Pyjamas for dolly please

Little Imp does not often ask me to make her anything in the ButtonRoom, but the other night, just before her bedtime she did. "Do you think you could make dolly some pyjamas mummy?"

Oh dear. I have been thinking for a while that dolly could do with some new attire. All she came dressed in is definitely from a summer range, and I feel cold just looking at her at the moment! But she is quite small, and plastic, and not very bendy, so I was scared of how I could make something that Little Imp could also get on and off of dolly without needing my help.

And then I had an idea... I keep many of Little Imp's old clothes for cutting up and sewing with & this was a perfect reason to use them. Once I got going it was actually fun, and before I knew it, not only did dolly have some pyjamas, she also had some cords & a skirt!

The PJs came from a sleeping bag. A sleeve became the pants, with the sleeve cuff as the waist band and a triangular seam creating the legs. Pinking shears worked to eliminate the need for sewing seams. THe top was made out of the base area of the bag. I pinking sheared a circle for the neck & stitched a few seams to create the shape of a long sleeve top. Done, & stretchy enough for Little Imp not to need me!

To make the corduroy pants I cut a square from the top of a pair of pants, including the elastic. Dolly is lying here to help me gauge the length.

A few simple straight lines of sewing along the open edge to create a tube, and then along the purple lines you can (just) see below to create the legs.

 And then pinking shears again for the base of the pants.

The skirt was even simpler. Cut out from the top of an existing elastic waistbanded skirt with a single seam to create a tube. Pinking Sheared bottom. Done.

Saved this picture for last. Dollys scare me. Even when they are in their pyjamas.

Angel Wings

I made Little Imp some angel wings. Pity I can't make her behave like one too...
She did enjoy herself running around Kings Park with friends this afternoon while wearing her wings. Almost angelic.

How To:

I traced a paper template from a friend's set of angel wings. You could make any shape though really.

Use this template to cut 2 (one reversed) wing shapes out of some stiffish felt (or thin wadding or interfacing). This will provide a bit of shape for the wings. The fabric I used for the wings was a big offcut of dusty pink upholstery fabric (the white below is the water resistant 'wrong side' of this fabric). Double over the wing fabric, right sides together. Pin so the fabric doesn't shift and then place each piece of felt onto the fabric. Mark the outline of the wing about 3-5mm bigger than the felt itself and then cut out.

Assemble a 'wing sandwich' for each wing: fabric-felt-fabric. The fabric should be facing right side out as you can see below. Pin all the way around to hold the 3 layers together.

Then stitch all the way around the outside of the wing to hold all 3 layers together (with the felt hidden inside). I have a blanket type stitch on my machine that I used to finish the edges at the same time.

 Add some straight line stitching for a bit more stiffness and definition.

Add elastic for attaching to the body.  I used about 24" of elastic. Take each end of the elastic and bring into the centre and stitch to hold (so you end up with 2 loops as seen below).

I should have attached the elastic to the back of one of the wings at this point so that the rectangle stitching you can see on the wings I made was hidden. But I didn't - so the pictures show what I did do.

2 wings pinned together

stitch oval shape around centre of wings to hold them together

Add elastic (as I said above - should do this before stitching wings together),

add elastic (should do this before stitching wings together ideally)

and then also cut a small rectangle of wing fabric and stitch over the elastic where it attaches to the wings to make it look a bit neater.

back of wings

front of wings (with the rectangle stitching visible unfortunately)