Thursday, July 22, 2010

Talk Back Thursday



Thank you so much to Gwen, Amy, Shannon, Elaina, Lois, Summerset and Sarah for talking back to my confession last Friday! I confessed that I've sewn a number of chic outfits for a teddy bear (oops, my apologies - a "Build-A-Bear" - apparently this is an important distinction in today's world!) and I asked if others also sew clothes for the less-animated set - dolls, stuffed animals, etc.


The answer was a resounding, unanimous, YES! Everyone who responded has done at least some sewing for, or of, toys. I thought it was particularly cool to learn that several folks actually got their sewing start making dresses for their Barbie dolls and stuffed animals when they were young.


Clothing projects mentioned included clothes for stuffed animals, Barbie dolls, 18-inch plastic dolls and a goose. Summerset actually made matching SWAPs for her daughter and her daughter's American Girl dolls - check it out here. How cool is that?!?!


Other projects included actually making the stuffed animals. Amy made the beautiful doll, Bianca, pictured above, and she gave links to pictures of an adorable hedgehog and robot that she has also made - warning: if you look at these you may wish that you were a kid again and she would adopt you! ;)


Elaina, whose son (obviously) doesn't play much with dolls, has had the honor and privilege of sewing sleeping bags for Transformers!


Lois pointed out some of the great advantages to sewing clothes for dolls - they stand perfectly still for the fittings, never outgrow your clothes and don't complain about the fit, style or color! ;) Shannon said that sewing Barbie doll clothes made sewing real baby clothes a breeze! And Sarah likes sewing doll clothes because it's a fast and fun way to try out a new technique.


My nieces are growing up, so my doll-clothes-sewing days may be mostly behind me - too bad, because I just found the coolest website - a size chart for dolls! It even includes armscye measurements! I don't even know MY armscye measurement! ;)


Thanks again to everyone who commented - I loved reading about your miniature projects and seeing your pictures!

2 comments:

meredithp said...

Chiming in late here...thanks for the chart. That's really helpful. I have two Magic Attic Dolls that I sew for from time to time. They are much slimmer than their American Girl counterparts, who most of the patterns are designed for. This will make it easier to alter downward.

I sew (and knit) for the dolls, because they don't care if something is a weird color, made out of scraps, and they'll wear heirloom sewn things, which I won't. I love to do heirloom sewing, but don't have a use for it. They sit quietly on the shelf, waiting for their next wardrobe change. They have the great honor of hanging out with my autographed Tim Gunn bobblehead.

Christine said...

I met to tell you, Gwen, that while I was on my search for a wedding dress I stumbled across a website that sells wedding dresses, and one of the options they have is that you can also order your dress in barbie doll size! I thought that was a cute way to memorialize "the dress." :)