Shorts and Halter Top

Shorts and Halter Top

           Everyone has old T-shirts in our closets, drawers, and on shelves.  these shirts can be favorites that are well worn.  They also can be only worn once and then stuffed to the back and not worn very often.  

            When making doll clothes I usually don't like to  to spend a lot of money for material.  When shopping I go to the remnant section first. One great buy was on the remnant rack and the sign said 50% off.    Then to the sale section, looking for the 70 or 80% off at JoAnn's.  They usually have a a nice selection, but you have to do a lot of searching.   

          I usually look through my material bin for pieces that are big enough to make a doll outfit.  Then came to my eye, the old T-shirts that were not being worn anymore.  There was a very pale lavender T-shirt with long sleeves. I know it looks  like it is light pale blue in the picture.  This halter and shorts outfit was one result of that shirt. 

                 Actually, from this one long sleeve T-shirt I made a baby doll sleeper, a long sleeve shirt for an American Girl Doll, and this halter and shorts set. There is some material left over, but I haven't decided what can be made from that scrap.   Scraps of material are so very useful in making doll clothes. You can view the sleeper and long sleeve shirt on previous posts. 

            I love the color of this T-shirt.  It is a raspberry heather color. Every year my husband and I go to the "Woodward  Dream Cruise".  We live near Detroit, the Motor City.  In August, Woodward Ave. becomes a mecca for old and classic cars. The auto makers give away t-shirts as souvenirs.  This was one of those shirts.

           

               The halter top started its life planning to be a doll skirt, but the base fabric scrap I had was a little too small for a skirt.  Once the ruffles were sewn on, and was fitted on the doll, I realized that it was WAY TOO short for a skirt. What was I going to do with these ruffles? 
 The light bulb turned on and the this halter was born. Two straps were sewn and added to the halter top and it was done. 

               These shorts were cut from the sleeves of the T-shirt.   This T-shirt that I used also was made into two other outfits.  I try to used as much of the fabric as I can.  The neck ribbing from a T-Shirt makes great bias tape to trim the sleeves on a sleeveless top or the neckline. 

             I these simple shorts and tops made from T-shirts will inspire you in making doll clothes in the future. My clothes are nothing fancy, but they will be played with for years to come. And the outfits will have a story behind them.

                 I would enjoy reading any comments you have about this post.  Feel fell to leave a comment.

          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!

Doll T-Shirt

Doll  T-Shirt
       Remember these Old Navy shirts with the sparkles?  This one has been around for a long time.  It looked like a good piece that could be turned into doll clothes.

      I used the sleeves for a baby doll sleeper.  You can see it on a prior post for baby doll sleepers. The sleepers were made from recycled shirts made from different jersey knit materials.


      The pattern piece for the short front was positioned on top of the "Old Navy" logo.  Luckily, it fit perfectly!

                  Recycling is always a great idea.  To use an old shirt or other piece of clothing when making doll clothes is a win win situation.  You can clean out your closets and make something for a child that will have a story to go along with it. That piece of clothing can be passed down from one child to another through doll clothes.

       Keep Sewing and making happy memories for lots of people.  Enjoy your day!

Beti

Easter Basket Envelope

          Now that we are working with our children at home, this is an easy project you can do at home with a white business envelope. 

         A simple business size envelope can easily become an Easter Basket envelope for your kids to make.

        I started with a standard business size envelope because local businesses had donated their old, out dated envelopes to our school.  Why buy new when you can reuse?  As you can see, I drew a dashed line about 3 inches from the left hand side of the envelope.  In this way the printed return address can be cut off  and discarded.

      That section was cut off. 

         Then I found the center of the remaining envelope and cut the flap into a triangle.

         A triangular section was cut out of the middle of the flap to create a handle for the basket.

          Finally, the left side of the envelope  is glued.  Now the decorating begins. As you can see, these were given to our 1st grade buddies.  So names were written on the front or back of the envelope to ensure delivery. As you can see we tucked our Easter cards into the completed envelope Easter baskets.

           A very easy  project for 5th graders to work on. If you are making these with younger children, an adult might have to do the cutting and gluing ahead of time to get the size correct. Then, have the kids do the decorating.
          
          These could also be used as place cards for your Easter dinner table. You might even fill each with a little Easter grass. Grandma and aunts will be impressed with their personalized name cards.  Let your children be creative and help decorate.






          Today I linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching   
 five for FRIDAY weekly linky party.

www.doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com 

          Please leave a comment.  I'd love read your thoughts and ideas.

            
   Enjoy Spring!
Beti