I think that a small doll with a custom made wardrobe would be a wonderful Christmas present for a little girl. If you are considering purchasing a small doll and making it clothes, you should should spend some time deciding on the right doll.  The recent Ginny and Tiny Betsy McCall dolls that I have purchased have a warning on the box that says the dolls are unsuitable for children younger than 14 years. The only hazard that is listed on the box is a choking hazard, which is usually a danger for children 3 years old and younger. I am not certain why the dolls are not considered play dolls. They are hard plastic which means that the arms and legs are connected with rubber bands suitable for doll stringing. I am not sure if this construction technique is hazardous or not, but it might be traumatic. I have several hard plastic Ginny dolls from the 1990’s. One day not too long ago, I opened my doll cabinet to show my four year old neighbor a miniature tea set. The head of one of my Ginny dolls fell off and hit my shoe. I was afraid that my young friend was going to be upset, but she was too interested in the tea set to notice the tragedy. I quickly removed the victim and she is now awaiting repair with some of her sisters.
If the warnings about hard plastic dolls concern you, other options are available. You might make one of my small cloth dolls. The joining buttons and small arms and legs on my dolls are choking hazards for children who are still inclined to chew on their toys. I think that  my dolls would be suitable for most children over 3 or 4 years old.
The mail order company Lillian Vernon has a small vinyl doll that is suitable for children. The American Girl mini doll is made for ages 8 and up. I hope that you can find the right doll for that special little girl.A

Christmas Sewing American Girl mini clothes patterns, Vogue Ginny doll clothes patterns

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.

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I am amazed at the riches that the internet adds to our lives. It is so easy to find answers to questions and to make friends all over the world. The wonderful prospects for communication also have made me look carefully at things that I have always taken for granted, such as measurement systems.

My younger son is home from college for a few days. He mentioned to me that only the United States and one other country in the entire world had not gone on the metric system. In the US we really have a blend of measurements. Science and medicine use metrics. The doll joints and animal eyes that I use as well as silk embroidery ribbon are  labeled with millimeters. But it has always been convenient for me to use inches and fraction of inches when I am sewing.

Since we have been tracking the hits on this blog, I have noticed that a large portion of my readers live outside the US. I need to do something about all the inches and fraction of inches that I use in my patterns and sewing tips.

My goal is to add a conversion chart to my Tips, Tools, and Techniques free download. In the meantime here are a few measurements converted to metric.

 One fourth inch equals 6 millimeters. 

American Girl® mini, Twinkle, and Corelle’s®small doll are about 17 centimeters tall.

Vogue’s Modern Ginny®, Floribunda, and Madam Alexander’s Wendy® are about 19 centimeters tall.

Tender Heart and Effanbee’s ® Li’l Innocents® are about 21 centimeters tall.

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The two tiered skirt in my pattern Gown, Smock Top, and Two Tier Skirt is a fairly easy garment to make.I noticed a pattern that would make a nice matching girl’s skirt.  McCall’s 5841 has patterns for two and three tier skirts for girls. Small dolls are really too little for three tiers. The McCall’s pattern looks like it would be quick and easy to make.
Many illustrations of girls wearing tiered skirts show them paired with a T-shirt. My doll’s T-shirt pattern is offered in my Pants, T-Shirt, and Skirt pattern. The T-shirt pattern has ribbing at the neck and set in sleeves.
 If you would like an easier top to pair with the two tier skirt, try the top from my free pattern Sundress and Summer Top. I wrote about  sundress patterns for girls in a  previous blog. To make a matching girl’s outfit, shorten one of the girl’s patterns for a sundress and use it to make a girl’s top for a tiered skirt.

Remember that my small doll clothes patterns will also fit American Girl mini, Madam Alexander dolls, Vogue’s Ginny, and other small commercial dolls.

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Continuing the idea of making a girl and small doll matching dresses, I have found a few girl’s patterns that can match my small doll’s A-line dress pattern. Simplicity 2194 is a girl’s A-line dress. It has suggestions for embellishing the dress that you might copy on the doll’s dress. Amazon offers a book titled Absolutely A-Line by Wendi Gratz that has received fairly good reviews. The pattern and the book both promise dresses that are easy to make.

Simplicity also has a few short jackets included in other girl’s dress patterns. None of the patterns that I looked at are an exact match for the jacket included in my doll’s A-line pattern. The girl’s jacket patterns are more complicated than the A-line dress pattern. My doll’s jacket pattern is an easy pattern. If you are sewing for a young girl, you might want to look at the jacket patterns. A short jacket is an interesting addition to a wardrobe.

I have not tried any of these patterns. The pictures look like a good match for my doll’s A-line dress. Give the little girl in your life a pair of matching dresses for her and her Ginny, Madam Alexander doll, mini American Girl, one of my three cloth dolls, or other favorite small doll.

If you have visited my blog before, you may have noticed my blog’s new look today. My technical support (my husband, as I have said before) has put the finishing touches on my website’s new look. The blog was the last page that he worked on.

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I have noticed a current trend of  making  girls and their dolls matching outfits. If a young girl in your life has a small doll such as Madam Alexander’s Wendy, Vogue’s Ginny,  Amanda Jane, or one of the American Girl minis, you can use my free sundress pattern as half of a matching outfit set. Of course if she doesn’t have a small doll yet, you can make her Twinkle, Floribunda, or Tender Heart from my pattern.

I have found three patterns for girls that look similar to my doll’s sundress. Any one of them should work as part two of the matching outfit pair.  There is a book on Amazon titled Making Children’s Clothes by  Emma Hardy. The dress on the cover looks a lot like my doll’s sundress. I also found two Simplicity patterns that might make a matching girl’s dress. They are: Simplicity 2383 and 2391. I have not tried to make any of these dresses, but I usually have good luck with Simplicity patterns.

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