Doll Clothes

The dolls are ours, they were not included in Christmas boxes, just modeling for pictures. Laney and Chrissa, I think.

These are all clothes my mom and I made for cousin's girls for xmas. I have not seen the cousin in many years. I have never met his wife or girls, but they are going through a really hard time, right before xmas, and my mom and I wanted to do something.

Note under each picture (below) with who made what.

Also included were three pairs of underwear, one pair of shoes and a pair of socks (per box).

My mother made both dresses. They are exquisite. They take her about 12 hours per dress (handwork takes a long time). The bodices are self lined. Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

I made the dresses which are long sleeved, lined bodices and very simple. My mom made the jackets which are fully lined. Boots are ours, did not go in boxes. Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

My mom made the black dress and apron when she was first starting on the clothes. Then she switched to more sophisticated choices. So the black dress and apron were made by my mom more than a year ago and gave us a head start for this project. My mom made the dress and apron on the right last week. I had to convince her that the check dress was okay with the pattern apron. And it is really cute.  Fabric and lace was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Fleece. Super simple. I made both coats. I made two more for our dolls too. Looking for ultra suede tan coat at Good Will to make same pattern for Josefina.. Fleece was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Fabric was embroidered (it came that way) so all I did was fussy cut. Vests are fully lined. Tops are knit. I made three more. Used different pants pattern for our three, slimmer cut. One set for our dolls. Two to save as future gifts. Denim and knit was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. I bought vest fabric.

We bought the hats. But I have made similar hats in the past. I made the jumpers but my mom did the handwork (snaps, we never use Velcro, too hard on doll hair). I also made the knit tops. I have another set of these cut out to make for our dolls. Putting zippers in the back of the jumpers for our two. Fabric was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

Striped blouse, flowered blouse, and khaki skirt were from my mom's previously made reject pile. My mom made green skirt last week. So this set was pretty easy. My mom is going to remake the striped blouse fabric for our dolls. We loved the fabric, but hated this blouse pattern.  Fabric was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. 

I made 2 sleeping bags, two pillows and 2 sets of pj's. All very easy. I now use 26"zipper in sleeping bag, pattern calls for 30" but it looks better to have zipper only go part way. Waste bands are elastic with built in lace (JoAnns). .Fabric for pj's was in stash my friend passed on to my mom. I bought the navy flowered for sleeping bag, The rest of the sleeping bag fabric and the furry pillow fabric came from friend too. I bought the lace elastic, which really made the pj's bottoms easy and special.

Yes, picture is out of focus. My mom took it. 

The fabric stash from my friend made this all possible and very inexpensive. We just "shopped" in my mom's boxes. Sleeping bags and pillows are not in this picture. Impressive volume in boxes. Really great.

Ant farm, church toddler bag

Here is post one on my church toddler bags.

Here is post two.

Super handy to keep the supplies on hand and be able to pull these bags together easily.

I keep a supply of used church board books on hand from garage sales and resale shops. I can find ones in like new condition easily. I use those like new board books in my gifts, it helps keep cost down.

And these (lunch size) bags are always a hit. They are on topic (religious theme for a baptism). They are clever/unique. They are cute. They are appreciated.

The mom opened the baby gifts at the end of the day. The dad was busy with the older kids in the yard. When he came in later, I noticed my toddler bag was the one gift she showed him, saying how cute, clever and great.

The other gifts the baby got were actually clothes. This is fourth child and they are starting over. Everything was either donated or pitched after baby #3. But I noticed she got too many of the same sized clothes. Everything was in the 0-3 month size range. So while it is great, it is going to all be out grown soon. They should have planned (her mom, two aunts and grandmother) and gotten equal amounts of 0-18 months, in my opinion.

This was baptism and two birthdays party.

I had a picture post (below) of the pj's and sleeping bag set for the girl's bday gift. She is 6. That was a hit too. Makes a great package.

I got an ant farm for the boy. He is four. A mature and smart 4. That was a hit too.

birthday gift for little girl

I was thinking she was turning 5 but she must be turning 6.

Either way, I think this will be a hit.

(My husband said "wow" and he is so used to what I make that it takes a lot to impress him).

She is getting American Girl size doll (the target brand) from her grandmother.

 The first set of pictures I took was on white background and boy did they wash out. I could not decide which picture was in better focus, so you get both.

The sleeping bag fits an 18" doll, so it looks deceptively small in the pictures.

I "shopped" in my mom's extra bedroom, she refers to it as the storeroom. We keep all the doll clothes patterns and fabric in there. It is very full.

My mom is not a fan of the checks. And the rose pattern is too large a scale for doll clothes. So, I was using up odds and ends that were not going to get used in clothes.

And this is a high present party. Two birthdays and a baptism. And then that leaves one kid left out so I am taking books for him.

It is dwindling daily

food combinations, one pot

There are several combinations I buy in the freezer section at the grocery store. I do NOT microwave them (especially not in the bag).

I chop a package of raw skinless/boneless chicken breasts and start it in a sprayed pan on top the stove.

I chop a medium onion and add it.

I stir and cook that for a bit.

Then I add two identical packages from the selection below.

I also add a package or two of frozen (plain) veggies.

I sort of layer it all in the pan. Chicken/onion on the bottom, then 2 pkg of the blend, then veggies (different combinations that seem to "go" with the medley). I put a lid on it and cook for 20 minutes on medium.

Depending on how many veggies I have added, we get 4-6 servings from that one pan. At the end of 20 minutes, I stir it so everything is pretty even and then divide it in sections in the pan. I then put it in individual glass bowls and let them cool. Lids go on each one and they go in the refrigerator.

If I have bought a huge package of chicken, I do this twice in a row. I chop/cook half the chicken and add to it, cook and then divide it. Then I chop/cook the other half the chicken and add to it, cook and then divide it.

My point in posting all this is not to promote these products. But it is to mention the food combinations. Because I am going to start doing my own medleys. Cooking my own quinoa (etc) and adding the ingredients. I am going to use the packages as combination suggestions.

HPV | Who Should Get Vaccine | Human Papillomavirus | CDC www.cdc.gov › ... › For Parents & Public Jul 21, 2016 - All kids who are 11 or 12 years old should get the three-dose series of HPV vaccine to protect against HPV. Teen boys and girls who did not start or finish the HPV vaccine series when they were younger should get it now. Young women can get HPV vaccine through age 26, and young men can get vaccinated through age 21.

More Halloween Costume Stories - what was the greatest Halloween Costume you ever wore?

Click to enlarge the image. These are from the October 2012 issue of Real Simple. Clicking on the holiday label at the bottom of this post, will bring up other holiday posts including more of these stories from past Halloween Posts.

New remotes as a proactive, avoiding carpal tunnel, action

I have mentioned, many times over the years, that I am super careful about my hands. If I do a lot of handwork one day, I do not do any for several days or even a week.

I am careful of my hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, neck placement pretty much all the time. So careful of my lower back too.

I have also mentioned I record everything I watch and then blink thru commercials. Our recorder is set for 30 second blinks. So I am not fast forwarding. I am jumping in 30 second segments.

So I push the jump button, a lot.

And I had sort of noticed the jump button was getting harder and harder to activate.

We ended up with extra remotes, because we only have one tv hooked up to cable now.

As the kids have moved out, we went from 3 (5 of us) to 2 (4 of us) to 1 (3 of us). So we have one tv hooked up to cable and three TV's hooked up to Rokus (which get Amazon and Netflix and PBS and other services). 

So I took two old remotes to the cable company and traded them for two new ones. They were free. They did not even look up my account.

World of difference between the old remote and the new one. So, I actually should have done this long ago.

Two remotes is a very handy thing in general. Two that work easily is wonderful.

I did this while oldest was home to program remotes for me. Yes, I am sure I am capable. But so much faster for him to do it.

I have a list going for when he is home for thanksgiving.

Top of that list is an iPhone for me. A whole series of buttons now do not work on my phone. And my love of a keyboard for texting is now being out weighed by Internet access and a camera.

And third on that pro list is the ringer shuts off but can call twice to get thru at night thing. Because 6, 7, 8am is often the middle of the night for me. And 11pm - 1am is sometimes the middle of the night for me. So that feature will be great, IF it has an option for texting that works like the calls.

Oldest is my go to for all things computer related.

Seams Unlikely by Nancy Zieman

Gretchen, habits interview

Elmer the Elephant Jacket

Yes, it looks just like Elmer the Elephant.

Lining is a cotton print with elephants. It is very light, nearly white with pale etching. So it is not competing with the bright, pieced solids.

Those are 3"x3" cut squares which finish at 2.5"x2.5". I made some effort in placement of colors, trying to keep them random and like colors somewhat apart.

The pieced outer layer was sewn to double nap flannel. I used a quilt as you go, flip method. So the jacket is three layers thick - pieced layer, flannel layer, lining.

I used Butterick pattern #6139. I think a size 12. Middle probably needed a size 10 and I went up one size. I probably should have gone up two sizes to a 14. I ended up needing to use a 1/4" seam allowance instead of the standard 5/8". It was too snug in the shoulders with 5/8. So I sewed the sleeves in once, at 5/8 and then took it apart and redid it with 1/4 seams.

So when I cut out the pattern pieces, I was cutting pieced squares already sewn to the flannel.

I used 5/8" seams to attach the side pieces to the center front/center back (princess seaming which makes it more fitted and less boxy), and at the shoulder seams, and when I sewed the pieced front and the lining (right sides together, leaving an opening in the back hem and then flipped the whole thing right side out). I think I used 1/4" seams everywhere else. I serged everything I could.

I sewed in the ditch (side seams, shoulder seams, around the hem and sleeves) from the front/pieced side to hold the lining and pieced/flannel layers together for ease of taking it on and off. The only place I top stitched was the neck opening.

I certainly would not like to be making more than one of these, because it was labor intensive. It was more than just making a jacket. It was all the piecing and then making the jacket.

But it turned out really cute. And she can just leave it at school for chilly days.

I loved these

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/magazine/01-brown-sisters-forty-years.html

Pete the Cat

This is a long sleeved, heavy weight, woman's shirt from Goodwill. I think $4.50.

Just so you know, incredibly hard to find plain yellow anything in fall. 
A kind clerk at my box store told me yellow is a spring color 
and I was wasting my time looking in all the stores, now.
So, I bought 3 shirts at Goodwill, had middle try them, 
and this was the keeper.

I split it up the center, added yellow cotton facing that was heavily interfaced, 
one layer of iron on plus another layer of cotton. 
I had three of the buttons. I had to buy the top, aqua one.

I returned the shirts I did not use. 

It looks like a doll size shirt in the pictures, but it is actually a women's size large,
so middle can wear it as a sweater/jacket over regular clothes.

It was for Pete the Cat week at preschool, last week. 

The next set of pictures are for Halloween in her class. 
The theme is children's books.
Everyone is supposed to dress as a character.
I found this picture, and that gave me the idea.
The hat is a stocking cap I remade.
The cap was $1. 
The shirt is actually a waffle weave shirt from the boy's department at Walmart in a size XL. The shirt was $7+. 
I had the pipe cleaners and fabric in my stash.

Dress up clothes line

See the long leg piece, against the wall, running along the floor? That is what keeps it all upright.

The U screwed into the back of the bookshelves keeps it steady.

This was a place to get a bar for the dressup clothes (posted a week or two ago) without taking up much extra room.

The doll blankets are "therapy" blankets, a rough side (towel) and a soft side (minky selections), the pillows have pillow cases

Knit shirts for modern dolls, I took pictures of the steps as I did them, so I remember next time

Arm stretch - this is an area where I do have pain sometimes, it happens more often with my left arm (holding things) than my right arm (doing things)

https://youtu.be/OT-1mQSE3lw

His suggestion is if you do a lot of arm/hand work, this is a stretch to do several times a day. I think he mentioned 5 times a day.

I do not feel a defined stretch when I do it. But then my arm does feel better. If you type a lot, I think it is super important to check arm and hand positioning. Like height of chair. Being able to rest your forearms on something. Etc.

Cowboy vests

I figured out the mathematical formula to calculate how long the pieces are for armhole bias tape on this vest pattern. I then sewed four vests/eight armholes easily. They are identical cowboy vests, picture below.

I am getting much faster. And better.