Monday, November 15, 2010

Have a Handmade Christmas {Week 5}

 This week has been a flurry of sewing and gift making for our shoe boxes which we are hoping to drop off tomorrow.

    Have your been working on gifts too? If you have please tell us about it! I would love it if you would blog about it and then link it up for everybody to enjoy or feel free to tell us about it in the comments!
 One of my sewing projects was a soft doll to go in Megan's box.
To make it I used:
  • White T-shirt for fabric which I dyed with tea. (Just make a strong black tea, let the fabric soak in it, then wring it out and rinse it and then dry it in the dryer.
  • Thread
  • Yarn
  • Buttons for eyes.
  • Stuffing
  • Fabric for dress
  • Elastic (thin and big and lacy for around the middle)
  • Lace.
  • Ribbon for fastening the braids.
Step 1. I made a pattern for the doll and then cut it out. (front and back)
 Step 2. I sewed hair on the back. I sewed a seam down the middle of it- later I added another row of hair across the top. On the front I sewed a mouth and sewed on button eyes.
 Step 3. Put right sides together and sew around the doll leaving the top of the head open for turning and stuffing. Be careful not to catch the hair in the seam.
 Step 4. Carefully stuff it. This was Megan's job.
 Step 4. Hand stitch the top closed.
 Step 5. Hand sew another wad of "hair" on the front. Then braid it, working in the back hair- like a double french braid.

Next she needs some clothes as she isn't all the beautiful naked!

I decided to make her a raglan sleeve dress.
 Step 1. Sew all the pieces together as shown above.

Step 2. Sew a small hem in the neckline and sleeve ends.
 Step 3. Stretch elastic and sew it by the hem on the sleeve and the neckline. So it looks like this:
 Step 4. Sew one side seam and sleeve seam. (Right sides together taking a small seam)

Step5. Stretch and sew elastic across the waist section. I used big lacy elastic on the outside but you could also use small elastic on the inside. Or you could skip this step if you so desire.

Step 6. Sew the other side seam.

Step 7. Hem the bottom and add lace. (If you don't want to put lace on the bottom you should cut the dress pattern a bit longer.

Step 8. Dress your dolly.

I have included the pattern I made if you would like to try making this doll too. Just click on the graphics below and print them out.

Now it is your turn!!!
Please link up your Handmade Christmas Projects!

When you link up please:
  • Link to your specific post, not just your blog.
  • Keep it family friendly.
  • Link back to Proverbs 31 Living so more people will learn about the Handmade Christmas carnival and join in and then we will have more ideas to enjoy!

7 comments:

Blissful & Domestic said...

I haven't posted anything yet on my blog, but I have been working on some fun Christmas ideas for my littles. I love your blog it is a great reminder to get myself working on my handmade Christmas this year. Maybe I will have to do a quick post on a simple something I worked on this weekend. Thank you again for these wonderful posts:>

Nola said...

What a great doll. I'd love to make one so thank you for the directions. This winter my plan is to learn more about sewing. I got a new machine since my old one was not working. However I haven't used it yet! I wish you could give me lessons. :)

Greg and Donna said...

Great job on the dolly! I know the children who receive all of our boxes will be blessed, but we all received the blessing too! We are working at a relay center tomorrow and should get 500-600 shoeboxes delivered from various churches...it'll be exciting!

Bridgett said...

I'm enjoying this series. You have awesome handmade ideas for the shoeboxes! I haven't had time to work on anything yet but I should be linking up next week!

Jackie said...

The doll is cute. Great job!

Finding Balance mommy said...

We did this same thing last Christmas but made teddy bears. They turned out great also. Good job girls!!!! :-)

Abbi said...

Nola- It would be fun to have you come over and sew together. If we just lived a little closer....

Thanks everybody for your kind comments!

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