Matching Girl and Doll Nightdress

A friend asked me to make a matching summer nightdress for her daughter and her favorite doll. The requirements was using a cotton fabric, simple to get on and off and that was about it.

This is what I came up with.
A simple neckline for easy on and off.Three growth tucks so the nightdress will last a long time. I'm pleased with the results - and I dearly hope they fit both girl and doll well.

As I've pursued all this crafting stuff I've become more and more fussy with my finished projects. Sometimes I'm probably too hard on myself - but there was a point in this project when I had finished - unhappy and unsure I had done my best - I took everything apart and adjusted just very slightly. I think it was worth it. But I took this photo in a moment of frustration!

For this project I butchered Kwik Sew pattern 3105 and McCall's Crafts M4338. The fabric is Moda Always & Forever Forget Me Not Bouquets White

Tutorial: Recycled Plastic Bag Holder

I have been wanting to make 'fabric' out of plastic bags for a long time and I have read a lot of tutorials on the best way to fuse bags together. You can read about how to fuse bags together here, here and here . My advice would be to practice, practice and practice - experiment with the iron temperature and with a different number of layers etc. I still need some of that practice I'm recommending!


For my recycled bag holder I used Target brand bags. I cut the design off the front and just used the white portion of each bag. I layered the bags in the following pattern to make a larger piece of material. I repeated this layering process until I had used a total of 12 bags - 6 layers of plastic at each corner. I used one of the logo fronts on top of 4 other layers of plain white bag to make a type of binding tape for the project. Once all my bags were fused together I trimmed the edges and was left with an oblong shape.

I cut the binding tape 1/2 thick on the diagonal - sewing it together (and onto the bag holder) using a zig-zag stitch so it would be more decorative.
I folded binding tape over top and bottom of the oblong and secured it using a zig-zag stitch.
I placed a piece of binding tape at 2" down from the top and 3" up from the bottom. I threaded elastic through each of these - pulling the elastic tight and securing at each end. I placed a hoop of binding tape at the back for hanging the bag holder.

After sewing up the side edges - it looked like a large cracker!
Bags go in at the top and you pull them out one by one at the bottom.