American Girl Doll Clothes and a Giveaway Prize I Won!

I have been busy lately completing two outfits for my twin granddaughters 6th birthday. The model is my 10 year old granddaughters AG doll because the two little ones weren't about to let their dolls out of their sight. I needed one to try the clothes on and make sure they fit and I was afraid for awhile I might have to spend some big bucks on a doll model. The girls chose the fabrics from my stash. I really had fun making these!

The winter coat is for Sarah's doll. The pattern is Simplicity 5733. She needed a coat for her doll so she could take her outside...so funny :-) Sarah is a very tactile girl and has always really been particular that whatever she had (blankets, clothes, plush animals etc.) were very soft things.

The fabric she chose for this was not quilted, so I added batting between it and the lining to give it some fullness.

I also added the trim to the sleeves to dress it up. The pattern called for trim on the hood and the trim added to the sleeves gave it that extra pizazz.

It also called for buttonholes, but I opted for good old hook and loop (Velcro) dots.

My niece had wanted to learn crochet, so of course touching the crochet hook to show her some basics got me started and I crocheted a little scarf and hat to go with the coat. I am also making a pair of blue jeans for Sarah's doll.

Grace is the girly girl and likes dress up. She showed me an outfit in the AG catalog and said it didn't have to be that color. She chose the fabrics above. They were very easy to work with and this outfit actually came together quickly. I used Simplicity pattern 5276.

I have to apologize for the poor photos, but there isn't any sunshine today and I have to finish Sarah's jeans and get these wrapped. I added lace to the sleeves and had to shorten the dress from where the pattern made the hem.


I also found this sequined elastic and made a belt for the dress by adding a hook and loop closure.

Knowing how Grace loves sparkles and frills, I made this little skirt with an elastic band. I didn't use a pattern for it. It just stretches and slides right over top of the "little black dress" and the sequin belt fits over it.

What I love about this dress is that it can be dressed up or shown casual just like a real "little black dress". Below is a doll size torn t-shirt scarf. I found this on DIY. It is called an 'infinity scarf'. Here is a link to the tutorial: http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=61&sid=14428842 . I bought t-shirts and took them when I stayed with the girls one night. It was a full evenings entertainment complete with a fashion show afterwards to show grandpa what they made. We had so much fun! We used the sleeves to make the doll's scarf and the hemmed section of the sleeves was used for headbands for the girls. Lauren, the 10 year old also cut small pieces to tie onto her flip flops! Their imaginations were going crazy and there was hardly enough t-shirt left to wipe my tears.

Below is the basic dress. I made bows at the shoulders for something a little different.

That is what I have been doing and now, here is something I won! I haven't done much paper crafting but have been stashing decorative paper in hopes of someday doing something with them and old family photos. This book is full of inspiration. I won it from Cynde at Mixed Media Artist. She is inspirational herself! Here is a link to her blog: http://www.mixed-media-artist.com/

I had to laugh when I was thumbing through the book and came to this page by Stephanie Wolff. The same night the girls and I worked on the scarves, I taught them how to do this church/steeple/people thing with their hands. Such a fun thing to remember!

I am finally finished blabbering - almost. The birthday party is tomorrow and I can't wait to give the girls their presents. We also bought them a dozen movie CDs from Feature Films for Families. If you have problems finding good wholesome family movies, this is the go to place! Their movies are just the best and the content is great for family entertainment and the prices are very reasonable. We just have them send so many movies and they send us all new ones and each has a valuable lesson for kids and a discussion guide to get them thinking about what they saw. I really enjoy the movies myself as do the kids!

Here is their web site: http://www.familytv.com/