Tuesday, July 17, 2012

From baby clothes to doll clothes!

My head is always full of crazy things that I would like to try...I have that mentality that I can do just about anything...build a house, fly an airplane, fix a car....  Ok...no worries... I will NOT be doing those three crazy things anytime soon!

But sometimes I come up with these ideas...do a little research...and act upon my ideas.  Most of the time they are total failures.  I have little pockets of time to get things done...many...many...many interruptions if I try to focus on one particular task for a long period of time.  So I rush through things and then most of my crazy ideas are a total fail.

I am NOT a sewer (is that a word??).  I can hardly sew a straight line....cut a straight line...and have this sewing machine that breaks every 2 seconds...even though it is new!  Who has time to read manuals? 

So my crazy idea of the week....sew some doll clothes for my girls' American Girl dolls.  Their clothes are so expensive and I am the biggest cheapskate ever.  They purchased a few at the official AG store and I know they are getting a few from relatives for their upcoming birthdays...but hey...why not try to sew up a few of my own?

My plan of action was to take advantage of the deep summer deals at local consignments stores.  Cute baby things can be snatched up right now for $1-$2 per piece.  I bought a bag full of little baby clothes for only $24 including tax and went to town sewing.

Some tips before you read on...if you want to try to do this on your own....

  • Newborn or premie sizes work the best
  • Ask your kids what they want....sometimes they don't agree on what you are thinking and do have ideas of their own.
  • Turn items inside out and pin...pin...pin!
  • Think outside the box...sometimes you can just use an arm or a leg of something to make something really cute!

 A cute little onsie tank.....cut into a top...turned inside out and pin and the bottom....all ready to sew.
 This little cute onesie...also turned into a top....along with a baby skirt, that now fits their doll!
 and another cute pink baby skirt turned doll skirt and the tank from earlier.
 Little bloomers pinned and ready to transform into doll shorts!
 So cute!
 and another pair of shorts altered!
A summer shirt turned into a sundress or jammies!
 Another onesie turned into a long shirt!  (Jeans are official American Girl)
 Another baby onesie and skirt turned into doll clothes!
 A green baby skirt turned into a sundress....I added some little straps to hold the dress up.

 This onesie (above) turned into a little tank (nightmare project...the onesie was too big for me to work with properly)...I added a belt around the shirt...another mistake...ribbon doesn't stretch!
 This sleeper...why not flip around and take advantage of the elastic bottom to make....pants!!
 A little picture of how I did it...lots of pinning!
 Then sewing and fitting into the doll!
 and whoola!!
 This little sleeper?
 Why not use the leg to make a little top??
 all of my creations!  My girls are beyond excited!! (and so am I!)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!











16 comments:

  1. Love love love this! I'm an aunt who purchased AG dolls for a deserving niece, and I'm trying to give the dolls an affordable, but stylish, wardrobe. Thanks for the great idea.

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  2. I have been experimenting transforming baby clothes into doll clothes. Thanks for the post.

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  3. I've been doing this too. Love it!

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  4. OMG, This Is Such A Good Idea, I Was Thinking About Doing Something Similar To This, But I Never Thought About Doing What You Did! =)

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  5. OMG! I totally have almost all of those exact baby clothes! We must have similar taste - love the post.... Off to the basement to gather doll clothes material!

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  6. I am a nut i am buying self two my life as and one my life lil doll for my birthday as gift to self in November. However well dolls are pretty it is Autumn up north where I am and doll clothes seem to lack sleeves. So also buying a couple 3 packs of baby shirts aat good deal as well qs good deal on a 3 pack of pants also getting two of those and we will figure it out so my gals don't freeze. I already own 1 my life lil.

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    1. Hi Amanda, don't feel bad. I just bought two My Twinn dolls for myself. I made some clothes for a little friend and her AG doll. My kids have 20 year old MTs. I cleaned theirs up, and put them back in storage. Mom has her own now. I figure that I can add to the meager clothing collection that their dolls have. My imaginary grandchildren will have something to play with, and Ill be entertained and creative for a while. "sigh" I just bought a table and chairs for the new girls.... lol!

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  7. very clever indeed! i will have to try this myself!!! thanks for sharing!

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  8. I made some clothes for a little friend, she has the AG doll. Hmm, got me to thinking, pull out my kids My Twinn dolls. They are 20 years old. I did the thrift store run, too. These are 23" dolls, so they can wear 0/3 month clothes and the shoes. Like you said , a little tweaking, wa lah! You have new clothes. Cheap chic.

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  9. Your post is really great! the video, the images and the description within really catches my attention. I’d love to hear and read more of your articles soon. So far, I have enough for now. More power to you and god bless.

    Buy Clothes For Kids

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  10. I have a friend who owns a thrift store she always gets a bunch of baby clothes and she calls me so I can get first dibs and pay 2 bucks for a big sack.
    I take them home start to work creating AG doll clothes.When I am finished I take them back for resale. Something I like doing plus I make a little extra money.But I have to admit I do keep a few☺☺

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  11. I took a two big tie-dyed looking onsie. Carefully cut out sleeves. Tied two shoulder straps as bows. Sewed a tiny pleat at neckline in front. Sewed a seam down back to hemline to fit better. Cut the hemline so it has followed the bottom on a curve. Fringed the bottom carefully all around. Tie dye look was beautiful. Very EASY.

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  12. Thanks for sharing useful information with us, do you want to buy newborn baby clothes at the best price. Lalalulu is the best online store for newborn baby clothes for 0-18 months.

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  13. Re-purposing is popular! I have to give you credit as you are a non-seamstress. The cheaper sewing machines are junk. They do not hold or adjust for tension on different fabrics. You have the visual sense to transform which many don't have.Kudos to you!

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