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Tablecloth Play Dresses

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I've always wanted to make dress up clothes for my daughters. I made an Elsa princess dress a few years ago that I enjoyed creating, but not much else since then. A few weeks ago around my youngest daughter's birthday, a lightbulb went off. 
You might remember from my last post that I created birthday table displays using inexpensive party decorations, including plastic tablecloths that cost about $1. As I was picking up the latest display, I got the idea to recycle the tablecloth into a play dress! The first one I made was from the pink tablecloth in the display shown above.

I felt I had to create at least one more so they wouldn't fight over one dress, but it soon escalated to a total of four dresses that I made over the following weeks. I bought more tablecloths, solely for the purpose of making dresses this time. It was fun stocking up on different colors, hehe. I drafted my own patterns to my girls' measurements, and I had fun getting creative with different colo…
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Santa Doll Makeover

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Well, it's officially the Christmas season, which means sparkling snow, pretty twinkle lights, cookie baking, and holiday crafting.

To kick off this December, I thought I would share this DIY gift that I had fun making for my mom a few years ago. She likes to collect Santa dolls to display in her home at Christmastime, so I came up with the idea to design and make her a custom doll. I ended up buying a Ken doll and modifying it to look like Santa Claus. See below for my work-in-progress pictures and the end results.




BEFORE
This particular doll worked well because I could use the boots in the final Santa outfit.



I used permanent markers to add some wrinkles and rosy cheeks to the face.



I sewed batting scraps around the body of the doll to plump him up a bit. I then designed and knit a miniature winter sweater, and also sewed him a pair of pants and hat from fabric scraps.



I glued strips of white specialty fur yarn to the face to create the eyebrows and hair, and knit a small block with the yarn to create the beard.



AFTER

Happy December!
Niki



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And don't forget... My Christmas coloring book is for sale on Amazon!



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**UPDATE - 2015** The miniature sweater knitting pattern has been revised.  View/Download the new pattern here:
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