Fabric Travel Doll House

Fabric 

Doll House 

       
              There have been so many fabric doll houses on Pinterest lately.    Or maybe they just started to catch my eye.  I enjoy making toys out of felt and different kinds of fabric, so fabric doll houses would be a natural progression for me to try to work on.  

    
               Here is a look at the inside of my fabric doll house.      The house lays flat and can be folded for easy storage.      It measures 26 inches from top to bottom and is 2 and a half feet across.       At this point you can see pins around the edges of the house.      I was beginning to hand stitch the house together.
   
       The central section has a light blue gingham "rug" on the floor.      The back wall has the table and two chairs.      An large ice cream treat is waiting on the table to tempt anyone who comes to visit.      Hung on the back wall is a festive banner ready for any celebration.

         There is a picture of the family dog hanging over the warm cozy fire place on the left side wall.        Across the room is a Christmas tree with a smiling snowman button behind the ladder that leads to the upstairs loft. 

           The embellishments were made from scrap flannel fabric and stitched securely onto  the base fabric before the house was assembled.

         The green lawn is felt with a burlap path winding through the middle.  A small pond, trees, and flowers add to the outdoors feel. 

 
           The outside of the fabric house is also embellished.     A black front door with a button door knob is surrounded with a green vine with yellow flowers.       The vine was machine stitched and the flowers and French knots.     Next to the window is a felt mailbox and a tiny pink button flower to add contrast and dimension.     I stitched their last name on the mailbox in place of  the white label.     One side of the house has a wildflower garden made from assorted colorful buttons with machine stitched stems. 

         At the top of the picture you can see the striped roof with a pink ribbon.   This will become the carrying handle once the house is folded up.  If you look closely you can see loops sewn around the outside edge of the roof and front of the house.   These will be used with buttons to securely close the house when your child is finished playing. 
 NOTE:
      After my granddaughters played with their houses for a while, the elastic loops became unattached.     I will need to use velcro to make tabs to close the house more securely.       I learn something new every day!    And I am not ashamed to make mistakes.  That's what I told my students and now what I tell my grandchildren.    Live and Learn!

      The house walls and floor are reinforced with sheets of plastic canvas.  These light weight  sheets of plastic make the walls sturdy yet flexible. 

        Recently I  made some princess finger puppets which were  the perfect size for this play house!

             

            As  you can see the house has been played with and is quite durable. It takes the strain of a toddler sitting on and it it.

     This little house was so much fun to make and embellish.

  Happy Sewing!

Beti

Baby Boy Doll Clothes

Baby Boy
Doll Clothes 

          Dolls and doll clothes are so important in the development of young children. Dressing yourself and a doll or stuffed animal are wonderful activities to develop self reliance. Every child needs fine motor activities.  Little boys and girls enjoy this type of activity so very much.

          My son-in-law gave me an old pair of  pants in the camouflage pattern. I thought it would be fun if the dolls has pants or shorts made from this fabric. I guess you could call these long shorts or short pants.

         The shorts have a pocket on one side. I thought it would add a little extra.  Little Boys and girls love  pockets.  It is a perfect size to place a special trinket for your dolls.  I made these with a waist band instead of elastic.  The aterial was somewhat heavy. If you are using light weight or knit fabric an elastic waist would work as well.

        The  T-shirt has a neckline made from a strip of the T-shirt material.  I like this technique because I get a nice clean neckline.  I used the T-shirt material for neckline trim even when the shirt is made from a woven material.  Velcro was sewn to the back seam edges. It makes it very easy for the young child to dress their dolls.

           As you can see the T-shirt has a long length.  It can be tucked into the pants or shorts. You can make it shorter if that is what you need.

           These are the patterns used for the shirts and shirt. The patterns  are on a  one inch grid and can easily used in woven or stretchy material.  The length of the shorts pattern is 5 1/4 inches as you can see on the grid. This measurement can be made longer if you want full length pants.

         The shirt with sleeves are made in one piece.  This makes it so easy! The length of the shirt can be made shorter or made longer to make a dress or nightgown. The pattern is very easy to adjust if necessary.

              
             Both the shirt and shirt were made from scraps of material I had in my scrap box.  So, you can see that the amount of fabric need is minimal.

       I do hope you can use these patterns and ideas for the doll clothes that you are making.

  Happy Sewing!  

Beti          

Shorts for American Girl Doll

  
     Shorts 
     from a
     T-shirt 

                      A pair of shorts is always a great piece of clothing to add to your doll's wardrobe.   A pink T-shirt was an interesting piece of fabric that I had in my stash.  I had used the shirt for several other pieces of doll clothes,that you can see in previous post,  but the sleeves were left over. There was just enough fabric to make a pair of shorts for an American Girl Doll.

              

             This is the pattern used to make the shorts. The shorts are a little roomy in the legs.  The young child would find these easy to put on and take off of their doll.  The pattern is on a 1 inch grid.  As you can see on the pattern, these shorts fit an American Girl Doll.

           As seen in the picture below, the shorts are laid out on the finished edge of the sleeve. This layout make the sewing very easy with just the front and back seams,  the waistline with elastic, and the inseam. 

              This pattern will also fit a Cabbage Patch doll comfortably.

                Here are the shorts with a little ruffled halter top also made from the same T-shirt material. The T-shirt material is so very soft and very easy to work with.  It doesn't wrinkle and very forgiving for young children to play with.

                       The shorts pattern will also fit a 14 inch Strawberry Shortcake baby doll.  The shorts are slightly more roomy fit on this doll.  The pattern could be made smaller to fir this size doll. 

                       I do hope that this idea and pattern are helpful for you and your doll clothing. Please leave my a comment if you have the time and any ideas you might like to share.

             Happy Sewing!