Repunzel Doll and Boy Shirts

I normally end up making hair bows for my niece for her birthdays, but I've been wanting to make a Black Apple doll for some time.  I wanted to make Repunzel, but wasn't sure how to make long hair hang down in the back.  After asking around, a friend suggested a wig, and I kind of like how it turned out.

 

 

Now she can be long haired Repunzel, or Repunzel with a hair cut.

 

And why not make a market skirt (minus the pockets) for the birthday girl to match her doll?

 

I've also been wanting to make a machine embroidered shirt using this technique.

 

It turned out to be harder than I expected.  Even with the stabilizer, the fabric shifted on me a lot.

 

This was a little easier.  I sewed diamond shaped t-shirt material onto the shirt and stitched stripes on top to make an argyle pattern.

 

It's hard to come up with ideas for handmade boy gifts...I can't imagine that clothes are really that exciting of a present.

 

I'd love suggestions for next years gift for a 9 year old boy.

Matching Doll Dress

I made a little jumper so Glendora the Cabbage Patch Girl can match Z at her birthday party.  Glendora is hard to get away secretly for a fitting, but I managed to be sneaky when Arena the teddy bear was sleeping with Z instead of Glendora.  You will have to wait until after the party to see pictures of the models actually wearing their new attire though.

I thought I would document how I put the waistbands together in case I ever decide to make a flat front, elasticized waistband again.  I've seen tutorials for flat front pants, but I haven't looked enough to find a tutorial for a gathered skirt...so here's what I did.  These pictures are from the doll's jumper (on the big girl jumper, I did a better finish than just pinking the edges).

I took the waist measurement...lets call it "w".  The front piece is w/2, the back piece is w/2+5".  Make sure to make the pieces tall enough to allow for your cassing relative to your elastic width, and still allow about 1/2" below to attach your skirt.  Sew your cassing in place on both pieces (on the short piece this is mostly for looks).  The top stitching along the fold is optional, but I like the way it looks and I think it might keep the elastic from twisting as much.

Insert your elastic in the long back piece and gather the material so that the front and back are now the same length.  Pin elastic in place and trim excess elastic if you haven't already.

With right sides together, sew front to back along sides.  (Gives a new meaning to nice threads, huh?)

Now you are ready for the rest of your skirt!

I can't wait to show you my soon to be 4 year old and her baby doll in their new duds, but it will have to wait a couple weeks.