Old Socks and American Girls

D brought a pair of worn socks down to the kitchen this morning asking if I wanted to do anything with them or if he should throw them out.  I told him I would stick them in the bag of ripped and stained clothes that I drop in the clothing recycle bin.  But of course my crafty little brain started thinking about what I could make with them.  M is really in to playing with her American Girl dolls and I have been crafting for them.  I decided the socks would make cute skirts for "the girls".   Here's what the first finished skirt looks like on Grace:

I took some pictures as I made the other skirt.  It's not a tutorial, just a few step by step pictures that give an idea of the simple process.

First, find a sock.  We have a lot of orphan socks around here, but these were a worn out pair.

The size of this ribbed men's Smart Wool sock worked well.

 So I cut the ribbed part off and saved the foot in case I come up with a project for that.












I turned the sock inside out and pulled the top part of the sock up over the doll's waist to make a mini skirt that just barely covered her bum.  The bottom part of the sock became the hem of the skirt and I folded it up so I could hem it.  It was really important to hem it on the doll so that I knew it would be able to stretch over her legs.

I'm not the most careful or patient seamstress, so here's what the hem looks like.  It's okay, because I'll turn that skirt right-side-out and pull the part I hemmed up as the waist.

Katherine would be so embarrassed if she knew you could see her panties in these pictures!











Here are the finished skirts on Grace and Katherine.  They are also sporting custom t-shirts with felt designs.   My daughter would probably narrate what they're doing in this way (because she watches a lot of YouTube videos about morning routines, etc.):

"Grace and Katherine are all ready for a day out.  They're wearing adorable brown knit skirts and the most adorable custom t-shirts.  Grace is wearing cute brown shoes and Katherine is wearing purple flats to match her tee.  They've packed their tote bag and are ready to go."

The shirt on Katherine (on the right) was made using an American Girl Crafts kit.  The cupcake tee on Grace is a t-shirt I bought on Amazon embellished with a cupcake made from a pattern in the same AG craft kit.  The dogs are glued onto Katherine's shirt but the cupcake on Grace's shirt is affixed with velcro so my daughter can switch it out for other designs like the heart in the first picture of the post (and below on Grace's hand).

So, if you've got an old sock and a little time you too could make a doll skirt.  The skirt can also be worn as a cute tube top.  This is my first American Girl Doll post, but there will probably be more.  My daughter loves her dolls and both of us enjoy crafting!

Not Thirty-Something Anymore!

I haven't touched this blog in ages, but I have decided that I might start writing again.  I opened up the blog and what first struck me was the subtitle about being a 30-something in suburbia.  I'm still in suburbia, but I'm a 40-something now!  So many changes since I used to keep this blog!  For anyone who might have followed me on the past and still has me in an RSS feed, here's a visual update of "the nursery" closet which now belongs to my 6 year old daughter M.

A couple of those neatly labeled bins remain (not so neatly labeled anymore), and the color remains, but now it's a reflection of her personality!

Oh, and there are now some horses living in that room too...

And if anyone recalls that craft room/office project I was going to do...here's where we are now:

Life kind of got in the way of tackling that project.  This is M's desk...she's a crafty girl like her momma (and takes after me in the neatness department too).

I'm working on a long story that I'm hoping will somehow find it's way to Julia Louis Dreyfus for inclusion as a side story in VEEP...it may have it's first audience on this blog...wait and see.