Friday, September 30, 2011

Doll Sleeping Bag & Pillow

Hey There loyal followers!

I am finally back with a crafty post after a bit of a "vacation" of sorts.

I have been busy with school and other summer activities, such as going to Disneyland with our precious Granddaughter "J"!

Here is a picture of us at Disneyland:



I'm hoping to get a layout done soon of our wonderful adventure and share it with you all!

For now, I have a sewing project to share with you that I have finally finished after working on for a few months.

It should not have taken that long, but with everything else that was going on this summer, I didn't get to work on it as much as I wanted to.

Here it is...


It is a doll sleeping bag for a 18" Doll, like the American Girl Dolls.

I made this one particularly for my sweet Niece "K".

She recently received her first American Girl Doll and just loves to tote it around with her everywhere!

Her Mom had seen a couple of one's I had made for my daughter "B" when she was a little girl and asked if I would mind making one for "K".

Of course I didn't, but it had been so long since I had made the one's for my daughter that I wasn't even sure if I still had the pattern.

Here is a picture of my precious Granddaughter "B" with one of my daughter's AG Dolls and one of the bags I had made for her (my daughter) years ago:


(I passed down my daughter "B's" AG dolls to my Granddaughters (J & B) and they received a sleeping bag with them also!)

I was thinking If I had to, I might be able to "re-create" the pattern, from the actual bag that I still had, but I am not that great of a sewer (self-taught) and I was not too keen on that idea.

I could not find the pattern at first, so I went to the internet and found several websites that had tutorials on how to make doll sleeping bags and some videos on YouTube.

The one's I found though, did not have the zipper in them, which I wanted to use, so I kept looking around the house and eventually found the old pattern in one of my sewing stash boxes.

Here is the pattern I used back then and now:


Simplicity 9833 - Simplicity Crafts, Andrea Schewe (©1996).

I was really glad to find it, because when I checked eBay, there weren't too many of these around and they were going for around $20.00 at the time! (Yikes!)

This pattern is really pretty easy to sew, with the exception of the zipper, which isn't too hard if you've done one before, but it's a bit tricky to get it just right.

It is basically two contrasting pieces of fabric with batting in between.

Here is a picture of the project at that stage:


I used Mountain Mist Quilt-Light Batting and the fabric was purchased at a local fabric store.


My niece really loves Zebra Print and that is why I chose this fabric and the colors just happen to match her room perfectly!


I did not take pictures of all of the steps in this construction, since this project was done using a purchased commercial pattern.

But here are a few more photos of the process:



The pattern calls for top stitching on the bag to give it a "quilted" effect.

My sewing machine has been acting up lately, as it is pretty old (early 80's), so my top stitching does not look as nice as I would have liked.


I used 3/16" narrow satin ribbon for the ties.

The pattern called for a larger width of ribbon, but I liked the way this ribbon looked with this particular fabric.



For the pillow, I decided to use a contrasting fabric on the back, instead of making it all out of the zebra print.


I added some pretty black lace for the edging on the pillow and then stuffed it with Fairfield 100% Polyester Fiberfill.

The finished product!


I haven't given this to my sweet niece yet, when I do, I will take some photos and update this post.

(UPDATE: See My Post, "Happy Nieces" to see photos of my Niece with the Sleeping Bag!)

Thank-you all for checking in and staying with me!

XOXO
Lisa

This project/post is linked-up to the following Link-up Parties/Sites:

A Diamond in the Stuff


Monday, September 12, 2011

Sorry I have been Away!

Hello my Crafty friends!
I have to apologize for not posting in awhile.
I have been so busy this summer, several out-of-town trips, lots of family coming to visit and school.
I am working on a project right now though that I hope to have up on my blog soon with pictures!
Don't give up on me...I haven't gone away!
XOXO
Lisa