American Doll clothes for pennies

Sophie is one admittedly unstylish American Girl knock-off.

Since she joined our family two years ago, she's gotten not one name-brand outfit.

Sure, Santa's bought her an outfit or two, and she got a Girl Scout sweatshirt for a birthday. But largely she's been spared of high-priced duds.

Lately my daughter has been begging for more clothes for Sophie. Admittedly these can quickly break the bank. But I found a simple solution: hand-sewn clothes for pennies.

Liberty Jane offers a small selection of free doll clothes patterns on its website. I downloaded the pants and tank top patterns and used some worn khaki shorts of mine to make a pair of pants and a pair of khaki shorts. Sophie also got several tank tops and T-shirts cut from a layered shirt she'd taken a pair of fabric scissors too, and she'll also be getting a swimsuit this Christmas season too.

The patterns are fairly easy for a rusty sewer to work with; in fact, I hand-sewed mine while catching up on Revolution. The only out-of-pocket costs were for elastic.

So if you have an hour to spare and an old piece of clothing, you might consider reinventing it as a Christmas present for your favorite American Girl-type doll.

Sit-upon sewing tutorial

Sit-upons - the name says it all: Something to sit upon to keep yourself clean and dry (and hopefully itch-free) when sitting on the ground. 

I remember my mom making these for camp when I was a Scout. That sit-upon lasted through several summers of camping, storms and mud pits, and I finally tossed it when my volunteering at camp days were over.

Flash forward two decades, and my daughter got her camp letter. Sit-upon topped the list. Of course, now it was cushioned with the "You can use a stadium cushion" line. Which we don't have in our home. 

Granted, I was tempted by the on-sale Jayhawk stadium seat cushions that were selling for $5 each. Really tempted. But knowing I was buying not only for my daughter but my son and I, that's a lot to store over the next few summers. Especially if we didn't know if we'd ever require multiple ones again - and that I knew these were easy to make.

How easy? A Brownie could do it. Seriously.

My old Brownie Girl Scout book has directions on how to do it. And supplies cost me a mere $3 for cording at Joann's.

Here's how:

Spread out an old vinyl or plastic tablecloth or shower curtain, folded in half, and lay several layers of newspaper on top. Trim to fit to a preferred size. (You know what you need!)

By hand or machine, stitch the sides together. Include a piece of cord on two corners so you can easily tie around the waist. (Great for campers who are hiking a lot!)

A few minutes of work later, and you're set. I made three sit-upons in roughly an hour. My only delays were a cranky sewing machine!

While sit-upons are great for camping, I've found since making them that they are fabulous to use when you're weeding or gardening and you prefer to sit down rather than kneel.

Tooth fairy pillow tutorial

With each lost tooth as a child, we would slide our tooth into our "Tooth Fairy pillow" at bedtime to find a dollar bill the next morning. My mother had saved my lace-trimmed pillow for me, which my daughter now's used five times.

But I figured my little guy, when his time came, would not be all about the velvety fabric and lace. Instead, I made my own in very little time, created out of reclaimed denim.

My husband had some worn-out jeans left in a pile to donate. Given there were holes, I wasn't sure how well they would be received at a donation agency. Instead, I used the denim fabric for a "boy" Tooth Fairy pillow.

First, I created the pattern for the pillow by folding a letter-sized piece of paper in a triangle, cutting off the overlap, to create an 8 1/2x8 1/2-inch square. I used that as the pattern for the base of the pillow, avoiding any hems or stitching on the areas I cut from.

For the tooth pocket, I cut about 1/4-inch inside of the stitching of the back pocket, creating a pocket-shaped piece of fabric that was slightly smaller than the original back pocket. I used a needle to tack the edges down for easier sewing on the sewing machine.



Then, I created a "double stitched" look by running the piece, pinned to one side of the pillow, through the sewing machine twice. One line of stitching was the width of the sewing machine foot, and the other was halfway between the first line of stitching and the edge.




Then, I pieced together the pieces on the reverse and stitched it until it was mostly shut. I turned the pieces right-side out and began to stuff it. (Yes, you will see I am not the straightest sewer out there.)


When the pillow was stuffed, I turned in the loose edge and hand-sewed it together.

My little guy was so proud to have his own tooth pillow! Even though he's a few years' off, he's excited about it and even asked to take it to daycare.

Sew what? Stuffy and the Sandwich Bags

Last weekend I was excited to have scored both a "grown-up" and a kids book on sewing at our local library's Friends sale. To which my very own mother retorted, "Will your daughter learn to sew first or will you?"

First off, I can sew. And my sewing machine? It's been lovingly packed in its box since I got it...11 Christmases ago. (Of course, I was in graduate school and working full-time, then in the middle of a move, then became a parent...blah blah blah.)

Last year, I decided my first dive into actually using it as a sewing machine instead of a potential first step for my son in his closet would be making reusable sandwich bags for school lunches. I had the chance to review a few last fall, and realized that they are fairly simple contraptions...if you have the time to make them!

So with the best of intentions, I picked up nylon scraps and velcro at a fabric store...last fall. Summer passed, and I realized that I really could use a few more sandwich or snack bags, but was hesitant to pay for more cloth wraps (or for their plastic counterparts).

So this weekend, armed with $4 worth of materials, the fabric from my beloved pink wrinkle-free Coldwater Creek shirt that ripped after four years, and a hovering six year old, I went to work. Without a pattern. Or reading the instructions for the sewing machine!

My daughter, to her credit, made felt finger puppets patterned (loosely) after those in her kids sewing projects book. And that's when I learned a few things:

1. My daughter doesn't like directions any more than I do.
2. Imperfect is OK too.

For a few hours' of work, four dollars and minimal swearing, we wound up with two sandwich bags, two snack-size bags (great for crackers or the dried mango she loves), and Stuffy and Floofy (her names) finger puppets.

For two girls who don't listen, I don't think we did bad work! And, thankfully, I have up to another year to convert my other ripped wrinkle-free shirt into blue baggies for full-day pre-K. (Oh, and mom, I guess you could say it's a tie. And I could use a few more Coldwater Creek wrinkle-free shirts for my birthday.)