Today is May 1st, and I am so excited!

First, May is the month of this marvelous model’s birthday!I know I am biased but isn’t she the most beautiful girl? She is truly my bundle of joy.

Anyway, to celebrate her birthday in style, we’re going to be introducing you to some of her favorite things. She loves to sew with me and is dying for school to get out so we can do more projects together. To help her learn, Dolly Outfitters Patterns is publishing several instant download doll clothes patterns for American Girl dolls. Just like my gal loves to shop for new clothes, so does her doll!

The first 6 patterns will be released this Friday, May 3, 2013. We’ll be posting 1 more pattern per week all summer long! Isn’t that the best news you’ve heard? We’ll be sewing together this summer and enjoying our time off from school. We’ll be showing you our projects here on the pattern blog. We’d love to have you join us.

Second, You can enter our May Bundle of Joy promotion. For the month of May 2013, for every 100 patterns that are sold, we are giving away 1 American Girl doll of the winner’s choice! You’ll receive 1 entry for every pattern you purchase. We’ll keep track of the entries and let you know who won the first week in June.

Can you say WOW? This is our way of giving YOU a bundle of joy!

I know! I am so excited to enjoy the summer sewing and creating new ways to bless everyone this summer with fun activities.

Follow us on facebook or join our email newsletter to know when all the patterns are released.

My daughter loves to dress up and make stories to go along with her wardrobe. I’ve made her some dress up clothes in the past, made Halloween costumes, purchased Halloween costumes on clearance, and shopped consignment and yard sales when she found something she just had to have. When we redecorated her room for her birthday this spring, I came up with a great idea for storing and displaying her dress up clothes while keeping them within her reach and off of the closet floor, lol!

I had a shelf that looked like this.

I found it at a yard sale for around $5.00. I had no idea what a deal I had found until I googled this type of shelf because I forgot to take any “before” pictures. Silly me.

Anyway, all I did was take the shelf and sand it all over so the finish wasn’t so shiny and non-sticky. I used one of those sanding sponges with sandpaper on all the sides.

Then, I took a sample size of pink satin finish paint -that I had left over from painting the walls- and coated the shelf and the bar underneath until I was satisfied that the shelf was fully pink-a-licious! Then, I hung this shelf on the wall, placed the dress up clothes on hangers, and hung them on the bar below the shelf. She put a few accessories on the shelf that she wanted also.

My daughter is able to see her clothes when she wants to play, they have their own place away from her closet, and they are off. the. floor. Woo Hoo!

I hope one day she’ll let me clean out that stuffed animal net someday. There’s even more than is shown here!

Have a pair of jeans with a lot of wear and some tear in them? Well, usually jeans can be salvaged from the knee down. This is a great way to make skirts for your dolls. The hem is already in place – and probably has a built-in distressed look. Just make sure that area for the waist casing is at least 6 1/2 inches wide (which makes a circumference of at least 13 inches for the waist).

1. Decide how long you want your skirt to be. Do this by measuring from the doll’s waist to the place on her leg where you want it to fall. For and 18 inch doll, about 6 inches will give you a knee length skirt.

2. Measure the skirt length from the hem to the waist area and add 1 inch at the top for the waist casing. I am using 7 inches. (You can choose to have a wider casing if your hem is wider and you want to match the weight of the casing with the hem. Just use the size hem you want to match and add 1/4 inch.)

3. Cut this line with the casing included. Now is the time to add any embellishments, if the jeans don’t have any to begin with. If your skirt is wide enough, you can add a small applique. If it isn’t wide enough, you can use the patch your jeans tutorial to open up the side seam to lay your skirt flat.)

4. All decorated? Good. Now you are going to press the top edge 1/4 inch all around the skirt. Then, press it again 3/4 inches.

5. Sew very close to the pressed edge all the way around the casing, leaving a 1-2 inch opening for threading your elastic.

6. Using two safety pins, thread your 11 inch piece of elastic (for an 18 inch doll) through the skirt casing and stitch the two ends together at the opening.

7. Sew the opening closed and enjoy your skirt!

Note: If you use a kid-size pair of pants, your skirt will have a sleeker look – like a pencil skirt. If you use an adult-size pair of pants, you can have more of a gathered A-line type skirt. You will see how different the looks can be once you’ve done a few of them. This skirt was made with tapered leg pants and looks like a straight skirt.

1. I can sew most doll clothes with a fat quarter size fabric sample. (Fat Quarter = 18″ by 22″ piece of fabric.)
2. I can learn new sewing skills without worrying about wasting much fabric if I totally mess up my outfit.
3. I only have to make one size and don’t have to figure out which cutting line to keep straight on the pattern.
4. Dolls are the perfect “sample size.” I can see what a piece looks like before I commit to making a larger size in the fabrics I’ve chosen.
5. If I make something for my daughter’s doll, I have more of a chance that my daughter will actually wear the outfit I made for her!
6. Doll’s are happy to wear anything you put on them, because they’ve spent many days wearing nothing. Dress your dolls, girls! (That was more for my daughter than anyone else. But, if you need to be told. There, I just did.)

Can you think of any other great reasons to love sewing doll clothes? Leave me a note in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

This is a picture of our newest pattern, the Easy Camisole and PJ Shorts Pattern.

This video shows how to sew with elastic thread. It explains how to wind your bobbin properly, how to set it into the sewing machine, and how to start and stop sewing while keeping your bobbin thread ready for your next seam.

The smocked sun top, dress, and shorts pattern uses this technique to create this must have summer style for your doll. See how easy it is? Yes you can do it yourself!

This is an easy “how to patch your jeans” tutorial that anyone can learn to do. First, lets talk about two ways to patch a pair of jeans.

1) You can iron on a patch where your jeans are ripped or torn. All you need to do is buy an appropriate sized patching material and cut it to size (or) get a fancy iron-on applique and iron them where you want to cover the blemishes.

2) Use this step-by-step tutorial for sewing on a cute patch that you have made yourself to cover up holes or blemishes in your jeans. Or, just decorate your entire jeans wardrobe because you are going to make them sooo cute!

Here we go…Look at your jeans and determine the problems. These jeans have a couple problems. My daughter found a permanent marker and wrote on these jeans and she has a worn spot and hole in her jeans. (I am going to have to get creative to fix this and make it look good because they aren’t in the same position on each leg.)

Take a pin and mark your problem areas like this. Only pin through the top layer – not both.

Turn your jeans inside out and locate the area you need to work within. Place a pin at the top of the area and just below it. This is the minimum amount you will need to open up in the leg’s side seams.

Notice that the seams of these jeans are different. Don’t open the side with the flat fold seam. Use the other one – which ever side it is on. Open up the seam until you can lay your legs flat to work on them. (To tear serging, rip the needle stitches a few at a time until you have the length you need. Then, the loopers around the seam should just ravel off.)

(I need to confess something here. I was using this method of ripping the seams carefully. After about 10 minutes of time-consuming ripping, I got out my embroidery scissors and cut through the loopers on the serged edges I needed to open. Then, I took my razor blade and just carefully cut through the two lines of stitching to open the side seams. Jeans are harder to rip out than any other type of garment and I got impatient, lol!)

Now, you need some patches. You can get creative and make your own shapes or use a template. My favorite templates are cookie cutters. You can get some great shapes that way. You can also google practically any shape you’re looking for and find a variety of sizes to use as a template. However, I had this fabric that I thought would be a perfect template.

Next, cut your shapes from the template/fabric. Then, get some heat ‘n bond and iron it to the back of your patches.

Cut the shapes from the heat ‘n bond out a tad smaller than the actual patches and iron the heat-n-bond to the back of your patches.

After they have completely cooled from the iron, remove the paper backing from the patches.

Take the patches to your jeans and try placing them where you need the coverage. Then, get crafty with the rest of the patches that you’ve cut out. Once you’re satisfied with the placement, iron the patches into place on the jeans.

Now, you’re ready to go to the sewing machine. There are a variety of things you can do to sew the edges.

1. Sew just inside the edges with a thread color that matches your patch.
2. Satin stitch around the patches, encasing the edges.
3. Make your patches about 1/3″ larger, sew around the perimeter 1/3″ from edge and then “rag” the edges in the wash for a fringed look.
4. Use a decorative stitch to sew around the edge catching both edges as you work.

Here I just used invisible thread and did a zigzag stitch around all the edges of my patches. The stitching isn’t perfect. But, then, that’s the beauty of using invisible thread.

Once you’ve finished patching your pants, you are going to sew the seams of your legs back together. To fix the serged area, zigzag over the edge or use whatever wide stitch your machine does just inside the edge of the seam allowance. You need to make sure this is reinforced in case you are too active and the side seam opens on you and to prevent further fraying.

(I’m assuming that you don’t have a serger. If you do, then serge it back together after sewing the seam line.)

Enjoy your new-ish jeans!

I just made this great Art Case in less than 2 hours! I started after lunch and finished by the time my daughter came home from school. She loved it. I had to beg for enough time to take this picture. Now, she is busy filling and using this great case.

There’s an extra bonus too! I also think it’s easy enough for your child to sew, if they have a knowledge of basic sewing skills! What a great project for you to make together. I know everyone is looking for great activities during Spring Break. This would be a perfect afternoon or rainy day project.

I got the idea from one of my Twitter friends @thisiscarrie. She has posted this pattern on her blog FOR FREE. Head on over there now to get the instructions. You won’t be sorry. (They come complete with full-color photographs.)

We are excited to start this new website dedicated to the e-patterns for 18 inch dolls that we are now producing for seamstresses who like to make their own doll clothes. With the use of this site for e-pattern purchases, you will now have instant access to your purchases and be able to immediately start working on your sewing project. We currently have our doll carrier backpack pattern listed and will be adding new patterns as they become available.

Additionally, this site will also be the new home of the Dolly Outfitters blog. Our blog’s new focus will be feature easy sewing tutorials, reviews of sewing books, tips for successful sewing projects, interviews with seamstresses about their sewing journeys, and much, much, more!

in the Great De-Stash Challenge over at The Train To Crazy!

Here’s the challenge:

1. Organize the stash. You’ll keep buying fabric if you don’t really know what you already have.

2. Use only fabrics from your stash or your re-purpose pile.

3. Decide the length of time or the amount of pile you’d like to reduce.

I have chosen to sew up all the fabric currently stored in my sewing studio right now. It’s probably really close to 100 yards!

I want to have this part of my stash all sewn up by the time the holiday craft shows in our area start. That should give me a good amount of stock for my first few shows in October. And, save me some $$$ to buy fabric that will fit the current trends for the late winter and spring season after that.

I’ll be posting about my progress regularly so that you all can see how close I come to finishing my 100 yard project!

This is going to be fun!

My daughter has been wanting to learn to sew. I have been waiting for a time when she was able to listen carefully and follow important instructions. (She has watched me sew in the past and thinks that she already knows what to do!)

This weekend, she was bored and wanted “somebody to play with.” Then, I remembered that we bought 1 1/2 yards of pink leopard print fabric a couple weekends ago that she really wanted to make a pair of shorts and top with.

I picked an easy pattern so that my daughter would have a positive “first attempt at real sewing.” I helped her pin and iron. She did all the stitching on the shorts herself and 75% of the stitching for the top herself. It took us about 3 hours to finish both pieces (hence the 25% that I finished on the top for her).

Not bad for working on the fly with my daughter, huh?

I was going for the pillowcase top design but my daughter said the ties were “itchy” so I cut the straps and sewed them onto the casing and inserted elastic where the straps were previously. Voila – same look, no ties!