Lots of Little Aprons

I have been sewing up a bunch of little apron and chef hat sets.  These are made to fit American Girl and other 18-inch dolls, and I'm sure they would fit a variety of other sized dolls, as well! 

Follow THIS PIN to get the pattern I am using.  It is darling and easy!

The reason I am sewing so many of these up right now (I think I've got about a dozen done and another dozen cut out and waiting for their turn through the sewing machine) is because my sister-in-law makes and sells handmade, doll-sized clay food (You can find her HERE at Ladybug Treats on Facebook).  She did a few boutiques just before the holidays and plans of doing more this year.  So I am making these for her to display and (hopefully!) sell along with her food. 

I will be stocking an Etsy shop with them as well, so that anyone who would like to buy them in the meantime can get them online.

(If you would like to see new stock as soon as it is available, please like my Facebook page!  I post many more photos and details there.)



Linking to:

Cocoa Pie on Facebook

Yes, it's true, I finally decided to give Cocoa Pie it's own Facebook page! 

 You can find me HERE or you can follow the button in my sidebar.  

Hope to see you there!

American Girl Doll Rehab and Clothing

My dear Sister-in-law got me an American Girl doll for Christmas so that I could use her to measure and model the AG-sized items I will be selling in my soon-to-be Etsy shop. 

She came to me totally naked, being a previously well-loved doll that my SIL got for a deal. 

Fortunately, my SIL knows a thing or two about rehabbing tired old dolls. 

She went from this...

To this!

 Well, obviously I had to get some clothes on her quickly. I had a pair of old grey knit pants that my boys had outgrown lying around, so I turned them into a pair of leggings.  You can see the wear on the hem seam, where the thread had started coming out.  Oh well, it was faster and easier to make them with the original hem, and I don't think she minds.

Then I started making a dress for her, but soon thought that if she is going to be modeling other things, she should wear something plain and simple so she won't clash with the patterns on the other items. In the end I went with a simple white t-shirt instead.

Of course, I can't keep it simple, and I can't follow a pattern.  I always have to add something, or modify the method.  I did both on this shirt. 

The shirt pattern I used was originally a tank top.  I added the sleeves and the ruffle around the neck, which is just a 1-inch wide strip of fabric, ruffled up the center and sewn on.

I also modified the method for back closure.  It took me awhile, actually, to figure out the best way to close it up.  I unpicked quite a bit, but in the end I am happy with how it turned out.

All in all, I think she has made a lovely transformation! 

Valentine Mug Rug & Tips for Sewing Curves and Inside Corners

Just in time for Valentine's Day, a mug rug made from my red-est and pink-est scraps.

The patchwork is 1-inch squares, finished.  The mug rug itself is about 9.5 inches wide, 8.5 inches tall. 

The inspiration for this quick little project came from this pin HERE.

The biggest challenge I had with this was sewing the binding around the extreme curves.  Fortunately, I know a few tricks for sewing curves, and they came in handy on this project.

Tips for sewing binding onto curves:

1 - Cut your binding on the bias.  This allows your fabric to stretch much easier around the curves.

2 - Go SLOWLY when sewing around your curves.  There is nothing wrong with stopping every few stitches to adjust your fabric and check your progress.

3- Learn how to sew binding onto an inside corner.  This will help with so much frustration when sewing a project like this.  

I actually learned a handy trick for sewing inside corners from THIS post. It is presented as a tip for serging, but it works for regular sewing, as well.  It is how I got the binding into that deep inside corner at the top of the heart.

Now I am going to pack this sweet thing up and send it to it's new owner.  

Happy Valentine's Day!