itty bitty clothes

Don’t you love projects that are totally impromptu?…..the ones that you think you’ll spend 10 minutes on and once you start going, you realize you’re having more fun that you thought, and you start adding this and that and you make it more involved than you really intended?

That was my yesterday.
I’ve been working on a new tutorial for you guys and for the past two days I’ve been tweaking the pattern; trying to draw up the right dimensions. Yesterday morning I was in my zone working away. Kids were happily playing; music humming along in the background.

Enter Lucy: Mom, my baby doll needs to dance with the Elmo doll (her prince) but she doesn’t have a dress to wear to the ball.

Me: Ugh (in my mind).

It’s true, Lucy’s doll has two clothing items; a pair of jammies and a onesie outfit. But when Grandma bought her Bitty Baby American Girl doll for her birthday last year (a nice gesture), Lucy wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, you may remember the Baby Basket I made for her doll? The basket that she looked at for one day and then it sat in a corner (for Owen to play with)? Basically, she’s never been into dolls…..until a month ago. Out of the blue she started carrying that Bitty Baby all around the house with her and being her mini-mom. I’m not sure what triggered it but I know it makes Grandma happy.
So….yea. The doll needs some clothes.

But seriously, not what I felt like doing at that very moment.

Me: Well, why don’t you pretend she’s wearing a really pretty dress? (totally lame. But the girl does have a great imagination)

Lucy: Hmmmm. I don’t think so. Hey!! I know!! You can SEW HER A DRESS!!

Me: (slowly conceding). Yes. You’re right, I can sew her a dress (sigh).

So I kept it as simple as possible, so I could get the dress done and get back to my other project. I made a simple Summer Vacation Dress:
But as usually happens…once I start shirring and trimming and adding armholes and velcro and trying to make it look cute, I realized I was actually enjoying the project afterall.
“Hey Lucy, what if we put a yellow flower on the front??!“
“Sure mom!”
I’d never made a flower that way before and was pleasantly surprised. I’ll have to try those again in the future.

And her Bitty Baby was dressed for the ball (after taking a quick nap).
Making a doll dress was pretty simple, especially since it took scraps of fabric to create. And Bitty Baby looked way happier than she did in old drab jammies. Much improved.
But my travelogue isn’t over yet. Sorry.

So….
Later that day when Owen was napping, Lucy sauntered over to my desk again.
Mom, I think that my doll might need one more dress or maybe some pants or a skirt?

Haah. Funny girl.

This time I didn’t resist.
Okay. Sure!

We made a very simple gathered skirt (seriously, 10 minutes to make. Love that) and then a Summer Vacation Top with knit straps.
It was Lucy’s idea to add the yellow headband and I couldn’t have agreed more. Nice touch Luce.
One brightly dressed Bitty Baby!

And we spent the rest of Owen’s naptime being matchy matchy,
(can you believe her Shirt Dress still fits?)
and dancing all around the house.
So there you have it.
A project I wanted to push aside….but a project I really enjoyed.
You may see more doll clothes in the future! But for now, back to the tutorial. I guess I’m a day behind but oh well. Other things are more important.