Dollar Store Purchase - Doll Elf Outfit - FREE Pattern

Are you having fun with these dollar store projects?  I hope so because I'm having a blast creating them.  If you're just joining me, we are having some fun over the next few weeks turning cheap finds from dollar stores into cute doll clothes (you can find links to my other tutorials at the bottom of this post).  

Day four's project is a Doll Elf Outfit, kind of like that  little "Elf on the Shelf" but bigger.

Supplies needed:

• 1 Christmas Stocking with fake fur top.
• The left over hat from day one's project found HERE.
• The remainder of the sock you cut off from day 3 HERE.
• Red tee shirt
• 7 1/2" of 1/8" wide elastic
• 11 1/2" of 1" wide elastic
• 5" of velcro
• red thread
• white thread
• white ribbing or seam tape about 9"

Cutting Instructions:

For the shirt use the free pattern found HERE.  Before you cut out this pattern, add 3/4" to the back seams.  I recommend adding an 1" to the sleeve length too.  Cut the edge of the shirt using the finished hem of the tee shirt.  

For the pants use THIS free pattern.

For the mittens use THIS free pattern.  Cut from one side of the fake fur top.

For the collar use THIS free pattern.  Cut from remaining fake fur top.

For the hat (from day one's project), cut off the pom pom as close to the seam as possible. Straighten out the edge but do not cut anything from the widest point.

Sewing Instructions - 1/4" seams unless otherwise noted:  

First sew all the white seams:

• Sew around mittens leaving the straight seam open for the doll's hands.  You can also finish the top of the mittens by folding over a small hem and sewing.  The mittens are finished.

• Sew the fur trim for the hat -  use the leftover fur from day one's project.

• Sew 1/8" elastic around the straight edge of the shirt collar, keeping the seam close to the edge of the fabric.
• Sew 1" of velcro to the top, edge of the collar.
• Fold the 11 1/2" elastic in half, forming a circle and overlapping the elastic 3/8".  Stitch the elastic seam together and set aside.

Sew all red seams:

• Try the socks, from the leftover sock pieces from day three's project, onto your doll's feet and pin as shown.  Using an interlocking stitch sew along your pin markings.

• Using an interlocking stitch sew along your pin markings.

• Trim around the stitching lines.  If desired finish off the top of the socks by stitching a small finished hem. Turn right side out.

• Sew top's shoulder seams.

• On back seams of the top, folding over raw edge 1/4" and stitch close to the edge.

• Fold over raw edges of the sleeves and stitch hems on both sleeves.

• Fold sleeves in half, right sides together and stitch the seam.

• Keeping the sleeve seam on the bottom of the armhole, pin sleeve to the armhole and sew in place.

• Pin foot cover to the bottom of the pant's legs and sew.  Trim the edge closest to the side by slightly rounding it to meet the seam edge.

• Using an interlocking stitch, sew around the foot cover to finish the raw edge.
• Fold in half the pant's legs and stitch.
• Turn one leg right side out.  
  
• Put the right side out leg inside the wrong side out leg, pin and stitch the crotch.
• Sew the hat together. 

Sew all seams with red bobbin thread and white top thread:

• Pin white fake fur band, right side of fabric, to the elf hat and sew from wrong side of fabric.  The elf hat is now finished.

• Pin 1" elastic circle on top of right side of elf pants and sew, stretching as needed from the right side of the elastic using a zig zag stitch.  The elf pants are finished.

• Sew velcro onto each side of the back - I like to put a 2" stripe near the top & one near the bottom.

Sew with white thread:

• Pin and then sew some white seam tape or white knit ribbing around the neck of the top.

Sew with red thread:

• Tuck the white neck binding onto the wrong size and stitch close to the seam, keeping the stitching on the red knit.  Your top is now done.

It's time to put this elf outfit together.  Your doll is larger than an "Elf on the Shelf" but I think this outfit looks pretty cute, don't you?  

Don't miss these other dollar store purchases into things for your doll posts: 

   

• Little Miss Santa Outfit from 2 Christmas hats go HERE
• Sweater Dress from thermal socks go HERE 
• Leggings from knee high socks go HERE 
• Elf Outfit from a Christmas stocking go HERE
• Doll sleeping bag from a chair cushion & tea towel go HERE 
• Shorts from shirt sleeves go HERE 
• Skirt & scarf from a scarf go HERE 
• Party dress using a sequin headband go HERE
• Night Gown from a baby fleece blanket go HERE 
• Jacket from a fleece scarf go HERE 

xoxo Grandma

As seen on Totally Tutorials

Dollar Store Purchase - Doll Leggings From Knee High Socks

Today is day 3 of refashioning dollar store finds into doll clothes.  Grab those knee high socks and let me show you how easy they are to make into leggings for an 18" doll. 

1. Start with one pair of knee high socks - turn them wrong side out.
2. Cut off the heels from both socks.  See the photo above.
3. Cut off the green toe from both socks and save these for tomorrow's project.   See the photo below.

     4.   From the top of the sock, cut 4 1/2" through each sock.  This is going to be the crotch of the leggings.

     5.   Turn one sock right side out and push that sock inside the wrong side out sock.

     6.   Pin the socks together along the cut edge.  Make sure the top bands line up perfectly.

     7.   Either by hand or with a sewing machine, sew the crotch together.  (FYI my sewing machine died & I'm trying to decide which machine I want to purchase.  So I'm doing everything by hand for a while until I make that new purchase.  Share with me in the comment area, your favorite sewing machine....please!)

     8.   Try the leggings on your doll.

     9.   Turn up the hem. Mark the bottom of the hem with a pin.  

     10.  Either with a sewing machine or by hand, sew the hem of the leggings to the leggings.  Turn the leggings right side out.

Try your new $1.00 Christmas leggings onto your doll.  Wasn't that just SEW EASY?   

• Little Miss Santa Outfit from 2 Christmas hats go HERE
• Sweater Dress from thermal socks go HERE 
• Leggings from knee high socks go HERE 
• Elf Outfit from a Christmas stocking go HERE
• Doll sleeping bag from a chair cushion & tea towel go HERE 
• Shorts from shirt sleeves go HERE 
• Skirt & scarf from a scarf go HERE 
• Party dress using a sequin headband go HERE
• Night Gown from a baby fleece blanket go HERE 
• Jacket from a fleece scarf go HERE 

xoxo Grandma

Dollar Store Purchase - Doll Sweater Dress from Socks

This is day two of making doll clothes from dollar store finds.  You can view the first project HERE.  

Today, I'm going to show you how to make a sweater dress from a pair of thermal socks I purchased for one dollar.  So, grab your thermal socks if you can bear parting with them this time of year and let's get started.

Supplies needed:  

• Red thread
• Dark gray thread
• velcro

STEP 1:  Cut the socks as follows:  cut both socks at 9 3/4" measuring from the top of the socks to the toes.  Cut those pieces only in half lengthwise.

.

Cut the bodice cut the sock 4" high x the length of the sock. Cut the sleeves 4" long x 3 1/2" wide. 

STEP 2:  Sew sweater dress side seams using an overlocking stitch.  This will create a tube.  

Note, for all stitching on this project, use an overlocking stitch.  Also keep a lint brush handy... because you'll really need one!  

STEP 3: Finish the hem with a close zig zag stitch, stretching as you sew which gives the hem a curly look.  Sew around the hem twice.  

After finishing these two steps, your sweater dress will look like this on your doll:

STEP 4:  Right sides together, sew bodice shoulder seams.  

STEP 5:  Right sides together, sew sleeve seams.  When finished, this is how those pieces will look:

STEP 6:  Sew sleeves into armholes.

STEP 7:  Sew the hem onto the sleeves - follow step 2.

STEP 8:  Using the remaining sock, line the bottom of the sock with the bottom of the bodice.  Add 1/4"  to the top and cut the sock along that mark.  Turn right sides together and sew the top, (back neck)  seam together.  Turn this piece right side out and pin onto the bodice.  Sew bodice to back piece.

STEP 9:  Unpick the seam tape from the chair cushion.  Use some of this seam tape to finish off the right back of the bodice.  Set the seam tape aside because you'll use that in another project.

STEP 10:  Sew the finishing edge of the neckline the same way as Step 2. 

STEP 11:  Sew the bodice to the skirt, lining up the skirt seams to the middle of the armholes.

STEP 12:  Turn the dress right side out and it's ready to try onto your doll.  Determine where on the bodice you need the velcro.  Take the dress off your doll and sew the velcro in place, one piece on each side.

Your sweater dress is now finished. And for $1.00, really, how can you go wrong? It's sure to please a child's desire to dress her doll in new winter clothing.   

Don't miss these other dollar store purchases into things for your doll posts: 

Little Miss Santa Outfit go HERE 

Sweater Dress go HERE 

Leggings go HERE 

Elf Outfit go HERE 

Doll sleeping bag from a chair cushion & tea towel go HERE

Shorts from shirt sleeves go HERE 

Skirt & scarf from a scarf go HERE

Party dress using a sequin headband go HERE

Night Gown from a baby fleece blanket go HERE 

Zebra Jacket from a fleece scarf go HERE

xoxo Grandma  -  Linked to: Totally Tutorials

Turning Dollar Store Purchases Into Doll Clothes - Little Miss Santa Outfit

Dollar stores always have the best finds! Especially during the holiday season. So, for the next two weeks, I'll be featuring a daily tutorial on turning cheap finds into cherished doll clothes. 

In case you want to sew along, this is what I purchased from my local dollar store:

1. Santa Hats with fur & pom poms - purchase two
2. Men's thermal socks
3. Christmas knee high socks
4. Christmas Stockings 
5. Chair Pad
6. Red t-shirt

I'm calling today's project the "Little Miss Santa Outfit".  This outfit includes a skirt, hat and a cape.  You'll be using three total items from the dollar store: a red tee shirt (note: you'll use this same shirt for more than one of these projects so keep every scrap for now) and two Santa hats. 

Since this outfit includes the three pieces, it should take around 1 1/2 hours to complete.

Supplies for this project:

• 2 Santa hats
• red t-shirt
• red thread
• white thread
• red single fold bias tape 
• 3/8" elastic

Cutting instructions :

STEP 1:

STEP 2:   Unpick the tacking (threads) holding the white fur to the red furry hat.  

STEP 3:   From the second hat, repeat step 1, unpick the bottom fur from the red fur, unpick the sides and cut the white fur in half lengthwise and widthwise.

You may need to re-stitch the red fur at the seam before you proceed with step 4.

How to make the Skirt:

STEP 1:

STEP 2:

STEP 3:  Fold the seam tape towards the wrong side of the red fur.

  

STEP 4:  Cut elastic the width of your dolls waist plus 1".  Thread elastic through the casing.  Secure elastic with stitches.  Your skirt is now finished.

How to make the Hat:

STEP 1: This will be the fur trim for the doll hat.

STEP 2:

STEP 3:

Your doll hat is now finished. You should have enough fabric and trim left over to make one more doll hat. So, go ahead and make an extra hat... because I'll bet you know at least two children that would love a Santa hat for their dolls or save these pieces for day 4 and see what else you can make. 

How to make the Cape:

You'll need 14-16" of red ribbon, about 8" of elastic.  Optional supplies are two white 3/4" pom poms.

STEP 1:

Using the curved shape from the second stocking, place onto the red tee shirt. This will be your pattern for the lining of the cape. Cut out this exact shape as pictured below.  

Round the bottom corners.  

STEP 2:  Pin the fur cape to the tee shirt cape, wrong sides together, and sew around the cape using a 1/4" seam allowance,  Leave the top corners on both sides of the cape without stitching.

STEP 3:  Clip curves and turn right side out.

 

STEP 4:  Along the top of the cape, stitch a casing 1/2" from the edge.  Tuck 7" - 8" of ribbon into the casing and pin to hold in place.

STEP 5:  Tread 8" of 1/4" elastic through casing.  Secure with stitching making sure the sewing goes through the ribbon and the elastic.

STEP 6: Optional, attach two 3/4" white pom poms to the ribbon by sewing through the pom poms and the ribbon several times.

Your Little Miss Santa outfit is now completed. I'd say its a $2.50 well spent, wouldn't you? If you have any dollar store finds that you've refashioned into doll clothes, please leave me a comment and provide a photo to your project. I'd love to see what you came up with!  xoxo Grandma

Don't miss these other dollar store purchases into things for your doll posts:

Little Miss Santa Outfit from Santa Stockings go HERE 

Sweater Dress from Thermal socks go HERE 

Leggings from knee highs go HERE 

Elf Outfit from Christmas Stocking go HERE 

Doll sleeping bag from a chair cushion & tea towel go HERE 

Shorts from shirt sleeves go HERE 

Skirt & scarf from a scarf go HERE

Party dress using a sequin headband go HERE 

Night Gown from a baby fleece blanket go HERE 

Zebra Jacket from a fleece scarf go HERE

xoxo Grandma