Christmas Gifts
Updated: Feb 21, 2019
Normally this time of year is a mad dash to get all of my christmas crafting done before we leave town for the holidays. This year, though, has been....rough. I haven't had the energy to plan out the way that I normally do, so my handmade gifts are limited to my twin toddler nieces this year. Thankfully since they're babies, they can't find this post and have the surprise spoiled! When we were in Tennessee for thanksgiving, I noticed one of my nieces playing with a plastic doll that my mom got her and trying to use a napkin as a makeshift diaper for it. Both of the twins LOVE to imitate my sister and my brother-in-law, and since there are two of them, one of the things they see happening all the time is diaper changes. They're just now getting to the age where they really like playing with dolls and are fascinated with babies, so for Christmas, they're getting dolls with diapers! The dolls also have little cowgirl boots since the twins are in love with their own cowgirl boots.
I found a pattern for the dolls on etsy and made a few modifications to it:
I cut the leg pattern piece so that I could make the bottom portion boots for the dolls. The boot colors I chose match the color of the boots each of the twins has.
I decided to go with felt for the hair on the dolls so there won't be an issue with hair tangling. I used the pattern pieces for the head to draft the hair pieces and just attached the felt to the head pieces before assembling the head.
I divided the side head piece in half so that I could sew the pigtails into the seam and have them centered on the side of the head.
I freehand drafted a diaper pattern based on the measurements of the finished doll once I had finished stuffing it.
For the face of the doll I took advantage of the fact that I have the Brother SE400 combo sewing and embroidery machine and decided to embroider the faces so that they'd look really polished and identical. I found a great selection of doll face patterns at Embroidery Library and decided to go with this one. It's technically a boy face, but I thought it was the most suitable for this project. The girl faces were a little too glammed up for my taste. The patterns also come in different sizes so you can buy the size that fits the face of the pattern you're using.
To finish things off, I sewed up some kerchiefs for the the dolls. Now each one has a cute doll with matching boots! I can't wait to give them these!