I have always thought that grown women who sew doll clothes (and, heaven forbid, display them in their homes) are kinda creepy. We all know that, right? It’s fine to sew doll clothes if you have kids, in a limited kind of “Oh, if I must” way, but anything else is just weird and not right.
Yeah, so I finally caved and we decided to give our two little girls American Girl dolls for Christmas. Dang, those are expensive. So, I’m not paying $25 for a little outfit. I figure my 8yo can practice her new sewing skills, and I’ll help her out with the tricky bits, and we’ll all be happy.
There was a nice sale on patterns this weekend and I picked up some doll patterns. I had never looked at doll patterns before, because as we all know doll patterns are creepy. However they do come in large variety, and they’re a good deal because you get about 9 outfits in each one. And the next thing I know, I’m putting doll sewing books on hold at the library and InterLibrary Loaning a couple more titles like International Wardrobe for Dolls and thinking “oh, look, I could sew an Irish dance costume, wouldn’t that be great since 8yo is in Irish dance!” (Mind you she hasn’t got a costume because Irish dance costumes are also creepy, not to mention $800 used! But this one is all one color and cute…)
I have become the monster. Somebody stop me before I turn into a scary doll-loving woman who sews tiny little outfits and displays them all around the house!!!
Over the past couple of weeks I have lost several hours of my life to Googling for an 18" doll that’s cheaper than those damn $90 American Girls. (Found one, too.) Also checking out pre-made historical doll costumes as well as sewing patterns. All because my four-year-old grand-niece has a birthday NEXT MAY and I’m planning the coloring/story book I’m going to make for her and the doll I’m going to give her to go with it.
But I’m really not into dolls, or doll costumes. It’s just this once, I swear. I can quit anytime I want.
I love sewing doll clothes. When my goddaughter was about 6 she wanted to show me her Barbie. My GOD those clothes are crap. They are made of used Kleenex and snot. So I decided to make some Barbie clothes. I went to the high-end fabric store and bought some remnants. You can buy a eighth yard of gorgeous silk for a couple of bucks, fancy trims, anything you want. I made a green moire cape lined with gold, a blue satin ball gown, all sorts of stuff.
I get intimidated by the big stuff, but with a doll dress, the seams are four inches long! They’re done before you get sick of them. I like tiny work. If I had been so inclined, I could have gone to craft fairs and sold this stuff, but then I would have had to deal with . . . Barbie people.
When I got married I told the seamstress to save me the scraps from altering my wedding gown, so I could make Barbie a gown because my goddaugher was my flower girl, and I wanted to give her a miniature wedding dress as a keepsake. (Her mother wouldn’t have let her mess it up.) But the seamstress didn’t do it. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted. Now I have a niece who’s that age, but I won’t do it for her. She’s not careful and anything I make for her would get trashed.
Hee hee! I guess that’s kind of how I feel. I’m having some fun thinking up cute outfits for my girls to play with (my redhead might like an Anne of Green Gables dress for her redhead doll, oh look there are Russian and Korean outfits and we have Russian and Korean cousins…and we haven’t even got the dolls yet!) but there are all these people who are…yeah.
But I can stop anytime I want, yep.
you did the 99 cent Simplicity sale didn’t you? Simplicity does 18" doll clothes very well. I’ve even picked up a couple of the vintage doll pattern reissues.
We bought our daughter an 18" doll for Christmas last year and I was planning the wardrobe before we even had the doll in hand. I even altered a couple of patterns a tad to make them match an item of clothing our daughter had. I seem to also be buying just a bit of extra fabric when sewing clothes for the girl now so I have left overs for her doll. And it’s really sad when you pick the Christmas Dress pattern based on which dress is most easily reproducible at 18".
BTW, the Our Generation dolls at Target are not bad quality. They are just fine for how often my girl plays with her doll. At 1/3 the price of an American Girl doll, I am happy with the Target doll and so is she. Of course, we do try to keep the girl away from American Girl catalogs as much as possible.
I did indeed do the Simplicity sale, and I got two vintage patterns and two modern ones. The older patterns seem simpler, so we’re starting with those.
I’d love to get dolls at 1/3 the price, but my girls love that AG catalog. They sent away for it, and when I recycled one several months ago, they didn’t let me forget it until a new one came. The 5yo treats it like a cave of wonders. The 8yo loves the books. I am stuck. (8yo can’t decide if she wants Molly or Julie. Duh, Julie isn’t historical, she’s just retro. Julie doesn’t count. And Molly looks just like my kid anyway, so I think we’re getting Molly. 5yo is getting Felicity, her favorite, because of the horse and the red hair.)
Yeah, I’m starting to think in matching outfits too. Nightgowns especially.
