For my Little Dollies

When my older two girls were little, they played dollies all the time. Then I got Kammy. I'm not sure she has ever played dolls. She loves horses though, and for Christmas, we took a risk and bought both her and Kaite dolls. They weren't just any doll of course--not baby dolls--cowgirl dolls. I think Kaite would have played dolls--she's very motherly and loving, except for the fact, that she follows right in Kammy's footsteps. Anyhow, these dolls were a real hit. They are the ones that Rick made the fun little corrals for at Kammy's birthday time.

 

American girl and other doll websites sells corrals similar to these for $110. Our cost was less than $20 for two and we have lots of paint left for other projects.

 

 

Well, said dolls, had nowhere to sleep, so daddy came to the rescue again. Using scrap boards and paint that we already had, he made them the cutest beds. Just the right size. You can get beds like this new for $150 or used on ebay for as low as $30 (no bedding or shipping included though.)

The mattress is a piece of upholstery foam which was the most expensive item at $13.99. I did have a 40% off coupon, so that helped a bit. The fabric I purchased was about $15, which I considered a splurge, until I checked ready-made prices. Maybe I should go into the business??

 

 

Of course the beds needed a sheet, blanket and pillow so mommy's help was enlisted. (Daddy's not much of a seamstress.)

 

 

I confess to having a little bit of fun shopping for the fabrics.

Years ago, when I wanted a certain theme in the baby's nursery, I learned to make fitted sheets and I can't count how many I have made since. They are the easiest things ever! All you do is measure your mattress, making sure to include the mattress height and a seam allowance. Then, cute a square out of each corner. The square will need to be the same size as your mattress height minus the seam allowance.

 

Then, just put the right sides of each corner together and sew. You will get a corner like this. Next, hem all the way around the sheet. Finally, cut a strip of elastic for each corner. This is a pretty small corner, so my pieces are small. If you were making a bigger sheet, you'd use bigger pieces, of course. You might also want to make an elastic casing for appearance sake, but this is how I did it for simple doll sheets.

 

Next, I just sewed the elastic to the inside corner of the sheet, stretching it as I went. You could get all fancy and measure to get it even, but I just sort of eyeball most things.

 

 

See, I told you--very simple. Yet, my girls and hubby think I am magical. =)

I'm sure there are patterns out there and maybe better ways of doing this--but probably not easier ones, and I'm all for easy. Sewing's not really my thing anyway, I just do it cause I can.

 

The blankets are very basic. Yellow checked flannel on one side and fun horses on the other. No fancy quilting, although that would be adorable, it would take way too much time and patience. It took me less then 2 hours to sew both sets of bedding. I couldn't resist making some little pillows with the scraps. I think the horses on the trim adds just the perfect touch!

 

My big girls are kind of wishing they were little again, and I have to admit--I am too. These look so fun to play with!