Thursday 27 December 2007

Babies for Lauren and Leah

Found these really neat cloth body dolls at Walmart this year and bought 4 of them! I picked up two first; for my granddaughters Lauren and Leah who are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. Meanwhile another granddaughter, Kara, was born, so I thought it would be cute for the girls to have the same doll in a few years. I picked up two more dolls so I'd have one at home to make clothes for future birthdays and Christmas. The dolls are about 18" long, but have very fat and pudgy bodies. So, I used doll clothes patterns for 20 - 22" dolls and adapted them a bit. Here is the doll:

I planned to make tights for the dolls, but the feet are shaped so it made it very challenging. Finally I figured leggings would be a good choice for these dolls!

She can sit up all by herself. Here is the dress for Lauren's doll. I have a stash of fabric that rivals a quilt shop and just couldn't resist this pretty brown and pink floral. A FQ made the dress :-).

A corduroy jumper for Leah's doll:

Great Grandma Janie (my Mom) knit little slippers for the dolls. She had a bit of a challenge fitting the slippers over those toes too.


All the clothes (including a receiving blanket professionally serged by my friend Joan) for Lauren's doll:

Clothes for Leah's doll:

Of course the babies needed their own quilt. Leah got a pink one and Lauren a green one.

Lauren's doll all dressed in her new outfit:

6 comments:

Debbie said...

How precious are these dolls and all their clothes and quilts! Your granddaughters are very lucky little girls. I may just have to visit WalMart this weekend and see if I can find one of these dolls. Not that I have granddaughters but would love to have one for myself!

I also love your blue DJ blocks. I'm also doing DJ in blues.

And finally, I love that you are using handcrank and treadle machines. I have my grandmothers treadle and hope someday to piece a quilt on it.

Unknown said...

yes, lucky granddaughters!!

my DD's (7,3,2,1) each have a doll that looks very similar to yours.

unfortunately, I don't seem to have the clothes making gene....though all the 'babies' DO have quilts of their own!

Jacqui's Quilts said...

Debbie: The doll comes in a pink sleeper and hat and has a soother attached to the sleeper. "Gigi" is embroidered on the hat. They're made in China, but it's a design from a German company. I have one for myself too :-). Until I get too many granddaughters :-).

Christine: I started making doll clothes on my Mom's old treadle when I was 7! So, your oldest girl might take it up herself! There are lots of doll clothes patterns on the market...give it a try :-).

Jacqui

Elly D said...

These are just gorgeous Jacqui. I've made one or two clothes in my time for my own dolls and one day...oops just remembered another wip, I plan to make a patchwork dress for a very old doll of mine which I got when I was 4... many years ago. I have made a start on this a while back, making 4 patches from sample 1.5" squares. I also love the little quilts you made for them. I have some of those florals :) but haven't used them yet... ooops I think those are a PIG... they just keep coming out of the wood work... lol. thank you for sharing.. Elly

Way said...

Beautiful work! Any possibility getting the pattern for the little slippers, for adults?

Jacqui's Quilts said...

Way: My Mom made those little slippers and just experimented. She's made many slippers for adults using this design. You might google slippers and you should come up with some patterns and then you just adapt to tiny feet :-).