One of the projects that I would like to make some day is a doll-sized version of Belle's library gown with really lush fabrics.
Belle's my favorite princess, and this is my favorite of her gowns. Even if AG makes it, I am not sure I trust them to do it right.
Original dress:
Inspiration:
I found this at the thrift store this week!
It's a Disney doll, maybe Cinderella, wearing the A Girl of Today First Day Outfit shirt.
I actually already have this shirt, but for $2, it came home with me!
I think the crown might fit AG dolls, so that's a bonus.
I'll donate the doll back to the local thrift store that benefits the community.
I was delighted to find this Snow White doll at the thrift store for $3.
She's not my favorite princess, but this doll is a real cutie!
Don't worry, Snow White, you are safe from your stepmother now!
I must admit, I am really falling for the 8 inch Madame Alexander dolls.
My first Disney princess doll is Rapunzel.
She may well be my last Disney princess doll as well. My favorite Disney PRINCESS is Belle, with steep competition from Moana and Merida. But I didn't care as much for the limited edition Belle doll.
I have thus far resisted all of the Limited Edition American girl dolls.
But I digress! I am more likely to buy a doll if I think it is a unique combination of features that uses one of my favorite face molds. (Which, for the record, are classic, Jess, Joss and Marie Grace.)
I really liked Limited Edition Rapunzel. But I wasn't going to pay the price they were asking. I also didn't like the crystals, glitter eye make up, and the extra long hair.
When play line Rapunzel came out, all of those concerns were addressed!
A friend gave me her expiring rewards, and Rapunzel came home to me.
For the record, I was REALLY tempted by play line Tiana. But I can't tell Tiana and Claudie apart unless they are in the same picture. Since I am TRYING to limit the size of my collection and I already have Claudie, I did not get Tiana.
Rapunzel's hair has a lovely "swish" to it. It musses easily, and falls back in place easily.
I have not actually seen Tangled, and I may give Rapunzel a new personality. I think she is a lovely doll, and I am so happy to have her.
Today is my friend's birthday. One of her favorite dolls is her Disney Animators Rapunzel.
I used a Requiem Art Designs pattern to make her several dresses for her Punzie.
All of the dresses are purple, to go with the Rapunzel theme.
And this is very much inspired by Rapunzel's classic dress, but meant to be more of an everyday version.
None of these are exact matches for anything that Rapunzel wears. It's more of a fun inspired-by collection. Even princesses need casual wear sometimes!
And here are the adorable pictures my friend took of her Rapunzel in the new dresses!
I made a quick sleeveless sundress for the Disney Animator dolls.
I used the pattern Requiem Art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress.
This dress is to match one I made in AG size a few years back. You can see that dress at this blog link.
Hmm, I guess I could have added a waist band to make it a closer match. That's what I get for not checking pictures before sewing.
The dolls are ready for summer!
I also made matching blue dresses for the little girl who has an 18 inch Madame Alexander doll and a Disney Animator Tiana.
These dresses are roughly inspired by Tiana's Evening Star dress.
The Disney Animator doll dress was made using a Requiem Art Designs pattern.
The 18 inch doll dress didn't really follow a pattern. I used the bodice from the Joan Hinds Sailor dress, because that was what I had out. Any basic doll dress bodice pattern would work.
I lined it in cotton for more stability.
I think I made the skirt about 40 inches wide by 8 inches long.
I bought a new spool of ribbon for the sasses on these dresses, and it was all used up. There is maybe enough left to make a matching headband.
I actually like the smaller blue dress better than the 18 inch one. The proportions look better. But it's all just meant to be fun to play with. I think I achieved that.
I made matching yellow dresses for the little girl that I know. One is for her 18 inch Madame Alexander doll, and one is for her Disney Animators Tiana.
The Disney Animators doll dress is made with a Requiem Art Designs pattern.
The dresses aren't exact matches, but I think it's cute. It's harder to do the really fancy details on the smaller dolls, especially if you don't have an exact pattern.
This dress is inspired by Tiana's yellow work dress. It is sized for the Disney Animator dolls.
It's not really a sailor dress collar.
I kind of felt like, at this smaller size, this was close enough for a play dress for a Tiana doll.
I used the pattern Requiem Art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress.
I made the sleeves longer and used the dropped waist.
It's a cute little dress!
Snow White is my model, because I bought her at the thrift store for modelling purposes.
Seeing Snow White in this dress with her hair in braids makes me want to sew her a Wednesday Addams dress, haha.
The dress will be going to a little girl that I know who owns the Disney Animator Tiana.
I made a rough version of Tiana's Evening Star blue dress for the Disney Animator dolls.
Mine is not as fancy as the American Girl version. I knew it would be different, but I thought that this is a good play dress version.
I used the Requiem art Designs Disney Animator Toddler Basic Dress pattern.
The pattern has different lengths for the bodice. I felt that either the natural waist or the dropped waist would work. I used the dropped waist because it's the 1920s and it would provide for room for the wide ribbon sash.
I made the skirt longer than the pattern- I think I cut it at 6.5 inches by 30 inches.
I even had the perfect blue satin in my stash! I just bought some glittery blue ribbon for the sash.
The satin is challenging to work with. I lined the dress with white cotton to provide stability, and did a zig zag stitch around the edges of the skirt before I started sewing with it.
Snow White is my model, because I bought her at the thrift store for modelling purposes.
The dress will be going to a little girl that I know who owns the Disney Animator Tiana.
I did a lot of sewing this weekend!
I was inspired by the new Disney release to make some Tiana inspired dresses. These are not exact matches for the AG versions. It was much more fun to use what I had in the house and see different combinations come together!
I was lucky that I went to the thrift store on Friday and found a big piece of plain yellow fabric that I used for two of the dresses. It was only $2!
The pattern that I used was the sailor dress from Joan Hinds Heritage Doll Clothes.
I bought this book used. The pattern pieces were not in the book, they were on a CD. I was able to get the patterns off the CD with the help of the library, but a lot of laptops no longer have a CD player, so be aware of that if buying the book used.
I made the skirt 1.5 inches longer than the pattern because it looked to me like Tiana's work dress skirt hits her at mid-thigh.
I also added a sleeve cuff by cutting strips of fabric 1.25 by 5.25 inches.
Other changes that you could do to make the pattern closet to the work dress would be shortening the top a little bit and shortening the sleeves about 1.5 inches so that they are 3/4 length.
The collar is only on the front of the dress and does not extend around to the back of the dress.
I had so much fun picking out different color combinations from my stash. It was hard to stop!
I like all of the combinations.
Claudie is my model for Tiana. She is so cute, and so is the Tiana doll.
These dresses were made in a hurry for a little girl who had COVID. I wanted to give them to her grandma so I didn't have to pay for shipping, so I didn't get a picture of the dolls wearing the clothes.
The girl has a 16 inch Disney Animator Tiana, and a 18 inch Madame Alexander doll named Mary.
I was going to 1920s style dresses, since that would be appropriate for Tiana.
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I thought it was super cute to make them matching Christmas dresses!
The Disney Animator dress was made using the Requiem Arts Designs Disney Animator Dress Basics pattern.
The 18 inch doll dress was made using the Dolls at Hearts Vera dress pattern.
Both dresses fit the dolls, and made their owner very happy!
I was relieved, since I did not have a Disney Animator doll to use as a model to test the fit.
A little girl of my acquaintance asked me to make some dresses for her Disney Animators doll Tiana.
I do not have a Disney Animators doll to model. I bought the Dress Basics pattern from Requiem Art Designs.
The first dress I made was a simple sundress with green fabric that I think is vaguely froggy, and thus appropriate for Tiana.
It was a bit plain on its own, so I added pink ribbons to pep it up a bit.
It looks funny standing there on its own! I hope it fits the doll well.
I plan to make a few more dresses before I mail them to their new owner.
I made this chair a year ago, but I don't seem to have put it on the blog, and I keep telling people about it.
So clearly, I need to post it!
In hindsight, I wish I had made it a bit wider. It would just look comfier, I think..
The height of the chair was taken from the length of her knee to her foot. It looks taller than it should be, but that's just the proportions of the doll.
The height of the back of the chair was the length of her rear end to her head.
A quilting ruler made all these calculations easier!
I cut out two pieces of cardboard for each piece and glued them together for strength.
Then I covered each piece in quilt batting and fabric.
Some of the fabric pieces were sewn together to make it look neater than gluing, like the back of the chair and the armrests.
I glued everything together, and voila, a chair!
I picked out this fabric for Belle. I wanted red roses in a small scale.
I think this is actually meant to be peonies, but it looks close enough to me!
This doll does not have knees, so I made her a footstool so she can be comfy.
I put her on the chair and measured how far her feet are off the ground.
So the chair is totally custom to her size!
I want to make a sofa for fashioned size dolls so I can display more than one at a time.
An American Girl doll sofa would be nice too, but there we run into storage issues, and it might need something stronger than hot glue to hold it together.
Maybe something that slots together and can come apart? I will think about this. I also want it to LOOK GOOD, so that might not work.
I haven't forgotten the series of Disney bound princess doll clothes that I was making!
Here's Elsa!
It's kind of funny that I made the Elsa dress in summer, and others, like Ariel and Moana, in winter.
I want to take pictures of the Ariel and Moana dresses on the beach, but the weather hasn't been coperating yet.
I need to do more group pictures of teh Disney bounds, too. Maybe after Doll of Color Month is over.
I didn't think I would have time to sew doll clothes this weekend.
I had to sew a purse to be auctioned to benefit the Art History and Archaeology Department at my alma mater, and I had to clean house.
I did actually end up sewing this one doll dress.
Lately I have been doing about two dresses per weekend, so I was pleased to get this one finished on such a busy weekend.
This is a Disney bound for Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.
I had this green fabric for a while, and could not imagine what I would use it for.
It occurred to me, as I was making these Disney bound outfits, that this would be perfect fabric for a princess who turned into a frog!
So this dress is loosely based on Tiana's green ball gown, but also on frogs.
Frogs and water lilies would be good accessories. I LOVE water lilies.
I think this dress turned out very pretty, considering that I didn't know what I would ever use the fabric for.
Meritaten is my model for Tiana. Meritaten is a Cecile doll that has been customized with brown eyes.
I have put a lot of the dolls away for the moment, because I am expecting a guest.
So I haven't made an updated group picture, but one of Meritaten as Tiana and Joss as Belle.
Snow White is a really easy Disney bound, because she has such a clear color scheme. Red, dark blue and yellow, throw in an apple, bam!
Snow White herself.
And here she is!
I would not have thought of putting these colors together in a retro dress if it were not for making Disney bounding dresses, but it really works. It's cute.
I even have an apple for her to hold!
That apple is kind of heavy for its size, and it was hard to get her to hold it.
I am so happy with this outfit!
If you sing "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," though, I may throw that apple at you, be warned!
My sister sang that song nonstop for about a year, and I really grew tired of it.
Here is a group picture of all my Disney bound dresses so far.
I am really pleased with this Disney bound of Moana!
Like my Disney bounds for Belle and Ariel, this dress is made from Simplicity 8072.
I used a bodice that is patterned in diamonds in coral and yellow.
The top and the skirt of the dress are made from a tan fabric with a very subtle pattern on it.
The bodice has one teal button to stand in for the heart of Te Fiti.
I put sandals on her feet. The color doesn't quit match, but it kind of works.
I now have Disney bounds for two of my favorite princesses! I love Belle and Moana.
My other favorite princess is Merida, but she's going to be hard to make a bound for, I think.
I do know who I want to model a Merida bound in my collection. It's going to be Aurélie, who has red hair and blue eyes.
So far, all of the Disney bounding dresses have been made with fabric that I already had in my house. I am really being creative! It's so fun!
I think for Merida, I may have to cave and buy fabric. But she's worth it.
In the meantime, I am continuing to make more Disney bounding dresses with fabric I have on hand!
Disney bounding is the idea of subtly dressing like a Disney character.
You don't want to copy the character's look, like with cosplay. You use the character's color scheme and accessories to hint at your character.
Disney bounding came to be because adults cannot dress like Disney characters in the park, so there is no confusion about who the official Disney employees are.
I haven't Disney bounded myself, but was inspired by someone making Disney bound outfits for her AG dolls in a Facebook group that I am in.
I like a creative challenge. I actually have the patterns to make the Disney princess dresses for AG, which I bought on sale in case a little girl in my life ever wanted them. I think that's Simplicity 5705 or 1581, if you are interested.
This is more creative to me, to make an outfit that suggests something without copying that thing.
I used Simplicity pattern 8072. It's cute, it's retro, it's easy to make. Actually, I had an issue with the dresses being a little too wide, and was carefully making them narrower for a better fit.
The first one that I made is Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
I just made the yellow dress from Simplicity 8072, and added a rose made of ribbon that I have been saving for years for the perfect project.
This dress is so super cute, and I think it definitely reads as Belle.
Accessories could be more roses, or a stack of books? Or a purse that looks like a book?
I dressed Joss as Belle because of her brown hair and eyes, and I left her hearing aid on.
Hearing aids are important. Those of us who are hearing impaired would not leave the hearing aid off just because we are dressing up.
The next dress that I made is Ariel from A Little Mermaid. I made a purple dress with teal accents.
Then I found some teal buttons and added a row of those.
I like this one too!
Astrid, who is Truly Me 61, is perfect to bound as Ariel, with her red hair.
I think this one is easy to accessorize. Seashells, fish, maybe a necklace with a music note.
I want to glue a seashell to a hair clip or two and accessorize her that way.
I really like this outfit as Disney bound, and have more ideas for Disney bounds using the same pattern.
Disney bounding is even cuter when you have a group of people with the same theme!
Disney bounding does not have to be retro, but I was looking at pictures of Disney bounding at Dapper Days at the Disney parks, pre-pandemic, for inspiration. The pictures that I saw are on the wonderful Epbot blog. Here's a link to their pictures from Dapper Day 2019. It's lovely eye candy.
You can see the dress I made previously from this pattern in Simplicity 8072 here.
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