Painting and a Dolls Wardrobe

So lots of activity going on here, like the Sydney Harbour bridge I just finish painting one part of the house and have to start all over again, or does it just feel like it?

There are however painting jobs that I enjoy doing and I thought I might share my most recent project with you! 

As previously mentioned I, like so many others have become a little bit hooked on Pinterest and what with all the other amazing images of dolls and their apparel on the interent it left me feeling like we needed some more props for our dolly wares.  I looked and looked for a wardrobe that fitted my requirements but either ruinously expensive or just plain ugly I couldn't find anything ready made that I liked.

So when in these situations I sometimes decide to have a go myself!  If it all goes terribly wrong well, nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say!

Exhibit A, a perfectly decent dolls wardrobe and not very expensive but it is lacking a certain something.  As it was in stock at our local toy shop and I was feeling brave I decided to go for it!

Out came the sander as the pink hearts are painted on.  I had half a tin of Farrow and Balls Cornforth White, a spare set of door handles and with the addition of some little wooden feet from Hobbycraft I got to work.

What do you think?



Overall I am pleased with the result and will be using this for display purposes and I suppose someone else will use it for playing!  Which is fine with me.

The Dolls Dressmaker

Something in the air...

Is it just wishful thinking or is perhaps spring just around the corner???  Who knows but all my windows are clean and three new dresses have been made this weekend!

All three are fully reversible meaning they have a little detail on their lining.  I enjoyed making these three, the blue one especially...

Cute woodland ribbon on the reverse of the blue spots

Multi spots on the reverse of the brown ribbon dress

Dark pink flower ribbon on the reverse of the Liberty purple flowers

Some more fabric has been cut and laid out waiting for the elves to come and do their magic!  All this dress making makes a change from all the painting I have been doing...more of that to come!

The Dolls Dressmaker

The Dress

So finally I have added some of my dolls dresses onto Etsy.  The dresses themselves are just versions of the same pattern, a pattern which I based on one of my daughters dresses and to be easy for little hands to play with.

Pink squares with shell star button

They have either little capped sleeves or are sleeveless and have a velcro fastening at the back.

Reverside of above dress showing easy to use velcro

The generous cross-over, the velcro and the sleeves all mean that this dress fits quite a wide range of dolls.  We have a 36cm/14inch Miss Corolle doll, a Bebe Do doll, a My Child doll and the Froken Skicklig 45cm doll which I made.  Friends have let us try the dress on a Baby Annabel and a Baby Born doll.  The dress fits comfortably on all these dolls and fits as a tunic on the large Waldorf style doll.

A grey and pink dress with pink butterfly button and pink cotton edging

The dresses are all fully lined either with plain white cotton or sometimes with something a bit more interesting!

My overall goals for this dress were based on what I wanted for my daughter when I was looking for clothes for her Miss Corolle and Bebe Do dolls.  They had to be easy to play with, well -made, classic and interesting fabrics and for it to fit a wide range of dolls. 

I can only wait and see now if anyone else agrees with me!

The Dolls Dressmaker

No going back now

Finally after what seems likes months my Paypal problems are all resolved and now I have launched my little shop!

All the washing and ironing is done!

So many ideas are now buzzing around in my head, now all I have to do is squeeze some time in between, half-term, naps, birthdays and all the usual stuff to realise them!

I always manage to find time to buy lovely fabric on the internet though....

The Dolls Dressmaker

While I wait

So while I wait patiently for my paypal/bank issues to be resolved and I can finally start selling my dresses on Etsy, I have been busy doing things like this...

It's all Pinterest's fault.  Bit late in the day but I have discovered Pinterest, so many things to make a girl's mind wander but oh what fun!

The Dolls Dressmaker

A tutorial....of sorts

The dress that I make for dolls is designed in such a way that it fits many different types of dolls, for example, it fits my My Child doll, my daughters Miss Corolle doll and it also fits Baby Born and Baby Annabel dolls.


I need to be able to display the dresses to their full potential without labelling them to any one brand of doll.  I have some beautiful hangers which I use but I thought a mannequin or dressform would be perfect.  However such things are not readily available here in the UK,  so I made my own!

Reading on the interent I discovered a macabre idea to use an old mug tree and a decapitated and limbless doll!  Not liking that idea too much, I compromised and used a mug tree and made a body using fabric and wool.  It was quite simple to do, remove all of the bottom and one of the top cup holders, cut down two of the top ones and then sew the body in place.

Navy and Liberty pinafore with capped sleeves

Red cord sleeveless pinafore

I am happy with the results and while cord is difficult to photograph I think the stand looks much better dressed!  What do you think?


The Dolls Dressmaker

A sneak peek

I am fairly confident that my 2 year old daughter does not read this blog, so I think it will be safe to show you some photos of her Christmas present which I have nearly finished!

It is the aforementioned Kiki doll!  My mum had found this suitcase some time ago and thought I would find a use for it.

Soft pink wool felt, lined with a little bit of Liberty fabric

Very soft pyjamas!

Kiki has a pillow, a mattress, duvet and lavender sachet.  As well as a party dress, tutu, socks and shoes she also has some pyjamas made from this pattern.  I am so pleased with the way she has turned out, I can now only hope that my daughter does too!

The Dolls Dressmaker