Baby Millie Travels in Style

A few weeks back I posted pics of our adorable Melissa and Doug 12" Brianna doll.  She is known to us as Baby Millie and I am bursting with pride to show you her little car seat.  This is just a thrift store find that I brought home and fancied up.
Baby Millie's car seat's humble beginnings:

I cut apart the pieces of her original car seat cover at the seams.  Then I used my embroidery machine to quilt the fabric that I would use to create the new cover.

Then using the contrasting fabric panels I had quilted, I cut out the new pattern pieces for the car seat cover from the old pieces I had cut apart.  I stitched the new seams together and put the cover on.  It was a great fit so I reassembled the seat with all the straps and buckles.  How cute!!

Let me know if you decide to try this on your own fabulous thrift store find.  I'd be glad to help you.  Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy!

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Shh! Can You Keep a Secret?

We will be celebrating a special little girl's birthday around here next month.  In preparation for her big day I have been keeping my sewing machine humming as I crank out goodies for her.  I don't want to brag, but isn't this precious?  I found this tiny doll carseat/carrier at a local thrift store and paid almost nothing for it.  Since I know what she is getting for her birthday next month I'm certain this will go along perfectly.  When I brought it home I also realized just how plain it was.  Off to my fabric stash I flew to find the perfect pairings.

Car Seat Lining - I made a paper pattern for the inside lining and marked where the cutouts would need to be for the safety harness.  Then I sewed the two right sides facing, turned it out, used the button-holer for the strap holes, and voila!  Instant liner to keep baby sitting pretty.
Canopy/Cover - this is just a big rectangle.  Again I sewed the two right sides together, turned it out, and top stitched around.  Next I made two tabs from fabric remnants and sewed on ribbons to function as straps that tie.
Diapers - I eyeballed these with a paper towel pattern until I got the size just right.  I then cut the three diapers from craft felt, sewed on some carefully placed hook and  loop tape.  Presto! Chango!
Burp Cloth - Have you seen those contoured burp cloths?  Well me too.  I loved them so much that I bought an in-the-hoop pattern from Digistitches for my embroidery machine so that I can make as many of them as I want and give them away as shower gifts.The stitches are accurate and  clean with no loops or jumps.  Jennilee is one of the better digitizers around and I have enjoyed using several of  her designs.  Stop by her site when you are ready to buy some amazing machine embroidery designs.
Doll Carrier/Sling - another giant rectangle turned out and sewn together to form a big loop.  Gather again at the shoulder with another simple fabric tube.
Covered Wipes Case - this took a little time.  The hot glue gun and plenty of patience is key to success in this project.  I covered a travel-sized soap case with batting and fabric and attached the ribbon trim around the edges.  Felt squares serve as "wipes."  Needless to say, I can't wait to give this away.  Now go play with your dollies!
-Whimsy

Dolly Diaper Bag

I decided to get a head start on my Christmas sewing this year since girlie number four is due in early December.  All the sewing I've done in preparation for our real baby has inspired me to do some sewing for doll babies too.  Just like real mamas, little mamas need a place to put all their baby's stuff.  I found a great tutorial here for a lovely faux quilted diaper bag for little girls.  This tutorial was very clearly written with excellent pictures and detailed instructions.  I hope you'll give it a try when you are in need of somewhere to keep all your doll baby's goodies.

Fully lined and "sew" sturdy!

Here is how ours turned out along with a few shots of what I'll be placing inside for a special little girl's Christmas gift.






Don't wait until it's too late this year.  Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy

Contents: A rolled-up changing pad, a contoured burp cloth, a dolly-sized diaper.  It's hard to see the diaper as it is the same fabric as the diaper bag's flap.  The royal blue straps you see are the two front Velcro closures on the diaper.
 

Dolly Travels

Once you have a few friends in your collection you will want to bring them along with you when you go places.  Proper dolly care does not allow for dolls placed on the floorboard of your car or strewn about carelessly.  Here I have sewn a Dolly Take Along Tote using McCall's Pattern M5019.  This pattern was easily cut out and constructed fairly quickly.  The pattern markings and terms were clear.  I would rate this an intermediate project since you are working with interfacing and turning requires proper strap and lining placement.  A girl could sew this with much assistance.

 Here I've taken my embroidery machine and embellished the pocket with a wand applique, some ribbon, and her name.  As you can see, once constructed the tote is huge!  Both Samantha and Fancy Nancy are standing up inside with plenty of room to spare.  My model girly is 7 and the tote is about as big as it could possibly be for her to carry around.  This would be great for a slumber party or a play date with friends.  Let me know if you try this pattern and need any help along the way.  I'd love to help.

Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy

My Twinn Collection Grows Again

I have a son.  Yes, he is outnumbered 3 girls to 1 boy.  My children are encouraged to play together and to develop friendships with each other.  Many, many times my Boy Scouting, baseball-playing, gun-toting son is asked to play dolls by his sisters.  He can't be the dad or the son without a boy doll so he often declines...until now. 
The My Twinn company is well knows for its ability to create a custom doll with a striking likeness to your child.  I decided to try my own hand at this.  I began to check the files of the My Twinn group I belong to in search of a face that I thought resembled my son.  I found such a face in the Catherine facemold.  I was thrilled to find a Denver era Catherine for sale in the group.  Alas, she was a very Dorothy-esque pony-tailed brunette, a la the Wizard of Oz, and not a boy.  This was an easy remedy with a quick re-wigging.  I now have an adorable boy Twinn with a splash of freckles and fair skin that bears an uncanny likeness to my own freckle-kissed son.  I will enjoy this doll for many years to come.  Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy

Our Twinn Family is Growing

While I have yet to stumble across a fabulous My Twinn or American Girl Doll for $5 at a thrift store, I have had almost as much good fortune on Craigslist.  It seems many girls don't "get into" My Twinn like they do AG and often want to help their Twinns find new homes before the dolls are hardly in played with condition at all.  Such was the case for us when we found our newest dolly, another Kate.  She came to us blonde but we have since made her a brunette.  Her body was perfect but her former dolly Mama had not been taught how to care for dolly hair properly.  It was really too broken and dry to be salvaged for styling.  Megan Joy (as she is now known) has caused me to wonder what I can do to spread the word about this wonderful doll.  I would love to see the better-made My Twinn doll more in vogue and in more little girls hearts and homes.
There are many fine handmade fashions that can be purchased for American Girl and other similarly-sized dolls on the market today.  That is no longer the case for My Twinn clothing.  You are currently obligated to pay the higher prices for clothes from the doll manufacturer, buy outdated handmade styles online, or make your own.  The fact is, many little girls love to dress their dolls in clothing that is more like what they wear.  Due to popularity among doll collectors, most My Twinns are seen dressed in toddler clothing or other less trendy styles.  I have been inspired to begin a crusade to help My Twinn owners and lovers everywhere to be able to find high-quality handmade fashions for their Twinn dolls that are more in keeping with dress styles of today in order to encourage the popularity, ownership and play of these great dolls!  If you are an excellent source for this, please send me your link and I will put your store in our Doll Mall.  Until then, enjoy your play!
-Whimsy

Another Twinn

Since I have two girls that play with dolls so far, I felt that we needed another Twinn to keep the first one company.  So, back to eBay I go while the My Twinn company is again involved in some turnover.  Once the dust settles I'll feel comfortable buying directly from them.  The girls and I began our search through the pages of My Twinn listings, finally our eyes fell on this beautiful gal and the "oohs and aahs" began.  We waited patiently two more days for her listing to end and made her our own.  When this pretty girl arrived we were thrilled with her looks, but oh did she smell!  The girls and I do not care for cigarette odors and her wig was the main culprit.  What to do, re-wig or Downy Dunk?  Since her adorable blonde bob was the main reason we fell in love with this girl, we decided to dunk her.  Guess what?  It worked.  Just remember, since her style is short we had to try our best to keep the wig cap itself dry so that the adhesive would not be compromised.  I was especially concerned about this since she is a Denver-era My Twinn. 
Her facemold is known as kissy "Kate" because of the sweet pout her lips seem to have.  My little girl decided she looked more like a Mary Grace to her so that is what she is known as here.  A few carefully placed squirts of Fabreeze took care of any body odors she may have had.  Poor girl.  I think she spent a week at our doll salon getting made over before she was ready to play.  The girls were about to burst!  We are quite pleased with our newest dolly addition and can't wait to dress her up and show her off to all of you.  Now off to find some My Twinn sewing patterns!
-Whimsy

Welcome Home, My American Girl Doll

A very popular doll on the market today is the American Girl Doll.  She is probably the most popular among girls aged 9-11 for sure and my girl is no exception.  After looking into the dolls and their stories, we decided Molly would be our perfect first doll.  She is from AG's line of historical dolls, has her own line of books and even a movie.  For us, vintage is always preferred so we began to comb the eBay listings in search of the perfect girl for us.  We were searching for a Pleasant Company era Molly with great skin, bright eyes and soft hair still in its original braids.  Our search has ended!  We are pleased to announce we are now proud owners of our first American Girl doll, Molly McIntyre.  She came with her complete meet outfit and book collection.  We are pleased.
Molly's string is nice and long and her body seems to be without defect or scuffs.  She is odorless as well, which is always a plus!  However, she has one leg that is not as tight as it could be so we will go in and restring it to make her whole body nice and tight.  If your American Girl needs a little re-stringing help, and you've got the patience, give it a try.  Otherwise, you'll have to consider a trip to the Doll Hospital in her future.  This project is adult-only.  Do not try this without some time and a safe location for your parts, in case you need to leave for some reason.  There are a couple of ways to accomplish a re-stringing and this method is adequate and cost-effective if you are on a tight budget.  This is very similar to the way we repaired our own Molly but a bit quicker and cheaper.  If you decide your doll needs some serious help that is beyond your skill, maybe you could contact Diane.  She operates a doll hospital for dolls of any type and does excellent work.  Let me know how your re-stringing goes!
-Whimsy