I had a scary thought the other day: my little girl is growing up!
I keep thinking that "someday" I will make her some cute clothes for her and her dolls and Barbies. Right now she loves it when I make something for her and thinks that my taste in fabrics is great. But the day will be coming soon when she won't want to wear anything homemade or play with her dolls and I came to the realization that I need to make today that "someday"!
Here is Abby with one of her dolls all dressed in her outfit. This outfit went together very easily because it came from a marked panel by Andover Fabrics. The panels were part of a line of fabric called, Let's Play Dolls. The instructions were printed right on the panel and you just sit down, cut and sew. The only other materials needed were a bit of bias-cut seam binding (you can buy pre-made or make your own) and thread. There are 2 different panels that each have an outfit and accessories printed on them.
Then, they had coordinating fabrics on the bolt so that you could make matching outfits in girl-sizes. The skirt I made for Abby uses the pink w/ yellow polka dot fabric from that line but I found a tone-on-tone yellow chevron that I used for the lower ruffle. She's actually not a huge fan of pink so I was trying to tone that down a bit.
Since I made this outfit, I also did one for a friend's birthday party that Abby was going to as part of her gift. I made a skirt for the girl and a matching dress for her doll. It was a big hit.
The pattern for the skirt came out of a McCall's Quilting magazine. They have re-printed the same pattern several times now. I think the first time I saw it was in their Quilts and More magazine. It is a pretty simple pattern with an elastic casing for the waist and then the 2 ruffles. I have re-sized it on my own now since Abby is getting a little big for the pattern as is (and if I can re-size it with my very limited pattern reading ability - you can too!).
