Tutorial Tuesday

We have had a ton of fun sewing American Girl/18 inch doll clothes!  We made a lot of clothing for Christmas presents to give to friends, cousins, and of course little sister Holly and are continuing just for fun.  It is so much fun to create and just let your imagination run wild!  :) 

 Morgan usually is in charge of making matching jewelry for our outfits.  She made this beautiful glass bead, stretchy necklace to go with this gingerbread outfit we sold to a neighbor for her daughters doll.

Becca purchased this doll at our local Michael's store, using a 50% off coupon, for only $10.  I made this gingerbread tunic top and tshirt material leggings for around $1.  We've not tried out hands at shoes yet, but maybe someday, so Becca took another 50% off coupon and purchased these boots for $2.50.  Morgan made the necklace for free since all the beads and stretchy string were given to us as a gift a few years ago.  Becca sold this doll as she is pictured above for $40 to a neighbor to give her daughter as a gift for Christmas.  She spent around $13, sold it for $40 and walked away making a nice little profit!

 This was another 18 inch doll we purchased for $10 using a 50% off coupon.  We decided to not purchase another one like her for Holly (this one was gifted to a friend of ours) because the hair was really hard to work with and Holly tends to do damage to the poor dolls hair with all her beautiful hairdos! :)

I found sewing these little tiny sleeves was a challenge at first, but the end product was adorable!!!  This is an outfit that the girls and I worked on.  Morgan made the jean skirt using a pair of Holland's ruined jeans.  Becca used a 50% of coupon for Michael's....our FAVORITE store....to get these adorable purple shoes for only $2!!!  I made the tshirt, that velcros up the back, out of an old tshirt of one of my boys.  I used the bottom edge of the tshirt to be the bottom hem of the shirt which cut out one step in the sewing process I didn't have to do....yea me!!!!  I was checking out at Michael's and saw this display of little leather watch bands and thought with a little imagination I could turn it into a belt.  I spent maybe $.50 cents on it with a coupon....we love coupons!!!!  It took me a little bit to figure out what would work since it was a watch band and it would not fit around the dolls waist.  I did come up with an idea that worked perfectly.  I secured the clasp and cut the band in half at the back, then I sewed a tiny strip of elastic to each cut side.  The purple watch band became a very cute belt that slips on and of!!!!  What an adorable little finishing touch to this cute outfit!  All together with the doll, shoes, and outfit we spent under $15 for a beautiful birthday gift for Holly's friend. :)  I don't know about you, but I love homemade gifts so much!!!!

 I found a great scrap of snowflake material at JoAnn's for $.50 and it turned into an adorable little tunic for this 18 inch doll we purchased (from Michael's) to give my niece for a Christmas present.  I used the same tshirt I used for the white tshirt above to make these white leggings. These shoes were on sale for $1.50 and I cute a strip of ribbon and made a velcro clasp in back.  To finish the outfit Morgan made a cute glass bead necklace.  All together I spent around $13 for a gift that my niece absolutely adored!!!!

 I had quite a bit of snowflake material left over so I made this cute skirt and gave it to Holly to gift to her friend for Christmas!  I used the shirt, ribbon belt, and necklace from the outfit for my niece just so I could take a picture for Becca's book she is keeping with all the different outfits we make.

 Becca liked this snowflake skirt so much she asked me to make another one.  So since I had quite a bit of material left and this skirt really only takes minutes to make I whipped out another skirt for her.  I used up the rest of the white boys tshirt to make another shirt for her outfit.  Becca found these "converse" tennis shoes at Michael's and after using her coupon she ended up spending $3 for them I think.   Morgan made a cute double strand, glass necklace that turned out beautifully.  Becca ended up selling this doll and full outfit to a lady we know for a Christmas present.

I wanted to share the tutorials for the snowflake skirt I made. Here they are:  Part 1 and Part 2.  I found this youtube tutorial very easy to follow and the young lady did a good job walking viewers through each step in perfect details.  My girls and I have made quite a few skirts after watching this video.  They are easy and fun to make.  We have made some shorter and putting leggings under them and we have even made a few longer.  It's a great pattern to play around with and let your imagination run wild!  :)

Happy Sewing!!!!!