Guest Author - Susan Kramer

I'd like to suggest that if you spend time making doll clothes, anyway, that you collect a few dolls from friends and neighbors and sew a wardrobe or a complete outfit for each doll. Then donate the doll in the completed outfit to a charity that distributes used dolls and toys to kids that otherwise would not have any.

When I was a little girl, nothing brightened up my face more than my mother making me a new outfit for my doll.

Other sources to find used dolls to fix up and dress up are yard and garage sales. And lots of churches have annual rummage sales of used clothing and toys, including dolls.

In fact, used clothing can be cut up to make a dress or pants and shirt for a doll. Also, save the trims off old clothes headed for the ragbag - they can dress up an outfit nicely!

Whenever you have a spare moment rummage through all the old clothes in your closet and those of your family members. The clothes that are not quite good enough to be used by someone else as they are, are just the clothes I'm talking about to be cut up for doll clothes.

I've found so many nice trims for doll outfits this way, also. When you cut off a piece of lace or decorative trim, include half an inch of the fabric alongside the length also. This gives you a ready made seam allowance for your new outfit.

When you get together a big heap of odds and ends and pieces you are ready to mix and match for your new doll making outfits. An advantage to using used clothing is it is preshrunk.

It would be really nice if you have the pieces of fabric to make a small quilt or blanket to wrap each rehabilitated doll in before passing on. You can easily make a small blanket by folding a pillowcase in half and stitching around the edges. They run a few lines of stitches across the surface from corner to corner and some lines from top to bottom to keep the layers of the blanket in place.

Now let me ask you - is there any nice feeling than being able to brighten the face of a child through your doll making projects?!

Article by Susan Kramer