Vintage Toy Pots Pans and Utensil Set for 18" Dolls!

Hello again Doll Friends!

My last posting was about the awesome vintage kitchen I was blessed to get from my Mom. Well, in a providential turn of events (because what else could it be?) I found the perfect accessory toys to go with the kitchen not too long after I took the photos for the post about the kitchen. I went to one of my favorite thrift stores and looked around pretty well and didn't find much that day other than a 'boy' doll for 99c. (He will get his own blog post later!) So as I am paying, the girl behind the counter, started talking to me about the doll I was buying, who was I buying it for and what not. Well, she asked, so I started telling her about my blog and how I love dolls and take photos of them etc. Well, sometimes you just have to talk to the right people! Because she reaches behind her on a low shelf in the display case items (the stuff they keep behind so it doesn't get messed up or stolen) and pulls out a huge box of toy kitchen pots and pans and accessories. I almost passed out. I looked at price and my first instinct was "too rich for my blood" cos I don't normally spend a ton on my dolly hobby. The whole point of my dolly hobby is to teach myself and then maybe you how to make neat stuff on the cheap... So when I saw the $24.99 price tag I sighed and said I would probably have to pass on whole box but could I buy the silverware. (Cos I really wanted them!!) When she says "I'll let you have the box for $19.99." And I said "Sold!" Because I am not a fool and I know an amazing steal when I see it. I mean, the $24.99 was a steal too but... I was so blown away when I got the box home and started to dig out all the goodies!! The following are photos of what I got. 

Look at the cool gadgets!! The meat grinder handle actually works and so do the egg beaters!!

My favorite part! I love love love them!! So cute!!

The percolator actually has 'guts' in it. So sweet!

I love the bread box too!! And the matching cookie tin and Flour Sugar Coffee containers and the colander and and and... Oh I love it all.

Look! The bread box even opens!! It has a little shelf!!

Close up of the pans. Love the cookie sheets and the shaped pan with the bird on it and the muffin tins and the frying pans and and and... See? Can't choose a favorite!

All packed away in my little doll hutch.

Here are some photos of the dishes incorporated into the kitchen in a more realistic looking room.

Since I mentioned the new doll...

 I have to show you a photo of the boy doll I found. He was only 99c!! I've wanted a 'brother' doll and was so excited! More on him later!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time! Same bat time, same bat channel!

The 98c American Girl Doll 'Full Length Mirror' Upcycle Project

Greetings and Salutations!

As you might've read in my prior post, I've allowed myself to begin to look around with 'doll eyes' when I am out thrifting. I live pretty close by to several fantastic thrift stores and so I stop into one a couple times a week usually when I am out on errands. I don't eat fast food and so I reward myself with the amount it would cost to eat a meal deal at drive through, eat PB&J and am healthier for it. Ha! Justification much? Anyway, on with the story... The other day I am in the thrift shop and I don't know if you remember but in the late 80s and early 90s every house had these little wall candle holders with the mirror. I remember, I and them too! So now at thrift stores they are a dime a dozen! Or, well, usually they are about a $1 to $2 each but still, cheap. So I saw them sitting there and I thought "Can I use them for the dolls?" And immediately this little project came to mind. Wasn't sure exactly how I was going to get it to work but I plunked down my 98c (plus tax) on the counter, grabbed my mirror and headed for home and the bottle of wood glue.

First think I did was take the candle holder part off. It appears they stained it after they screwed together when they made it so its got a bit of an ugly but on front. Hmmm... What to do? As you may have read in prior posts, I have been a crafter a long time and have bits and bobs from all manner of craft at my little creation corner! So I dug in my stash of stuff and got out the wood shapes. Found the these cute little ladies in the bag and thought they were perfect! 

Next I had to figure out how to get it to stand up. I knew I wanted to use the candle part of the original item as part of stand at least and my first idea was to turn candle holder upside down and Velcro it on in a bit of a lower case h shape. But it was wibbly. So I scrapped that idea and moved the Velcro down on the mirror to the very bottom then the candle holder bit was a great stand!

When the glue dried I could still see the damaged wood where the candle had been hooked on. I puzzled what to do because now the ladies were stuck on there too. So I dug through my embellishments in my scrapbook supplies and found these two embellishments from some set or other? Use what you find! It's all part of the fun, coming up with your own design. They sell all manner of wood shapes and you could paint them too but I just love the natural wood look. (Also I am too lazy to paint) 

So the back was ugly because they wrote the prices on in China marker which is cool on plates but almost impossible to get off cardboard. What to do? I used a mailing label (blank) larger than the written prices and covered them up. Then I used some large butterfly stickers to embellish the back of mirror. 

The candle holder part comes off really easily. That one screw is all I had to undo.

I try to design all my doll stuff so it's as easy to pack away as possible because you have to store it too! So I am showing how it folds down flat with the 'leg' stored in the mirror when not being played with.

Trying it out with the dolls! It's a tiny bit short but I know that a lot of 'full length' mirrors in the non doll world are not really tall either but they work just fine. So... For 98c (plus tax!) I got a little bedroom assesory for the dolls! 

Here it is next to bed. (which I made from a shoe rack, see prior post) 

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by! 

Vintage Toy Kitchen for 18" Dolls!

My children's Grandma, my husbands mother and Mom of my heart, when she built her House of Dreams (the house she waited 35 years to have because she was a military wife) she made a room just for my two kids. Her Little People she called them, and it was a magical room, filled with toys and books and games from both her and my husbands childhood. When she passed away and the house was being sold, I was asked if I might like any thing special to remember her by... I chose a few things, her favorite robe, her scarf collection, a favorite quilt and the toy kitchen I am about to show you. So, as you may imagine, I love it. LOVE IT. I love it because it was Moms, at her house for the kids and that my kids played with it when they were little bitty and I love that it just so happens to be correct scale for another thing I love, 18" dolls. I love that I will be able to use Mom's kitchen in my little doll blog. I have had so much fun taking photos of it with the dolls!

It's marked on the side "Mfd by Wolverine Supply and Mfg. Co. Pittsburgh PA"

So I also love that it was made in America! Very cool!

As you can see, the door has printed on grocery items in the door.

And it's very much a mirror to the real appliances they had at the time. Refrigerators, or ice boxes as my own grandmother would call them, used to be much shorter.

The stove is also very accurate. If you look on the top left "burner" is what looks like a pan lid printed on it but it's not supposed to be a pan lid. Stoves in this era had a kind of slow cooker built in to the stove that was recessed into the stove. So that is what that I supposed to be.

So much fun to put it all together with the dolls!!

 

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!! 

Upcycling Newborn Sized Sundress into 18" Doll Dress

I haven't written a post here in a long while... Kind of thought I might not write again. My dear daughter kind of fell out of the 18" Doll craze and was on to other things and my enthusiasm waned because I felt like I had no one to share my little creations with and so why bother making them? Fast forward to recently joining a group on Facebook called My Dolls House! A whole community of people who love making scenes and rooms and whole houses for their American Girl and other 18" dolls!! I read some posts and thought "oh if only I would've had them to talk to a year ago...!" Until one day, a couple of days ago, I decided to post, there, some of the half done ideas I'd had planned for this blog but then just didn't see through to writing about. Well, that sparked my enthusiasm again as a few people liked the items I showed them. I mentioned there the other day how easy peasy lemon squeezy it was to make Upcycled doll clothes from baby clothes. I know I've mentioned it before and shown examples but I don't think I've ever done a play by play of how I make over a dress. So... Here is what I did:

Here is the finished dress!!

The original dress, a newborn size sundress.

I am not real scientific about this honestly, I just try it on the doll and kind of pinch where it looks like it would fit pretty well on both sides and mark that place with pins.

Then I take a ruler and make a strait line, being sure to pull all layers and everything very strait so it will lay right. You get a feel for this I think but I make a line to sew down cos it helps me. 

Then you pin down the line as you would if you were sewing a regular outfit seam.

Then sew down your line taking pins out as you go so you don't break your needle.

Can you see the seams on both sides? Time to try on for fit!

Looks good, need to tighten the shoulder straps. Forgot to photo that process but you just pinch together where it falls right and pin it and sew a strait seam. You can see the seams I made in the straps in next photo. I literally zip across them about three times so it can be played with without worry of it ripping.

Moment of truth! Well, almost. This part always freaks me out. Trim off the excess fabric leaving a healthy seam allowance!! I leave like an inch out from the seam just to be safe.

See? Just cut it off.

Some of the edges may be a bit wonky if you have a four layered dress like this one but it looks good on outside and I don't trim too much closer because I like to leave good seam allowance!

There you have it! For 99cents and about an hours work (if you're a perfectionist like me and slow going!) you have a pretty smocked American Girl Doll Dress!!

**Update February 16, 2014**

Hello Doll Friends!!

Just made over a couple more items into doll dresses. The first one I did almost exactly like the one above only the shoulders had straps which I was afraid, if I sewed them together, they might pull apart from being played with. I think doll clothes should be able to be played with pretty roughly, by kids, or what's the point? It's doll clothing! I digress... So on this purple dress I simply cut the straps and knotted them on top. Thought it turned out pretty cute. 

I made this:

From this:

A 12month size baby sun dress I got at thrift store for 50c. Not a bad deal. Took about a half an hour to make over because I am slow and methodical (measure twice!) and it takes me a few minutes to get settled into my machine. 

The back of dress:

Then I made this:

Yellow mocked neck sun dress with matching scrunchie.

The back:

Hair scrunchie:

From this: 

A 9mnth size baby onesie. See how the top of the dress is already there? 

I noticed after I looked at it with my good light that the item had a stain... Oh bother... Luckily it was on the bottom portion of the outfit and while it forced me to make the dress a bit shorter than my original inception, it worked out cute enough. It worked much same as with dress except you have to cut out the bottom snappy portion of the outfit. I ended up using one of the leg bands as the scrunchie because I like to use as much of original item as possible since I have it anyway and ensembles are always more fun! So anyway, cut out end of outfit:

See above photo? You can kind of see stain in it. It has all leg band and crotch of outfit all cut out.

Now you need to hem it into a dress. I altered it into a dress first and then altered the arm holes as if it'd been a dress all along (see above). So I chose where to put my hem (or rather the choice was taken out of my hands due to stain) and I made a pencil line strait across. Remember to make sure both layers of outfit are smooth and flat before cutting!! Then I cut strait across. (I hold breath every time I do this... Haha!) Then I simply hemmed it and finished off same as I did the dresses above. 

All in all, am happy with the way they turned out! So much fun making something out of nothing... Or sort of. Cost of both dresses this evening, not including my time, was about $1. Love that! 

Thanks for stopping by again! Have a great day!!