How to Sew a Pillow for a Doll

Hello!👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

School is out and I am super excited to be able to spend more time with my kids and my partner over the next couple of weeks! ♥️

I have been pulling out all the red clothes I have in my wardrobe to wear something red everyday, because… why not, we are in a festive season!🤭

Two and three years ago, I made two dresses with a classic red plaid print, but honestly, I only wear them during the Christmas season. And possibly only one wear each.

One of them, which is the Juliet from Vintage Little Lady, is just too large for me, I feel lost inside and the other, which is the Freya dress by Tilly and The Buttons, is just too tight around my belly now. 😬

Here is a photo of me in the Juliet dress:

I went back on my Instagram to see what I wrote about making the dress at the time and I saw I went a size up based on the recommendations in the pattern. From memory, I don’t think I shortened for my height and the sleeves are just too long for my frame.

I have been meaning to upcycle this one for a while now, but just haven’t gotten around to it. There is about 3 meters of fabric in the dress, so plenty to work with, but it won’t be this year either. 😂

I might just end up shortening the skirt and sleeves and using the excess for something else.

One of the things I did this week was wrap some Christmas presents! 🎁

For the past year or more, we've been trying to make more conscious purchases, especially for the kids, focusing on items we think will be useful rather than just buying everything that looks nice.

It helps now that they are slightly older and can voice what their interests are, of course we can also see and take note of what they gravitate towards when playing around the house.

One of the things I have bought them is a pack of white printing paper because they are always stealing mine for their crafts! 😂

I also finished making their Barbie bed collection, and for some reason I thought it was going to take me the whole week to make, but I finished them on Wednesday! 💪

Here are Ken and Barbie showing off how they look lying down inside:

The first version I made, which is the one with Barbie in, didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.

I used heavyweight interfacing, the one that feels like paper, for the border and I thought it would hold well, but it didn’t.

It was flopping open so I decided to fold the corners in a little and tack them in place to bring in the sides a bit more. It sort of works, but I don’t like the way it looks but I also don’t feel like redoing it all. 😂

If I did, it would mean unpicking the binding at the base, the border, the topstitching and the top seam that is holding the straps to use an alternative stabiliser. 😵

Not something I feel drawn to doing! 😂

The second version came out much better. I used fusible foam and it holds up a lot better and definitely looks better too!

To complement the set, I made a blanket and four pillows each in various shapes - heart, oval, circle and square - with 2 of them having a ruffle border.

I ended up ditching the mattress to fit to the base of the bed simply because I wasn’t in the mood to draft an extra pattern piece.

Overall, my personal preference is the second version I made, I just hope that the different fabrics don’t cause fights between my girls. 😬

Apart from this, I sewed a little something, a very little something, that I can’t tell you this week, but I will tell you about next week. 🤫

I have made good progress on the Breton Sweater I am knitting with the Yarnsmiths Merino DK yarn. So much so, that I got carried away and knit an extra 13 rows before realizing I never shaped the armhole! 🤦🏼‍♀️

So I still need to remove all the rows before I can continue.

I have the front bodice more than half way done though and I am finding adding the beads very therapeutic now. They are just a bit fiddly because of their size.

Some of the holes on the beads are smaller than others, so I am having to sift those out because the DK weight yarn is too thick to pass through. Not sure how much you can tell by the photo.

These beads will be good for jewellery making, so I am keeping them in a separate jar for my daughters to use.

At the time of writing this, Wool Warehouse has this yarn on a 40% off sale, amongst other good offers on their Yarnsmiths range, so do check it out if you are in need of some yarn.

I managed to finish the Alice Vest test knit from Rita Made This.

I didn’t like how the double stranded DK yarn daisies were looking after trying many times, so I just cut them all out. They looked okay in photos, but in real life they weren’t looking too good.

I found some of the leftover yarn from the sleeves of my Evie Cardigan from KnitStitchRepeat that I knit earlier this year. 

It is an aran weight yarn, so a thicker strand, and I held it single this time.

I much prefer how they look now, even though the colour has a slight brown touch to it.

It needs to be blocked still because the edges at the front are rolling in and if I make this again I would probably make a size up for some extra bit of room.

I would like to end my week wishing you all a merry festive season! 💖

😎Confidence Corner:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas A. Edison

Many times opportunities come disguised as hard work, which is why many people fail to notice them. It’s easy to let go of something that seems challenging or time-consuming, but usually, those are the very moments that can lead to growth and success.

Life rewards hard work, determination, and the willingness to take on tasks that might not seem glamorous at first. Accepting that you have to put some effort into life, you open the door to opportunities you might otherwise miss.

🧵Today's Sewing Tip:

How to Sew a Pillow for a Doll

As you know I recently sewed 8 pillows for my daughters’ Barbies and they are quite simple and quick to make.

I am going to show you how I made the heart shaped one with added ruffles.

1. Cut out your desired shape, for this tutorial I am using a heart shape. You can draw any shape you like, it doesn’t have to be perfect, after all, it’s only for a doll.

I like to draw my shapes out on paper first and then use the paper pattern piece to cut out the fabric.

My heart is roughly 6 ¼ inches wide by 5 ¼ inches tall. The ruffle is a rectangle that is 2 x 27 inches.

You will need two pieces of your shape and one piece for the ruffle.

2. Align the short raw edges of the ruffle to form a loop and sew together using a ¼ inch seam allowance.

Next, open up the seam allowance to avoid bulk and fold the ruffle in half, wrong sides together, matching the raw edges. Press flat with an iron.

3. Set your stitch length to the longest your machine has, mine is 5.0. Choose a starting point and sew 2 rows of stitches around the whole raw edge without overlapping stitches.

I have sewn one row at ¼ inch from the raw edge and the next at ½ away from the raw edge.

Make sure to leave long tails at the beginning and end to be able to gather the fabric.

4. Grab the 2 top threads and pull to gather the fabric to the perimeter of your shape. Match the raw edges of the ruffle with the raw edges of your shape on the right side of the shape and clip/pin in place.

5. Baste these layers together using a ¼ inch seam allowance.

6. Take the second fabric shape and sandwich the ruffle in between. Make sure that the right sides of the shapes are touching and place a few clips/pins

Sew together using ⅜ inch seam allowance and leave an opening of about 1.5 to 2 inches to turn it out the right way.

7. Trim the seam allowance and cut into corners and/or cut off corners depending on what shape you have chosen. Leave the area by the opening uncut.

8. Turn it right side out and press flat. Remove any visible stitches left behind from when the ruffle was gathered.

Optionally, you can topstitch around your shape just for an added detail, just remember to leave the opening unstitched to be able to stuff it.

9. Stuff the pillow with toy stuffing or small scraps of fabric.

10. Stitch the opening closed using your preferred method.

If you topstiched before, topstitch the opening closed again with your sewing machine.

If you skipped the topstiching before, you can handstitch the opening closed, it will look neater.

However, if you are tight for time or are not a fan of handstitching (like me), stitch it closed using your sewing machine.

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• Completing the Barbie bed collection for each of my daughters.
• Worked on a little surprise for someone, nothing special, but I can only tell you next week. 🤫
• Finishing my Alice Vest test knit from Rita Made This.

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Enjoy time with my family!
• Continue knitting the Breton Sweater.
• Make sure the written instructions for the Roma Necessaire are ready to go!

🎉Upcoming Events

18th of January 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester, 11:45h - 17:15h
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND013
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond013/

2025 Dates!

23rd of February 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
22nd of March 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
26th of April 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event

Question of the Week:

What’s your favourite type of sewing content to watch on YouTube?

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Thank you so much for reading it! And if you enjoyed it, please tell a friend about it to allow me to reach more people. 🥰

Bye for now,
B! xx