Doll's top & booties

I've been promising to make some clothes for my little girl's doll for ages.
My Mum used to make doll's clothes for me and I just loved that she did!
So today I finally came good on my promise and made a top and booties for Molly Dolly.

 

I used McCall's Pattern #5553.  Dolls clothes are incredibly fiddly because they're so small.  But I love making them because you can finish something in a couple of hours.

Guess who's got the sewing bug?

So, what to sew next??

Another outfit for Miss 2 perhaps.

Girl's tiered dress

I just finished this dress for my 2 year old daughter.

 

I made it using McCalls Pattern #4817.

 

I want to be 2 again!!

Crochet Baby Blanket

I love to crochet.  I made this for my baby girl...

To make I used this basic pattern, changing colours and adding 3 more rounds, keeping pattern the same, to each square-

Round 1:
ch 6, form ring.
ch 3, 15 dc in ring, join in top of ch 3

Round 2:
ch 6, dc in same st, dc in next 3 sts, *(dc, ch 3 dc) in next st, dc in next 3 sts
repeat from * around, join in 3rd ch of ch 6.

Round 3:
Ch 3 (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in next ch 3 sp, dc in each st with (3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc) in each 3 ch sp, join in top of 3 ch.

Make enough squares until you have the size you want.
Join squares by placing 2 wrong sides together and using a single crochet in each stitch.
Then join rows of squares the same way.
Add a few rows of dc around the whole finished blanket keeping the corner pattern the same.
For the final row, use a shell edge of sc, dc in same stitch, dc, sc in next stitch, ch 1, miss one stitch, repeat.  For corners sc, 5 dc, sc.


If you do not know crochet already this will look like some secret code.
You too can learn the code by clicking here!
And you can find diagrams here.  Although I'd recommend finding a real person, these diagrams are confusing!!

Gathered Skirt

Gathered skirts are easy to make and no pattern is required.

To make this skirt...

You will need -

1m x 140cm wide embroidered fabric
.3m x 140cm wide cheesecloth
.7m x 150cm wide cotton lining
25mm elastic
matching thread
scissors

Make it up -

1. Cut cheesecloth into 140cm x 25cm rectangle.
2. Cut embroidered cloth into two 1m x 70cm rectangles (just cut the original piece in half).
3. Cut lining into 140cm x 70cm rectangle.
4. With right sides together, sew short edges of cheesecloth together to make back seam.  Overlock seam edge.
5. With right sides together, sew the 2 pieces of embroidered cloth together at side seams. Overlock seam edge.
6. With right sides together, sew the lining together to make a back seam. Overlock seam edge.
7. Give all pieces a good press with the iron to flatten seams and this will possibly be the best ironing your skirt will ever get...or is that just saying something about my ironing skills?
8. Sew 1 or 2 rows of gathering stitch (longest stitch on machine) around the top of embroidered fabric.
9. Attach right sides of cheesecloth and embroidered fabric with pins at centre front, centre back and each side seam.
10. Pull up gathering thread until embroidered fabric matches cheesecloth.
11. Pin seam in place then machine sew.
12. Pull out any visible gathering threads. Overlock seam.
13. Pin lining to the inside of skirt at the top (right side of lining to wrong side of skirt).
14. Fold top down (keeping both layers together) 1.5cm, then 3.5cm, pin then sew casing close to folded edge, keeping a 2.5cm opening at the back seam to insert elastic.
15. Measure waist and cut elastic to 8 - 10 per cent shorter.
16. Thread elastic through casing, overlap edges and machine stitch together.
17. Sew up opening in casing.
18. Hem skirt to desired length.
19. Hem lining a few centimetres shorter.