Doll Clothes

I've been working on the doll clothes for Dot's, Lucy's, and Lexi's 18" dolls.  I spent one whole day picking out the material I wanted to use from my scrap supply and cutting out the patterns for the outfits I wanted to make.  I decided to make one of each garment for each girl, but make them all from different material. For two days, I have been sewing the different things.  I have finished a sleeveless dress, a short sleeve top to go with the pair of shorts, and a long sleeve top to go with the pants for each girl.  I still have a long sleeve dress and a short sleeve dress to sew for each of them.
Here are the finished items.  I borrowed one of Lexi's two dolls to try the clothes on and to take the pictures.

Lucy's shirt and shorts.

Lexi's shirt and shorts.

Dot's shirt and shorts.

Lexi's sleeveless dress.

Dot's sleeveless dress.

Lucy's sleeveless dress.  For some reason it is shorter than the others.

Lexi's long sleeve top and pants.

Dot's long sleeve top and pants.

Lucy's long sleeve top and pants.

Most of the things are made from cotton.  The long sleeve tops are made from jersey knit and the pants are made from corduroy.

Big Brother Pillow

I might have mentioned before that I wanted to make something for the big brother of my neighbor's baby that I have been making things for.  Well, I decided on the dinosaur pillow.  I think it is really cute and just perfect for a three year old boy.  I had to adjust the pattern because it was supposed to just be a toy and I wanted it to be a pillow.  I should have made the head end a little bit longer, but all in all, I think it came out okay.

The spikes on the spine were supposed to be one color, but I like to mix things up a bit to add color. It is also a good way to use up left over balls of yarn, although it didn't take much yarn to make a spike, especially the first and last two spikes.

This completes the projects for the babies.  I had to do a lot of adjusting on the arches of the play mat.  I thought swim worms would work, but they do not have enough support to hold up the animals. They get all droopy and floppy.  I had to buy the pcv pipe like I have used before and insert them into the worms to give them the support they need.  I may have to get my niece's arches back and put them in hers.  I never left the animals hanging on hers long enough to notice that they lacked the support they needed.  The baby shower is over, so I have already given them to her. I really hate making things that do not do what they are intended to do.  I will give her a call and see what she says.

Thinking Outside the Box

It is not always easy for me to make little toy animals in unusual colors.  I tend to always make them look like the live animal.  I decided that for this play set, I would think outside the box.  I wanted to make them with bright, bold colors fit for a little girl.  The mat itself looks more boyish, but it is for a girl.  I thought that by making the animals more girlish in color, it would be more appropriate.  I made one that looks more in the boy colors, so that is going to be the boy animal.  The others will all be girls.

Elsa the Elephant looks much like the elephants on the mat in color, except for the bright pink ears and feet. That is my girl thing for this animal.  She also has yellow tusks, rather than the usual white.  

Geraldine the Giraffe looks more like an anteater with her long thin nose, but she looks nice in purple.

Zee Zee the Zebra seems a little sad to be pink and white instead of her usual black and white, but pink is nice for a girl.

Madeline the Monkey is ready to eat her banana as she swings on her ring of the play set.

Terrance the Tiger is the boy animal of the collection with his blue stripes and feet.  He looks like a Denver Bronco or Florida Gator in color, just not in species, since he is neither a horse nor an alligator.

This shows the animals hanging from the sad looking arches.  I need to adjust these arches just as I did the last set.  Since the arches are bigger around than I have used in the past, I didn't realize that I would need to make one shorter than the other.  I need to take apart the end of the under arch and cut off about four inches or so to allow the upper arch to have room to stand without pushing down on the lower arch.  It isn't hard to do, but it is a pain to get the end sewed back up when the arch is in the sleeve.  I will also have to raise a couple of the loops because even the shortest animal, the elephant, cannot hang from the lowest loop.  It is sitting on the mat in this shot.  Just a little more work to do to finish this project.  Hurrah!!

I know that I thought I would be done with the things for this third baby, but as I said before, I seem to never quite be finished.  Actually, I will be finished with the baby things when I get the arches fixed, but I want to make one more thing to give at the shower for this baby.  She will have an older brother, just three years old himself, and I never like to make things just for the baby.  I plan to make him a dinosaur pillow.  At least, that is what I think I will make.  I will have to check it out tomorrow.  I have made the pillow once before for my grandson, Jackson.  It is really cute, but I don't know if that is what I will actually make.  I might find something else that I want to try.

Now That Was Fast and Easy!

I have never used a kit to make a quilt before, but this one looked so perfect when I saw it that I decided to give it a try.  Although the squares were not already cut, the material came in the right amounts and in easy to cut sizes.  Choosing the correct materials and cutting it into the correct sizes is always the hardest part to making something.  Although I would probably not have chosen these materials to go together, I wasn't about to change them.  I do not make hand sewn quilts because I have never liked doing all the detail with such a small needle.  It also takes more time than I like to finish a quilt, so I choose to do the tied quilts.  Patchwork is really good for tying, so that is why I like to make them.  Anyway, from start to finish, it didn't take more than a couple of hours to complete.  Now, I can say that I am finished with the projects for my new little baby grand daughter.

The top of the quilt is made from three different types of material.  The pink is the very soft fuzzy type of material. I don't know what it is called, but it is really soft.  The printed and striped squares are of a light cotton, and the blue and yellow squares are flannel.This gives the quilt lots of texture and something I rarely do when I am choosing my materials.  I like it this way, but I know I would not have used the same types of prints.  I am also very picky about how my squares line up.  I see everything in patterns, so for me to put two pinks, or two owl print squares corner to corner, it would not have happened.  I decided to follow the pattern just as it showed it to be put together. I have to admit...it looks nice this way.

This is the back of the quilt.  Again, I would not have picked blue, but that was what the kit had, so that is what I used.

Baby #2 is now completed, so it is back to those animals so I can finish Baby #3.  Then, it is pillows, pillows, pillows for awhile.  At least, until someone asks for something else. Never know when that may happen.

Dresses Finished

I just finished the dresses for my grand baby.  I decided to make one more of a sun top, rather than a dress because I had a newborn size diaper cover that I had made for Ezra.  It was too small for him when I made it for him, so I just held on to it thinking that maybe someday another baby would come along that could use it.  Well, she is on her way and I thought the cover would look nice with this little top, so I left the bottom ruffle off that was supposed to be on the dress.  It looks a perfect size for a little newborn due in August.

The front of this little dress, which was supposed to be a small.  I thought six months, but looks more like 12 months.

The back of the above dress.

This dress was also a small, but looks more like eighteen months.  Whatever, she can use it sometime.

Love this perfect newborn top and cover, and it was so easy to make.

I thought that I was done with the things I am making for my little girl, but then I remembered that I plan to make a patchwork quilt.  I bought a kit for it some time ago and when I went to put away the things I have already made, I saw it and remembered that I want to do it now, too.  I will cut out the squares after I finish this and begin to put it together later today.  Always something to work on.

Rompers, Body Suits, Onesies...Whatever You Call Them

I just finished sewing three more things for my grand baby.  One pattern called it a romper, another was a body suit.  The other I call a onesie.  Whatever you call them, they all just cover the body...something nice and cool for an August baby.

This body suit wraps across the chest and snaps on the side, then it crosses over the front and snaps going down the front. It was a monster to make.  The front snaps gave me the biggest problem because of being so far from the edge.

This onesie was pretty easy to make, but I tried using snap tape and it was a new challenge.  I usually just use the snap tool.

This romper was also pretty easy, but it looks like I may have to adjust the elastic on the legs.  One looks wider to me.

I have three dresses cut out, so I will get to them next.  Then it is back to knitting the animals for the play mat set.  That will complete the baby things, so I can get back to the pillows.

Productive Day Until...

Well, I had a really productive day until right at the end. I had to just give up.  Everything was going wrong, and after my sewing machine needle broke, I threw in the towel.  It was time to call it a day and start fresh tomorrow.  However, before everything turned sour, I was able to do a lot of things, and without a lot of hassle.  I finished four bibs, two receiving blankets, and two changing pads.  Here they are.

Hats for my grand baby girl.

This is a really large receiving blanket with a hood for my granddaughter.

Changing pad for my little girl.

Changing side of the above pad.

Hat's for my neighbor's baby girl.

Receiving blanket for my neighbor's baby. Normal size and no hood.

Changing pad for the neighbor.

This shows the outside of the above changing pad opened up.  The other side is all of the polka dotted flannel.

I was working on a body suit for my grand daughter when I started to have problems.  I have never made this pattern before, and it was a little confusing to me.  I am making it out of jersey knit and it is so hard to make small seams. The material kept getting caught down in the machine every time I started a seam.  It stretches so much that you have to be careful not to pull on the material, or it will be all out of shape.  I was trying to do something that I didn't really understand when the needle hit a pin and broke.  I didn't have any needles left for working on knit material, so I had to quit even if I had wanted to keep going.  I picked up some more needles tonight, so I will try again tomorrow when my mind is fresh.  Besides it, I still have four more things to make for this baby and then I will be finished with everything I plan to make for her, except for the quilt.  I haven't even started it yet, but since she is due in August, I don't think she really needs a quilt until later.  I want to get the animals made for the other play set before I do anything else after I finish these sewing machine projects.

Niece's Baby Finished

I just finished with the things I made for my niece's baby.  I showed the forest play mat set and the bibs that I finished earlier.  That was going to be all that I made, but when I started sewing clothes and other things for my granddaughter baby, I got carried away and added a few more things for the other two babies that I am making things for, too.  I can never just be done.

I found the hat pattern when I was looking for something else.  Every baby needs hats. Each baby will get two hats.

Receiving blankets are always handy.  I folded this to make it look more interesting. Each baby will get a receiving blanket.

Changing pads are always useful.  This shows it folded up.  It has a pocket on each side for storing diapers and wipes.

The changing pad opened up.  Nice and soft flannel is what it is made of. Each baby will also get one of these.

I have all of the things cut and ready to sew for the other two babies.  I also have some onsies, a quilt, and some dresses to sew for my granddaughter baby. I say I can never be done, but I am done with all I am making for the first baby.  Baby shower is this Sat., so I just finished in time.  I can get the others done by some time in August.

Forest Play Mat

I just finished the forest play mat set for my niece's baby.  My goal was to have it finished before I left for Arizona on Sat.  Just made it.  I am a little discouraged, because one of the arches bows out a bit on the end where I had to make an extension of the tube.  I am going to have to try to fix it when I get back from my trip.  I have a few days to get it done.  I hope I can remedy the problem.

Ollie Owl matches the theme of the play mat.  It is covered with owls, on both the front and back of the mat.

Scampy Squirrel sports a busy tail.  Hope it holds together better than some I have made in the past.

Romping Rabbit is my own creation.  I just used all the head and body parts like the other animals and added my own ears and pom pom tail.

Sweet Pea Skunk remains one of my favorite of this animal collection. What's not to like about it?

Forest Frog is ready to leap right off the mat and into the hands of the darling little boy who will own him.

Hanging out together above the mat for the baby to see and reach for as he lies below.

This set is made to also be a mobile above a crib.  The arches can extend across the crib while the baby lies on the mat below.  I cannot show a picture of it being used this way because I no longer have a crib set up in my house. You can check it out on my past play mat blog entries.  You may have to go back quite a ways to find it.

Special Bibs

Another project for the babies has been completed.  I started to make two bibs each yesterday by picking out the material and cutting out the bibs for the three babies.  It takes so long to decide which material to use for each of the bibs.  I should have made four more girlish ones, but somehow, I only had three and three more boyish.  That's okay, everything doesn't have to be pink or purple for girls and blue or green for boys.  Here are my creations.

This dinosaur and frog are for my niece's boy.

The kitty and bug are for my neighbor's girl.

This bear and cow are for my granddaughter.

I'm still working on the animals for the play sets.  I have three of the five finished for the forest animal set that will be for my niece.  Her shower is July 12, so I need to finish hers first, and then I will work on the jungle one for my neighbor.  I don't need that one finished until the end of August.  I will work on some more things for my granddaughter who is due in August.  I am making some things for her that I am not making for the other two.  Busy, busy, busy, but I love it. It is really fun to make baby things.