral one (with fabric from these dresses), a pink one (like this doll dress), and a different one with some red star printed fabric (used for this dress). 

The first four skirts were supposed to be longer ruffled skirts. I started out making them with this tutorial. 

The tutorial was meant for 18inch dolls (i.e.. American Girl size), but you make the pattern yourself based on your own measurements.  It just called for waist and length, but there is something I overlooked.  American Girl dolls have very straight childlike cloth bodies, my dolls are resin and a little more curvy.

So instead of going by the waist measurement I should have used the hip measurement.  I ended up with skirts that were too small to go over their hips.   So I changed things around, turned the top part into a high waistband, added snaps, and now they are cute doll mini-skirts. 

The red one is the only one I didn’t have trouble with because it was different.  The scrap of red fabric was just large enough to make a simple skirt with an elastic waistband.  Sometimes simple is better.

The other skirts did come out adorably, this off-white one is my favorite so I made two.  One for each doll.

It was fun making them for my doll, Usagi, and even more fun taking pictures of her in them.  You can see more of them here on my doll blog.

Now what’s to come up next week?  More doll clothes?  Maybe a tutorial too?  We shall see.  Look forward to it.

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5 a Week: Cute Doll Tank Tops with a Tutorial

 

It’s Sunday, and time for week 2 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:

Doll Tanks Tops

I made cute little drawstring tank tops for my doll (you can see her reaction here).  I say drawstring, but will always think of them as pillowcase tops.  The first time I learned how to make tops like this was from a tutorial for a top using a pillow case I saw in a magazine.  Since then I have made several (see Dolly Dressing and Give Me a Doll With Hair).

The first I actually made two of, one for both of my ball jointed dolls.  Simple with cute thin pink ribbon.

The second one I used lace instead of ribbon.  It also has lace running along the neckline.  Cute and a little dressier.

The third top has the ribbon tying in front instead of at the side.  I think it’s a nice touch, or least it’s different.

And the last one is a little rough.  I left the edges unhemmed and uses some fabric strips instead of ribbon for the ties.  By the way all these tops where cut from t-shirt scraps from previous projects.  Great way to use up the leftovers.

Now as an extra bonus, I decided to make a video tutorial for these cute doll tanks tops.  Now everyone can dress their dolls easily for summer.

Enjoy!

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5 a Week: Jewelry for Dolls

 

It’s Sunday, and time for week 1 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:

Doll Sized Jewelry

Most of the projects from last year were doll items because I had just gotten my ball jointed doll (see Catching Up: A New Friend) and because small things like doll clothes, etc. are perfect for this challenge.  I thought since I got another doll (see Two of a Kind Doll Dresses), that I should continue this idea so she can have plenty of things too.

That being said, this jewelry wasn’t actually made for the new doll.  I made one bracelet for her but the rest is for the older doll, Hikaru (See my doll blog for her reaction to the jewelry). 

It’s been a year since I got her so it’s technically her “birthday”.  Actually it was her birthday last month, I got her toward the end of May and in my head I thought it was June.  Anyway, jewelry is a perfect present for a doll right?

First up is the bracelets, as modeled by my new ball jointed doll, Usagi.  The two on the left are simply faux pearls on elastic, I added a bow to the one on the right because I made it for Usagi. 

They are made with larger pearls than the ones for the necklaces because the elastic was too thick to use for the small pearls.  No problem, there’s nothing wrong with having a chunkier bracelet.

Now the first necklace was made with the smaller pearls strung together with an ordinary clasp at the back.  Simple as can be but very cute.  I bought these pearls ages ago at Joann Fabric and Crafts intending to eventually make doll necklaces (see The Biggest Craft Haul Ever).

I didn’t want the second necklace the same way as the first and I had plenty of the thin ribbon, so I tried this idea I found for making bracelets with beads and ribbon.  I’m afraid I can’t remember where I saw it, but I thought at the time that it was super cute an looked easy to do.  It took a bit of time even at doll size, but it was easy enough and the result is very cute.

And since ribbon is used, no need for a clasp.  I actually don’t like clasps and usually avoid them when I can.  I kind of want to make another one of these necklaces for myself now.

Now I have pretty necklaces and bracelets for my dolls, and good ideas for myself.  Now what’s in store for next week.

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It’s Back, The Pledge

I mentioned there will be a special surprise.  Well, for this summer I decided to bring back a little something I did last summer.  It’s…

 

…The Five a Week Pledge.

For those who missed it, it’s where you pledge to do five things each week of your choice.  Feel free to grab a button (<--it’s over there) and join me.  Pick a goal and pledge to do it 5 times each week than share your results.

 

I am again pledging to make five small crafts each week, and I will post the results each Sunday.  This will go on until the end of July.

 

Now time to get started.  Meet you back here next Sunday!

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Sailor Moon? No, Just a Uniform

Now finally, the last project on my craft project list.  This one was necessary for an event that’s happening this very weekend,  Phoenix Comicon!

I have been going every year for the pass few years wearing some of my pretty dresses each time (see Catching Up - Conventions Anyone?), and I wanted to make something different this year.  What special item did I sew for this year?

A school uniform.

A sailor style one to be exact, seen all over anime and manga and a classic for cosplay.  Plus they are super cute even for everyday wear.  To make mine I used multiple resources.

My main source for inspiration was this video tutorial for making a sailor style top with a t-shirt.  This instantly made my task easier.

Instead of using the pattern from the video, I found a great free pattern for the sailor collar here.  It came with a a sleeve pattern too for a Sailor Moon/Sailor Scout costume.  Whatever, it works great for this.

The fabric I used it a dark blue poly poplin I got at SAS.  I decided to use poplin because of how well it worked for all the purple bags I made before (see Purple and Lace).  I chose dark blue because I thought it was more versatile than my first choice for color, pink.  Still I may try that in the future, wouldn’t that be adorable?

Anyway, the collar is ready to sew!

  I found this cute video tutorial for making a pleated skirt made by the same person who made the first video.  It helped a lot, at least for the pleating part.  I did my own thing for the zipper and waistband.  The piece I cut for the skirt is approximately 14 inches by 60 inches.

Just need to pin the pleats (I had to do it over cause they went crazy on me)…

…and add a zipper, waistband, and hem it…

…then make the collar with ribbon trim…

…deal with the cuffs, add accessories, piece things together and then…

…It’s done!  Looks great all put together.

The bow on the front came out a little bigger than I expected, but I think it still looks good.

Plus if I change my mind about it later there’s no problem.  It pins on.

The collar came out well too.  It is only attached to the top at the back.  The front ends can be unhooked to make it easier to pull on and take off.

The cuffs were tricky because not only did I have have gather the sleeve slightly to sew them on, but I forgot to add the ribbon trim before sewing the cuffs on.  I sewed it on by hand afterwards. 

I couldn’t make up my mind whether I wanted the ribbon along the bottom of the cuff or the top end.  I guess it looks fine like this.

And to complete the look I made simple little bow hair clips from scraps of fabric.  I have a ton of this blue poplin leftover, will they be more uniform style outfits in the future?  Only time will tell.

Here’s the updated list:

• lining
• patterns
• lace
• pins
• scraps
• fabric
• supplies
• uniform

Eight down and out.  All that’s left is Phoenix Comicon and a little surprise afterwards.  Look forward to it.

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Major Craft De-Stash, Part 2

Continuing on from the last post, I have now finished sorting through my craft stash.  Yay!  And it only took a few days.

Anyway, let’s take a look.

First batch is all my scraps and small fabric remnants.  I had a ton of them.  Perfect for making tiny things like doll clothes and accessories, but how many of those do I possibly need?

After sorting, I’m down to half.

The stuff I’m keeping is in the basket, the rest is history.  I found stuff I completely forgot I had and stuff I wished I had gotten rid of sooner.

Since the last batch was small fabric bits, it made to since to move on the larger fabric pieces.  Large enough to for major projects like dresses and such, but only if I actually want to use the fabric.

Now again, the stuff I’m keeping is all that pretty fabric in the basket.  The large amount of fleece and stuff on the outside is going.  The kids will have fun with it. 

Something I’ve noticed that it is so much easier to get rid of fabrics when they were free to me or really cheap to buy as opposed to stuff I had to pay a good amount for, even if I don’t like the pattern on the paid for stuff.  Something to do with that initial investment and wanting to get my money’s worth I guess. 

Of course maybe it means I should be more careful about which fabrics I buy in the future or how much of it I buy.  Like if for some reason I have to buy some fabric I don’t like much, I should know exactly how much I need and only buy that much.

And the final batch?  Everything else! 

All the random stuff I tend to collect for crafts as well as office supplies that are useful or cute.  It’s the cute stuff that are particularly hard to part with.

Which is probably why the stuff I’m getting rid of isn’t quite as cute, still fairly random though.  They include a pvc pipe scrap, reading glasses, and a charger for am unknown device.  And now I won’t have to deal with them anymore.  The only thing left to do is to think up of things to make with the craft supplies I have left.

Here’s the updated list:

• lining
• patterns
• lace
• pins
• scraps
• fabric
• supplies
• uniform

Seven down, just one more to go.  The final projects should be up in a couple of days, look forward to it.

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