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American Girl Horse Stable Knockoff (Tutorial)

January 21, 2013 by girlinspired 17 Comments

My girls Looooove their dolls and their Christmas lists this last year reflected that affection.  We have a combination of American Girl and Our Generation (Target) brand dolls and accessories.  Olivia and Grace, in particular, circled the entire American Girl catalog, with heavy pen marks around all the big ticket items: doll beds, doll cars, furniture, horse stable.  Olivia wanted the horse stable most of all and I wanted to give it to her, but not for the big brand price tag.  We decided to build one (and then we built another for Grace for her birthday.)  Big Hit!  I mean, BIG!
These horse stables feature a one-horse stall, a thin plywood base, wood slat siding, and swinging doors.  My favorite feature?  The chalkboard-front stall doors where the girls can doodle horse graffiti (my turn first, though!)  
 If you have a little doll and horse lover, you can build one of these stables, too!  You will need the supplies pictured below, as well as a miter saw, wood glue, and screwdriver.  
 I think you can figure out how to put the stall together and you can certainly change up the design/size/materials to suit your preference.  Our assembly approach was as follows:  Attach base siding to corner posts, all four corners should meet at mitered points.  Then, add two extra posts, midway between the corners on the long sides. 
We added an extra base piece on the inside of the front base piece for reinforcement and aesthetics.  Next, attach the top siding slats – we didn’t miter these corners, they square up to one another in the back and set flush with the front – no siding slats in the front; the doors will go there.  
Then the middle siding slats.  Cut a piece of thin plywood to size and glue it with wood glue to the base of the stable.  Finally, attach the hinges and doors and paint the front with chalkboard paint.  We used small clamps to hold the pieces in place while screwing them together.  Good luck!!  
So, can you think of a little cowgirl that would love one of theses?

Filed Under: Christmas, Crafting, Holiday Inspiration, Popular Posts Tagged With: American Girl knockoff, chalkboard, DIY horse stable, horse stable, kid toys, tutorial, woodworking

Felted Wool Balls

August 30, 2012 by girlinspired 18 Comments

 Do you do the felting thing?  

I have seen some pretty amazing things that have been felted, but a new hobby is not really what I’m looking for.  Rolling wool roving into balls, though?  That I can handle.  This is a fun project for the evening in front of the television.  Ready for the instructions?  It couldn’t be easier!
 And then you have a whole pile of pretty balls!
 Now…what to do with them? Make a garland?
Fill a canister?  Drape a bookcase?
 
 Make caterpillars?  
Blow a couple hours engaging the caterpillars in a photo shoot? 
The options are endless.  Have fun!

Filed Under: Crafting Tagged With: felt, girls room, kid toys

Princess and the Pea Bed Tutorial

December 29, 2011 by girlinspired 14 Comments

We’re still swimming in the aftermath of Christmas and starting some preparations for Grace’s birthday.  The mornings are slow with the kids out of school, just the way I like them.  But by evening, I’m pulling out the birthday party projects and working on my outfits for Project Run and Play.  It starts next week!!  I’m very excited and also very nervous – will you come vote for me?  I’d hate to go out the first week and have zero votes.  Especially because I’m so excited to make all the outfits I have dancing around in my head – the themes are so fun!
I promised to share a couple of the handmade projects I did for the girls and this first one turned out so awesome!  I had seen some “Princess and the Pea” sets in the catalogs this year, selling for a bazillion dollars, so I decided to make a little themed gift set for Olivia.  I ended up purchasing a pricey doll bed because I ran out of shopping time and wasn’t able to find one in a thrift store (I didn’t even consider building one).  I went through my small pieces of fabric – fat quarters were the exact perfect size for this bed mattress) and stacked them on top of one another until I had identified the colors I wanted to use.  Then I just cut the pieces to size, folded in half, and stitched around the perimeter leaving a small opening in the short end.  I trimmed the corners, turned them right side out and tucked in a piece of foam batting that I had cut to size.  I used several different thicknesses of batting, primarily because I didn’t purchase nearly enough and had to scrounge around in my attic-like storage closets to find other random batting scraps.  I like how the mismatched sizes turned out.  I hand-stitched the openings closed and stacked the mattresses on the bed.  A little quilted blanket topped off the bedding set. 
I made a black apple doll using the pattern and instructions posted on Martha Stewart, here.  I’ve been wanting to make one of these dolls since last Christmas and I have to tell you, it was so simple, you should definitely whip up a couple in your free time (wink!).  Isn’t she so cute?  I wasn’t sure if her simple figure would pass child scrutiny, but Olivia took to her right away.
I made a little pea out of some clay, though I’d much prefer a cute crocheted pea like I saw in a catalog.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how to crochet – perhaps this should be a goal for 2012…Sorry, sidetracked.  Anyway, I typed up the story of the Princess and the Pea and printed it out on a little sheet of pearly pink cardstock to finish off the set.  
I think this project would be perfect for beginning seamstresses and those who like to sew up openings by hand.  

Filed Under: Crafting, Patterns and Tutorials, Sewing Tagged With: fabric, kid toys, princess

The End (Quiet Book Sew along, Part 9)

December 20, 2011 by girlinspired 12 Comments

At last!  We are ready to finish the quiet books.  How are you doing?  All caught up?  
To finish the quiet books, you will need one piece of coordinating scrap fabric cut to 12″ tall by 5″ wide.  I used 11 1/2″ tall for these books here and I wished that it was just a bit longer.  I also applied interfacing to the binding piece of fabric, but I forgot to include this in the kits.  I did not use interfacing on my original quiet books and I honestly can’t tell the difference, so if you have some interfacing lying around, go ahead and cut it to size and iron it on.  If you don’t have any, don’t stress!  Turn in the side edges by 1/4″ and press.  Turn in the top and bottom edge by 1/2″ and press.  Set this piece aside.
Now, pull out your seven finished pages.  If you haven’t sewn together the front and back of each page with batting, do that now to get your seven pages.  Stack your finished pages in the correct order and line up the top and bottom and right-hand side.  
Split your stack in half and sew each stack together along the left-hand side (1/4″ seam allowance). 
Next, stack your two sewn stacks on top of one another and line everything up again (top, bottom, and right-hand sides).  Using just a hair over a 1/4″ seam allowance, stitch the two stacks together.  You want your stitching to fall on the inside of your already sewn lines so that they won’t show when you’re flipping the pages in your finished book.  To sew through all the layers at once, I found it easiest to start in the middle and sew down to the bottom edge, remove the pages from the machine, flip the stack around, and sew from middle to the other edge (top).  Down at the edge, your machine might have a hard time going through all the layers.  Just go slow; I even did a little hand-crank/automatic pedal combo trick.  Be sure you really secure the stitching at each end of the run – I back-stitched and forward-stitched a few times.  
Everything secure and lined up?  
Don’t be afraid to seam rip and redo if your pages don’t end up lined up.  In one of my girls’ books, there is one page that sticks out just a hair more than the others and I REALLY wish I would have taken the few extra minutes to seam rip and redo.  
Now, to finish.  Place your 12″x5″ piece of fabric on top of the front cover page, right side facing down.  Line the left crease up at about 2″ from the left-hand side.  Pin in place to the front cover page only.  
 Open up your book and set in machine.  
Stitch down the crease.  Backstitch well at the beginning and end of the run.  
With the book still open, flip the binding fabric back so that it spreads over the bound pages.  
Pin in place with pressed edge tucked under on the back cover, about two inches in from the right-hand side.  
Before you stitch this edge down, open and close the book to make sure there is enough slack in the binding to lay flat when the book is closed – make sense?  Adjust pinned edge as needed.  Open the book back up and place the back cover in your sewing machine.  Topstitch along the edge of the binding.  I used a decorative stitch to do this and LOVE the results.  I think it really finishes the book beautifully, especially since it leaves a lovely stitch along the inside of the covers as well.  
Now, you just need to slipstitch the top and bottom closed.  This was not the easiest moment for me, but I couldn’t come up with a better way to bind the book – if you want to share an easy trick, I’m all ears!  But anyway, what I did is just tuck in along the creased edge and slipstitch all the way across (open the book up along the center when you’re stitching).  
The specific tricky part is encasing the seam in the center – I just wrapped the edge until I could stitch and pull it closed to cover the ugly raw edges.  
For me, it seemed pretty lame while I was doing it, but once it was all sewn up, I think it looks fine.  
So, that’s it!!!  We’re done!  If this felt a tad rushed, it was just because I wanted to fit it all in so that you can give the quiet books for Christmas..  I’m giving Addie hers that I’ve had tucked away for the last two years.  I think she’s old enough now and it’s such a relief to have a handmade project that’s been completed for a while and ready for the giving!
I have created a flickr group for picture sharing and I do hope you’ll join and upload your pictures.  I really want to see what you’ve been working on!  Pretty please…  Here’s the link to the group:
Girl Inspired Quiet Books (Flickr Group)

Filed Under: Patterns and Tutorials, Sewing Tagged With: fabric, kid toys, quiet book, sew along

Crayon Pocket (Quiet Book Sew Along, Part 8)

December 19, 2011 by girlinspired 4 Comments

How was your weekend?  We fit in some cookie decorating fun and a photo shoot with good friends and some last minute shopping.  It was a good weekend, but I didn’t do a drop of sewing and I have a few items left on my to-do list.  It will be a busy week!  
Did you catch up on your quiet books?  We’re just about done and they’ll be ready for wrapping.  Today we’re going to do the crayon pocket page and then you can start assembling all the pages with batting and we’ll finish them off tomorrow.  
The crayon pocket page is a single page and will be placed opposite the inside of the back cover.  You will need:  one piece of scrap fabric, an equal piece of lightweight fusible interfacing (not fusible web), a piece of ric rac, a small notepad, and five pretty, new crayons. 
Cut your scrap fabric and interfacing to 4″ by 10 1/4″.  Fuse scrap fabric and interfacing together (for kit users:  stack interfacing, bumpy side up, then fabric right side up, press on cotton setting for 10 seconds per section).
Cut a piece of ric rac to 10 1/4 inches and align with top edge on right side of fabric.  Stitch using a 1/4″ seam allowance, which should put your stitches right down the center of the ric rac (if you’re using a different size ric rac, make sure your stitches go down the center).  
Flip the seam to the backside of the fabric and press (be careful your hot iron doesn’t melt the polyester ric rac).  
Top stitch along the edge to hold the seam in place.
Starting on the right-hand side of the pocket fabric, draw a line (using disappearing ink fabric pen) every 1″.  Draw a total of five lines.  
On your background fabric, mark one line, 1″ in from each side.  Beginning at that right-hand mark (1″ in on background fabric), measure 3/4″ in to the left and draw a line.  Mark a total of five lines, each 3/4″ apart.  
Lay your pocket fabric on top of your background fabric and align the bottoms of both pieces.  Pin the left side of the pocket fabric with the left-hand mark (1″ in from left side) on the background fabric.  Pin the right side of the pocket fabric with the first right-hand mark.  Stitch the two sides in place and run a zig-zag stitch over the edge to secure it.  
Now, you’re going to sew your crayon pouches.  You will sew the pouch lines one at a time (note:  I do not have the full lines drawn out in these pictures, but it’s much easier that way).  I pinned them one at a time and then sewed straight down the line.  I started with the left-most lines and worked to the right.  As I pinned each subsequent line, I just finger-pressed the bulge of the top fabric to the left.  I hope this makes sense.  
Once you have all your crayon pockets sewn, pinch the center bottom of each pouch and press it to the side.  Stitch across the bottom to hold everything in place (be sure you stay below that 1/4″ seam allowance for when you sew up the book).  
Got it?  Questions?  Troubles?  Cheers?  
Now you have all the pages completed and you can lay them out together to form the pages of the book.  Once you have everything in the order that you want, stack each page with its batting and sew them together like we discussed in the front cover post, here.  Leave the inner seam open.
So close!!!  Some of you have asked about sharing pictures.  I think that I can create a flikr group to share pictures, BUT I’m really technology challenged and it’s going to take me some time to figure out how to do it, SO, if you have a blog and want to post links in the comments section, have at it.  Otherwise, I will try to do the flikr group when I have a bit of time to dedicate to it. 

Filed Under: Patterns and Tutorials, Sewing Tagged With: fabric, kid toys, quiet book, sew along

Dress the Dolls (Quiet Book Sew Along, Part 7)

December 17, 2011 by girlinspired 4 Comments

Today we’re going to finish the last two-page spread for the quiet books. If you have a kit, this should be pretty easy! 
You will need brown felt, a coordinating brown fabric, lightweight fusible web, fabric dolls and fabric clothes, interfacing and starch (not needed if you have a kit)
Prep your dolls and clothes by pressing them with two to three coats of starch. Apply interfacing to the back. If you have a doll kit, this has already been done. Your doll pieces should feel nice and stiff. Cut them out completely from the background fabric. Cut off the little tabs from the clothes if you will be attaching the dolls to the background fabric in the book. Apply a few pieces of fusible web to the back of the dolls, place them side by side on the background fabric and iron them down (you do not need to completely cover them, though you can if you want. Now, zig zag or straight stitch all the way around the perimeter of the dolls. Left page DONE!!
For the armoire, cut one piece of felt 9″ by 5 1/2″ and one piece of coordinating fabric the same size (9×5.5). Fuse the two pieces together with fusible web. With the felt side facing up, lay the rectangle in front of you and press the two sides in to meet in the center, forming the “doors” of the armoire. 
Stitch around the perimeter of the doors only.
Apply a small piece of fusible velcro at the top center and bottom center of your main armoire piece. Cut the other sides of the velcro in half (so you will have four small pieces) and apply each piece to the top and bottom corners of the armoire doors so that when you close them, they stick to the other velcro and stay closed – make sense?
Cut a slit about 1/3 of the way down and most of the way across (leave 1/4″ uncut between the slit and the crease on each side; do not cut into the doors). Stitch close to the edge below the slit. This forms your pocket in which the doll clothes will go.
Now your main armoire piece is ready to place on the background fabric. Apply a piece of fusible web on the back side (fabric side) of the armoire, above the slit. 
Center the armoire on the background fabric and iron down. 
Cut a felt “drawer” (approx. 4.5″ by 3/4″) and fuse centered below the main piece. Cut a little scalloped top from felt and fuse above the main piece. In the same way, add two legs from patterned fabric (or felt). 
To finish, stitch all the way around the center piece of the armoire (do not stitch down doors), around the top piece, the drawer, and the legs. I used a straight stitch on all of the pieces. 
Finally, load the clothes into the armoire and admire your work!!
We’ll do the crayon pocket page and stitch all the pages together next!  Then, we’ll just do the finish binding and we’re done!  
Tell me how it’s going!  I want to hear from you.

Filed Under: Patterns and Tutorials, Sewing Tagged With: fabric, kid toys, quiet book, sew along

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It is my hope that you will find inspiration on the Girl. Inspired. blog. All photos are copyright protected by Girl. Inspired. If you wish to share something that you have seen here, I am absolutely thrilled! Please use only one picture with a direct link back to the project you are referencing. Thank you so much for your understanding!

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