I am always experimenting with something or other. My family gets a little nervous when my experiments involve food, but my efforts occasionally turn out well. My most recent experiment was a attempt to quilt a cover for an eighteen inch (46 cm) doll. I used the instructions for the simple doll cover in my book Learn to Sew for Your Doll. Learn to Sew is the third book down on my book page. Instead of using light cotton fabric as the instructions suggest, I made the top from cotton flannel with an interesting design. I used fleece fabric for the lining. I quilted around some of the designs on the cover’s top. As you can see from the photo, my quilting techniques need a lot of work.

My use of fleece for the lining, rather than sandwiching batting between the cover’s top and lining, gave the  quilt a soft drape. I am planning to continue work on the idea of a fleece lining to see if I can come up with something that I like.

If you are interested in quilting for dolls and would like to see the free patterns that I have for small doll quilts, click here to go to my pattern page. Click free miniature quilt blocks under  Small doll accessory patterns in the directory at the top of the page, or just scroll to the bottom of the page to see the patterns.

doll quilts Accessories for American Girl Dolls, Accessories for eighteen inch dolls

Daisy Kingdom makes wonderful fabric. Simplicity Patterns offer Daisy Kingdom patterns. Most of the patterns are  for girls’ clothing. Fifteen or so years ago their girls’ patterns included a matching doll dress. The doll clothes fit the daisy Kingdom doll, Daisy Dolly, which was offered for sale and ready to dress in fabric shops.
I’ve had an undressed Daisy Dolly in my closet for some time. While I was making Dutch Doll miniature quilts, I thought of an idea for finally dressing the doll.
Here is my interpretation of a dress and pinafore pattern by Susan York.

I used the large Dutch Doll on the front panel of the pinafore.

I used the small Dutch Doll Printouts on the pinafore pockets.
Coming next week: How to win a free pdf of the pattern of your choice.

doll quilts, Patterns from other designers Adapting a pattern

The free pdf of quilt blocks now contains the fourth and last quilt block. In addition to the Dutch Doll blocks,and the flower block there is a pattern for a star applique quilt block.

If you are interested in any of the quilt tops, go to my patterns page. You can find the  download in the red box on the right that lists all the free downloads.
I was thinking of Twinkle when I made the star quilt. Here she is about to take a nap with her star quilt.

Other dolls can use the quilt and bed, too. Here is my Vintage Ginny asleep in my doll bed under the star quilt.

Coming next week: Using the Dutch Doll blocks in a dress for an eighteen inch doll.
Coming in August: A chance to win a free pdf of your choice from my pattern selections.

doll quilts, my patterns Vogue Ginny doll clothes patterns

The free pdf of quilt blocks now contains a third quilt block. In addition to the mini Dutch Doll blocks, and the large Dutch Doll block there is a pattern for a flower applique quilt block.

If you are interested in any of the quilt tops, go to my patterns page. You can find the  download in the red box on the right that lists all the free downloads.
I was thinking of Florabunda when I made the flower quilt. Here she is taking a nap with her flower quilt.

Other dolls can use the quilt and bed, too. My Madame Alexander Wendy would fit the bed just fine.
Coming next week: A free download for a star applique quilt block. (Twinkle says it is about time!)
Coming in August: A chance to win a free pdf of your choice from my pattern selections.

doll quilts Madam Alexander doll clothes patterns, sewing for small dolls

My free pdf of quilt blocks now contains a second quilt block pattern. In addition to the mini Dutch Doll blocks (see my July 10 post), there is a pattern for a larger Dutch Doll  quilt block.

If you are interested in either of the quilts,  go to my patterns page. You can find the new download in the red box on the right that lists all the free downloads.
I used the Dutch Doll pattern to make a “Sweetheart Dutch Doll.” I think that the completed quilt is a good match for Tender Heart.

Smaller dolls can use the quilt and bed, too. My American Girl mini would fit the bed just fine.

Coming next week: A free download for a flower quilt block.

Coming in August: A chance to win a free pdf of your choice from my pattern selections.

doll quilts American Girl mini clothes patterns

For the next few weeks technical support (husband) and I will be adding free patterns and downloads to my patterns page. The first four additions can be used with my pattern “Doll Bed and Accessories.” Today we are offering miniature Dutch Doll blocks.

If you liked the miniature Dutch Doll quilt that I first showed you in my June nineteenth blog, you can now download a PDF containing the five blocks on the pictured quilt plus a sixth block with only the outline of a Dutch Doll. The blocks are intended to be printed on a sheet of printable fabric. You can also trace the dolls onto fabric and color them with waterproof pens. If you want to make the quilt pictured, you will need my pattern “Doll Bed and Accessories.” I’m sure that there are other ways to use the download. Have fun and use your imagination.

If you are interested in this download, go to my patterns page. You can find the new download in the red box on the right that lists all the free downloads.
Coming next week: A free download of a pattern for a larger Dutch Doll that is appliqued onto a miniature quilt.

Coming in August: A chance to win a free pdf of your choice from my pattern selections.

doll quilts sewing for small dolls

I have shown you two of my grandmother’s quilts that I cherish. Today I am going to show you my third quilt.

My grandmother called this a Dutch Doll quilt. I think a more popular name is Sunbonnet Sue. My grandmother’s quilt is a rather simple version of this design. I have seen several elaborate variations.

My technical support has helped me to come up with a miniature version of my grandmother’s Dutch Doll quilt.  We made six quilt blocks of the tiny Dutch Doll and printed them on a sheet of Dritz’s Printed Treasures printable fabric. I substituted the Dutch Doll blocks for the nine-patch blocks in my  quilt instructions for my doll bed pattern.

The quilt used five of my six Dutch Doll blocks. I appliqued the sixth doll on a decorative pillow.

Here are the two quilts for a size comparison.

doll quilts, quilts memories

My newest pattern is a doll bed for dolls nine inches and smaller. The Bonus Sheet gives instructions for a nine-patch quilt.

Last month I blogged about some of my grandmother’s quilts and my attempt to use use the nine-patch design in a doll quilt. I have finally come up with a design that I like.

Of course I used the same size patches as those in my grandmother’s quilt. The patches from my grandmother’s nine-patch quilt scaled to doll size would be impossibly small. I think that the charming size of the original patches are just fine for a small doll quilt. The quilt is machine pieced and hand quilted. The quilt top is lined, but I did not add a binding trim around the edge.
Please select the patterns button at the top of the page. Scroll down until you see the doll bed pattern. It is between the shoe pattern and the three small dolls pattern. Click on the pattern image to see a picture of the quilt on the bed.

doll quilts, my patterns, quilts memories

My grandmother loved to make quilts. Quilting is still an artistic pleasure for many people, but during most of my grandmother’s life it was one of the few artistic avenues open to her. She could justify spending hours making something beautiful, because it was useful. It was also made of fabric scraps, so that nothing was wasted. Quilting implied thriftiness. The loveliness of the pieces were enjoyed, but she was allowed to make them because they were needed.

When she was older and had more leisure time, she pieced lots of quilt tops; had them quilted; and then gave them to friends. I love the quilt that she pieced as a wedding present for me.

I also inherited her master piece. It is a nine patch that she made while she still had young children. The three inch patches were made from nine tiny one inch squares. The quilt took a very long time to make.

My current pattern project is a bed for small dolls. I am happy with the bed, mattress and pillow that I created, but I am having difficulties with the cover. I am trying to use the pattern of my grandmother’s nine patch quilt and am gaining more respect for her sewing skills with each attempt that I make.

doll quilts, quilts