Sunday was my niece Stella's birthday...she's three years old, can you believe it? Like almost every other little girl in America, she's obsessed with Frozen, so I knew that should be a theme with my gift. I usually try to sew her something for her birthday, since I always knit her a sweater for Christmas.
Stella was getting one of those 18" dolls from Target from her parents, so I decided to sew her new doll a dress. And my sister-in-law mentioned how cute it was that they sell little girls' clothing to match with the doll's clothing....obviously my niece needed something to match. :)
Stella's skirt is just a simple skirt: a hemmed rectangle with elastic at the waist. The doll dress is Simplicity 8039 (view a). The fabric is a light blue cotton print from Hobby Lobby, and the Anna and Elsa grosgrain ribbon is also from Hobby Lobby. The skirt was incredibly easy to sew, but the doll dress took hours longer than I expected! Whoever wrote this pattern obviously didn't sew the pattern, or some things would have definitely been different. For example, it's physically impossible to sew a tiny armhole on the sewing machine, unless you're way more coordinated than I am. I tried and tried, and ended up just sewing the sleeves in by hand. Also, what's the point in the dress bodice being lined when the raw armhole seams aren't hidden at all? I do think the end result is pretty adorable, but wow...sewing doll clothes was so much more tedious that I anticipated.