I fell in love with these dolls as soon as I saw them (their clothes are seriously amazing), but thought that traditional paper dolls with their fiddly little tabs might be too difficult for a four year old to deal with. Attaching them to thin magnets was the perfect solution. When packaged in a metal box, they make a great toy to play with at home or on the road.
(this was my first attempt at printing a label (made in gimp) - it was too small! I later peeled this one off and replaced it with a larger version)
As much as I love all of Betsy McCall's adorable clothes, I think my favorite part of the set is this fantastic Christmas tree, complete with 50s-style ornaments for Betsey to hang up. I am absolutely making a second tree to go on our fridge during the Christmas season. Love.
In addition to the tree and ornaments, I made two dolls (Betsey and her sister Barbara), a doll for Betsey and Barbara with two of her own dresses, and about 50 pieces of clothing. I had so much fun with these - I was sad to wrap them up because I had to stop playing with them!
Did you make any gifts this year? How did the recipients like them?
14 comments:
I made a couple of things this year. There was the jumper for my boy (which still isn't finished...), a pair of gloves for one of my best friends (who loved them) and a scarf for the lovely's mum which she didn't realise was handmade (despite the fact I forgot to weave in the ends :S....)
I also did chutney and chilli jelly for people, although whilst everyone has been very kind about it, no-one has yet told me how they taste!
x
this is seriously the cutest thing ever! Please share how you did these because I want them lol!
This reminded me of the paper dolls I had when I was little... I only vaguely remember them; I believe there were different sets of clothing that were all color-coded, and they seemed very old-fashioned. I wish I knew what they were so I could find them again!
I am definitely going to do this for my nieces next year- they should be old enough to handle it by then (3)!
I gave my whole family shirts that I screenprinted with our roller derby logo. Otherwise, we didn't really exchange gifts, though my mom asked if I could sew a new lining for a vintage fur coat for her birthday/xmas.
I made charm bracelets for both my sisters, who loved them. My niece (almost 4) upgraded to a twin-sized bed this Christmas, so I made her a bigger quilt in pink, purple, and brown. She was, of course, not impressed (as expected). But I'm not too worried, she was also kind of unimpressed by her bike (when there were new Barbies to be played with!).
That's adorable!! I love the clothes that are shown on the McCall website..
1. I made the Charlie bag into a knitting bag for my sister.
2. Knitted a purse for my other sister.
3. Knitted a hat for my Mom.
4. Knitted a scarf for my sister in law.
5. Mike and I made lap trays with cushions on the bottom for my parents (1 each) and for his Mom.. and in the process he made one for me and one for himself! They are great for my laptop and to eat at the couch lol.
Oh and I knitted another scarf for my best friend.
These are adorable! I would have loved these as a child!!!!
I did not make anything for my family this year which is out of the norm for me. It was a pretty low key Christmas for our extended family. We all decided not to exchange gifts. Just the kids exchanged names. I purchased some cheap glittered snowflake ornaments and embellished them with sheet music and vintage images. Those were package toppers for the ladies' gifts at work.
(~~)
Julie
Those are amazing! Your right about the paper tabs, they didn't hold the clothes on well and were always ripping! Magnets are genius!
I (sort of) made one gift this year, I designed a t-shirt and had it printed at cafe press.
Oh, and I made lots of cookies and wrapped them up really pretty!
I made 10 dozen cookies(!!!) and passed them out to all of our neighbors in our apartment building. I also made a tofu pin-cushion for my fiance and some fingerless gloves for him. I also made knitted him the math geek hat on Ravelry...which he LOVES! OH! I made my Mother-in-law a bookmark. It was so little that I felt like she needed something else so I made her some peppermint bath salts. She absolutely loved the bookmark. I made it out of a picture of my daughter. She was so excited about it!! I don't make things for my parents because they don't really appreciate it, but my in-laws LOVE handmade things!
I would LOVE a tutorial on how you made these extra cute dolls. What sort of printer/paper did you use to print out the Betty McCall patterns?? I think my niece would love some for her birthday this April and I'm eager to jump right in to such a fun project!
they are pretty cute ...
I love all of these handmade gift ideas! Everything sounds awesome. For those who requested a tutorial for the paper dolls, it's now up!
what a great idea! I have lots of paper doll things and no idea what to do with them - great solutions!!
happy new year!
awesome! I spotted you on Craft and thought, hey, that's Alli! Great job and super genius idea--just perfect for a 4-y.o.
this is seriously the cutest thing ever! Please share how you did these because I like them.
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