Upcycled Doll Clothes! A Tale of Five Doll Dresses Made in 24Hours!

Hello Doll Friends!!

     As I've mentioned in several prior posts, most recently this one making doll clothes by Upcycling them from gently used baby clothes is really a fabulous way to bulk up your dolls wardrobe while not deflating your pocketbook. Baby clothes, gently used, are a dime a dozen in this country and so they are an amazing, endless, source of doll clothes material! It's already got all the expensive embellishments, the fancy smocking, the delicate lace etc without you doing any of that hard work! In the correct sizes (newborn and 3mnth sizes) the dresses are practically made, it can literally take you about 20mins if you're like me and go super slow and deliberately, to 'make' a doll dress! 

   To prove my point, I challenged myself to make five doll dresses in 24hrs... And a normal 24hrs, just a regular weekday where I worked and I took kids to school etc. Then again, I wake up at 4am everyday so I can actually have time to do things I like to do... So I have a bit more time than most people! Still, it was a normal day and I spent probably a few cumulative hours actually modifying and sewing dresses. 

   I went ahead and took a few step by step photos since, well, why not? Don't you just love the digital age? I figure the more times you see how easy the steps are, the more likely you'll buck the "pay $10to$30 an outfit for a doll" system! There are so many reasons to upcycle and money and time are just two... Just think, you're helping keep textiles out of landfills too! Good for the Earth too! You just can't lose!

So here are the steps to make this dress:

Front of dress. Modeled by the lovely Electra! (TollyTot)

Back of dress.

Here are the before photos, with no alterations, you can see the dress is nearly a perfect fit already (it's a size 3mnth) except it's too wide and arm holes are too large.

Front before.

 See? Arm hole too large!

So let the modifications begin! Here is item before I started sewing as you can see, I measured it on the doll to see where I needed to take it in to at arm opening. Then I just make a strait line, in pencil, down the dress from that point. Then I pin it together and literally sew down those pencil lines, taking pins out as I go.

Since this was a knit dress and I don't own a serger, I was a bit worried the seams would fray after I trimmed the seam allowance... So I zigzag stitched a second seam just to the right of the first so it'll keep from fraying. This is an extra step you don't 'need' to do but kids are hard on doll clothes and I like them to stay looking nice through the washing machine in the future so I try and make them as sturdy as possible. Takes a few extra minutes but it's worth it to me. My Granny taught me to sew and she was never one to cut corners! So here it is with both seams sewn.

Then you just cut off the extra material beyond the seams. That is always the most nerve wracking part for me for some reason but it must be done! 

Then, all is left is to turn it right side out and put it on your doll!! Here are the dresses I made in 24hours! I am going to do a separate blog post about the dresses for the HeartForHearts dolls because it was a bit different but otherwise I went through the same exact procedure with three of them in photo. The other one is made from a ladies blouse sleeve. (The one worn by the blonde TollyTot with the Princess Lea buns in her hair) 

I took some before photos of the other two dresses I modified so you can see what they looked like:

Well, that's it for this post. Thanks, as always, for stopping by! See you next time!

Inexpensive American Girl Doll Bed Instructions

This is an American Girl collapseable bunk beds made by upcycling a shoe rack purchased at thrift store for $3!!

I started with a collapsible shoe rack I got at thrift store this past summer for $3. I actually purchased it with shoes in mind but it just sat by my door and shoes accumulated all over the house anyway. I had been mulling over what I might upcycle into a bed to accommodate the bed mattress I've been working on. I am upcycling it from a crib bumper pad. I kept thinking if I just kept my mind and eyes open, something would come to me. 

I'd sort of gotten idea that a shoe rack would work from MyFroggyStuff on YouTube tutorial about how she made a bed from some DIY assembly shoe shelves from Target and I measured my mattress to make sure it would fit that in case no other option presented itself. So then today I was sweeping kitchen and moved the shoe rack out of the way to sweep, all of the sudden it looked just like bunk beds! I don't know why I didn't see it before? Anyway, so here is the story in photos of how to assemble yours! 

Leave out second rack from top when you put it together.

Take that rack and fit it into the back of the 'bed. Zip tie it into place.

Cut ends off zip ties. Add mattress' (the top tier ironically enough fit these mattresses we had for another doll bed we no longer have but you can improvise both mattresses with towels in pillowcases tucked in nicely.) and bedding.

Don't mind my unfinished mattress. I've been working on it but other projects are holding my interest more. If you can't tell, it's being made by upcycling a baby bed bumper. Just measured twice the length of bumper, cut it off, finished raw edges and am in process of making tucks in edges like you see on far left. Will likely add cute buttons at each tuck. Will post an edit when it's all done and show you how it comes out. How can I afford to chop up a baby bumper pad? You can nearly always find one at Goodwill for less than a few dollars or, like me, you can watch the 99c color and find one for that much. I still have loads of bumper left too so I'll eventually make a mattress for top tier. 

Regarding tiers, there is a lower tier and feasibly you could use it as a third bunk but it's pretty tight quarters for the poor doll. So we love idea that you can put your dolls things in her box and slide it in like a drawer. 

As a side note, the doll quilts on the beds were made by my Grandma for my dolls when I was a girl. Made me smile to make beds up with them!

I found a link to where you can purchase one of the racks new. 

http://www.deals2buy.com/deals/o/382993-home-collections-4-tier-wire-shoe-rack

Naturally they are not $3 like I paid but still not too terribly expensive for American Girl Doll Bunkbeds. 

Also I love the fact that it is collapseable by just taking out the zip ties  and unfolding it. As a military brat, I always consider how will I move it when move? So it's a good option if you want something that can be packed away sometimes. 

Here is the scene after my daughter played with it a while. She added her old smaller doll bed and replaced the shelf in the scene with the flat screen. It appears even in doll world, I am a bit old fashioned. Haha! Anyway, happy bed building!

G'nite!