Make Doll Sized Sandals - 4 Tutorials

What's your favorite thing to wear in the summertime? Mine is sandals. There's nothing quite like ditching socks for a few months and sporting a pair of cute sandals to keep yourself cool during those hot summer days. Your little girl may even want a pair (or four) for her doll too. 

She's in luck, because I have four tutorials for you on how to make your doll fashionable this summer in unique sandals. They are fun, inexpensive and easy to make. 

Supplies Needed:

• Sheet of foam, I used 2mm thick, 9" x 12" (cost was 69 cents - I got three sets of soles from this sheet).
• Hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Hair elastics
• Ribbon
• Braid, I used Simplicity #1890581, white ($2.99 - I got four sets of sandals from the roll).

Let's get started: 

First, trace your doll's feet onto a piece of paper.  Now, cut the paper out about 1/8" larger than the traced foot pattern.  Trace your pattern onto the foam and start cutting out. You'll need at least two pieces of foam per pair of shoes.  Below you'll find four variations of the summer sandals I created.  As you create your sandals, make sure you make one sandal the opposite direction of the other, since your doll has a right and left foot too. 

At the bottom of this post is a link to download these tutorials, so it'll be easier to follow these steps as you make your sandals.

Pink Sandals:

Yellow Sandals:

Blue Braided Sandals:

Here are the downloadable tutorials:  Pink Sandals, Yellow Sandals, Blue Sandals, Orange Sandals

I hope you have as much fun making your doll sandals as I did. Now your doll is all ready for summer!

- xoxo Grandma

Linked: Nap-time Creations, Threading My Way

Floral Sundress - Toddler Size

This turquoise floral sundress is one of the first refashions I ever made for my grandchildren. It was refashioned from one of my old dresses.  So why did it take me so long to post this? Without these little ones close by, and foolishly not asking for enough measurements, I've had to wait for a full year to see this on my oldest granddaughter - luckily children grow.

I got the idea for this sundress from Mini Boden (an upscale manufacturer of British Style clothing).  I read a post over at Frances Suzannes blog HERE, showing how to make a knock-off skirt from this company.  I thought a sundress would be a fun twist on this project. With a sundress, you don't need to find a shirt to match. Plus, it's an easy article of clothing for a child to dress themselves in. Truthfully, all those flowers took a long time to add to the skirt, but look how cute it turned out!

 

Here's to sunny days and lots of playing! 
-xoxo Grandma

Linked:  Nap-time Creations, Creating My Way to Success, Simple Simon, 2 Crochet Hooks, Project Run and Play, The Dedicated House

Summer Quote Printout

Summer doesn't officially arrive until June 21st but here's a little poem you can frame and enjoy while you eagerly anticipate its arrival. You can download your copy of this summer poem HERE.  The artwork, poem and doodles are by me, aka xoxo Grandma. ENJOY!

Summertime Clothing for American Girl Doll - Swimsuit

Summertime is fast approaching and it's time to make an easy swimsuit for your doll.  To do this, you'll need one swimsuit that your child or grandchild has outgrown.

Next, you'll need the Lee & Pearl Ballet Basics pattern which you use to be able to get for free on their website here (just signing up for their mailing list).

First, cut your swimsuit out using the free pattern. Now, follow the steps below:

At this point, you'll need to adjust the neck strap to make it fit around your doll's next.  I cut almost all the extra length from the strap and with my sewing machine I re-sewed the strap back onto the hooks.

Enjoy your days at the pool with your doll and her new suit in tow! xoxo Grandma

UPDATE 2017: The pattern used is no longer free from Lee & Pearl. They are now offering a different pattern. The pattern can however be found on their Etsy Shop.

You also might like "Turning Baby Clothes into Doll Clothes" and "Make Doll Sized Sandals - 4 Tutorials"

Guest Post - Mother's Niche

Hi, I'm excited to announce that every third Friday. I'll be over at Mother's Niche with a post. Today's my first guest post and it's two downloadable tutorials on how to turn baby clothes into doll clothes.  You won't want to miss out on this post, so please join me HERE.

- xoxo Grandma

Fish Maxi Dress - Toddler Sized

This toddler-sized maxi dress was refashioned from one of my old dresses. The fish was an applique that I made from a scrap of Hawaiian fabric and accented with a small black bead for it's eye.  It's got a 12-inch zipper in the back and green bias tape around the neck and arm holes.

When I showed this maxi dress to my granddaughter she declared that she liked it, so I happily let her have it.

I finally found a winning dress for this granddaughter.  What constitutes a winning dress?  Well, for a 2 1/2 year old, it's one she wants to wear again and again!   

My granddaughter wore this dress when we had dinner together two weeks ago. She got it dirty and asked if I'd wash it so she could wear this dress to the aquarium in the morning.  Of course, I washed the dress while she was sleeping and put it in the drier right before she woke up.  She was delighted to have her clean, warm fish dress by politely proclaiming, "Oh, thank you grandmother!" She's such a crack-up sometimes. 

After the aquarium trip, my husband and I took our grandchildren to the grocery store &  bought them lunch.  While they ate, I shopped.  For lunch she enjoyed potato wedges and ample amounts of ketchup. Guess what got all over her fish dress?  Yup, the red ketchup.  When I laid her down for her nap, she asked if I could wash her fish dress so she could wear it without the red next to her fish...thank goodness for Clorox Bleach Sticks!  So, while she was sleeping, her new favorite dress was washed once again. You know you've made a winning item when they have plenty of other clothes to wear but choose to wear your creation every time! 

xoxo Grandma

Linky Parties: Simple Simon and company, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Nap Time Creations, Creating my way to Success

Pocket Pizzazz on a Yellow Gingham Dress

This is another one of my creations where I got a little creative with making a pocket. If you're going to put in all that work to make a pocket, then it might as well have some extra pizzazz, right?! This time, I used an old placemat to give it that extra something. Yep. A placemat. Weird, I know. I happened to have some old floral placemats that I no longer use (come to think about it, I'm not sure if I ever used them. Probably much to the joy of my entire family), so of course I had to find a new way to use them. Waste not, want not! Thank goodness I thought of a new way to use them, because look how gorgeous this pocket is and all I had to do was cut it from the placemat.  

Before I cut into the placemat, I used a disappearing ink maker to make my pattern for the pocket; keeping the beautiful handwork in the center and allowing a nice 1 1/4" header on the top.  Then I cut the pocket out right along those lines, ironed seam 1/4" allowances and sewed it onto the skirt of this dress. 

For the pattern, I used The Junebug dress by Craftiness is not Optional.  I lined the bodice with a soft white cotton and added buttons covered with the same fabric as the border of the dress. I love how it turned out.  And who would ever suspect that this beautifully adorned pocket used to be something I ate off of! 

 

I'd love to show you this dress on my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter but when she saw the color, she emphatically declared, "Grandmother, I don't like yellow!"  Fine, I thought, you're not getting this dress because I love how it turned out.  I've got two other granddaughters and one more who should be joining her family any time now.  I'll just wait for them to grow and hope that one of them likes yellow...just curious, do you like yellow?

xoxo Grandma
Shared at: Creating My Way to Success, The Dedicated House, Treading My Way, Simple Simon and Company, Nap Time Creations