Dollar Store Projects and Christmas Presents

So after Monday, when I may or may not deal with something I am dreading, I’ll be free to focus on the doll world again.  So far I’ve got several projects set up for myself already.

The first thing I have on my list is making a few gifts.  One I have owed for a while, yep I feel bad not getting to it sooner, and two for my mom and sister.  All of these projects are doll clothing that I will sew.  Now for my mom and sister I came up with an idea based on a doll my sister recently got.

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Remember Bei?  Yeah, so she is just a beautiful doll.  She’s a nice small yet big size.  She’s small, but not so small you’d lose her.  Now one thing about her is she can fit in Barbie clothing, but she has these club hands that won’t fit in certain sleeves.  My sister has a few items of clothing she got from a Liv doll wig and clothing pack from Target, but that’s about it.  So I came up with the idea that she needs a wardrobe.  Now I know I should have started a long time ago on this, but I am thinking if I just stick with some basic separates I can make it happen.

With the separates I am thinking of copying two different plans.  My mom loaned me a vintage sewing magazine that tells you what basic things you should have in your wardrobe that will carry you from season to season and can be mixed and matched easily to make a variety of outfits.  I also want to follow this image I found online.

Kind of gives you an idea of what things should be in a simple wardrobe that stays fresh from season to season, year to year.  Now the gift I am making for my mom runs in the same circle except it will be for a Liv doll.  I may have “accidentally” got her hooked on collecting them and she’s always looking for new clothes for them to wear.  So I figured I’d make her wardrobe as well.  Yep, biting off a lot here.  Add on to this I have another gift to make that is wayyy overdo and well…Christmas may drag into January.  Hey it works for my mom, her birthday is on January 5th. 

But along with these clothes, a couple of weeks ago I tried to figure out how to force myself to sew more so I can practice more on it.  I wanted to work on all my crafts more actually.  But I wanted to do it on the cheap since I’m not working right now.  Then it hit me.  I’ve seen people do dollar store crafts with amazing results, and I thought I could do that too.  So I went to the Dollar Tree and looked around for doll clothes I could use to work my sewing skills, and just so happens on this day I struck gold.  I present to you my lucky find. Warning, image heavy.

I found these packages of clothing.  Each package came with two outfits.  The next few pictures will be the individual packages with a Liv doll wearing it showing a front and back view of the outfit.

Yes those are stitches going down the center of the front.  I’m not sure what I will do about that.
















Horrbile snags from the velcro.  *sigh*  I’ll make it work.



This picture is to show the cute denim detail in the skirt part of the dress.

Legwarmers!!!

















This fabric isn’t really fabric at all.  It’s that crunchy stiff rayon stuff, which is so super sad because I love the strawberry dress.

The part that goes around the neck obviously couldn’t go on.  Not a fan of it anyway.




This dress wouldn't go all the way up.





I wanted to show how this dress looked on a doll so I put it on a Monster High doll.  Still a bad fit.  I might try it on a Blythe to see it she will be a good fit.

The back is sewn horribly.  I’ll work with it.

So as you can see, these are not the best fabrics or the best shape of dress which in turn creates the challenge.  I’m eager to see what I can do with these dresses.  I think a lot of them will be changed from their original.  The one outfit that bothers me the most is the last dress.  It doesn’t fit an 11.5 inch doll with Barbie measurements.  The fabric is supreme crap.  And the sewing is just nasty.  I’m excited to see what I can make from these.  Stay tuned for updates on this project.

And now I’m off.  I hope you are all having a lovely holiday today.  I will talk to you all soon. Be good until then.  Bye for now.

Loves ya,
Mouse