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Thank you all for supporting Dolly Donations! Looking over all the fabulous doll photos each week, seeing all your hard work, love and support come pouring in, got me thinking. You all deserve an award! So here’s my fun little “I Make Cute Dollies Award” to each and every one of you!

<br /> <a border="0" href=" http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx27/dollydonations/Cute_Dolls_Award.gif" alt=" Dolly Donations: Handmade Cute Dolly Award!" /></a><br />

Thanks so much, I couldn’t do this without you
and Happy Sewing!

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This Weeks Dolls for Haiti: Well Done Everyone!

Pippa,  When I Get The Time (UK) made these three lovely ladies to add to her dolly pile!!! 

Melinda, Peppermint Grove, (USA) made this handsome little fellow, along with 3 others and donated her pattern for boys shorts this week!  She has been very busy!!

Jennie, who's blog, A little vintage, (New Zeland) made this handsome chap! 

Breeanna (USA) "My kid sister picked out the hair colors - she insisted they be bright, happy, and fun"

Anwen Turton and family (UK) had fun making this little girl!

Eva ( Germany) "i had a lot of fun sewing them!" Thanks Eva, I love their smiling faces and do you see the little heart necklace the boy is wearing on the right, so sweet!

Sabine ( Germany) the doll maker behind Miss Tiffy made these very fashionable gals..... and those adorable little doggies too!

Marilyn (USA)  made a variety of lovely dollies and said "I only hope this will bring some sunshine into the childrens lives."  - I am sure they will Marilyn!

And let's not forget all those wonderful Dolls made by Michelle  her friends at Modern Spool,

Vee over at Paper Dali made these adorable girls with their matching tights!

And Lori (USA) made a whole family of friends!  Look at the girl's fabulous dresses!

These two pretty little “Ruby” dolls were made by Jo (Australia) using the wonderful Free Pattern created by the ever so generous doll maker Jhoanna, from her blog, One Red Robin.

Lynne (USA) "I have never made a doll before (mother of almost grown sons). I thought I'd give it a try!"  and look how wonderfully they turned out!  Her Mom's going to help her with the faces, but i'm really impressed! Well done Lynne!

The wonderful Ladies over at Third Street made these four friends and made a very interesting point......

“…four girls in Halifax, Nova Scotia have made and are preparing to send four dolls to an orphanage in Haiti, via the Abundant Ground Foundation in New York, as a result of Jhoanna, a blogger in Melbourne, Australia featuring a post on a dolly drive hosted by Sarah in Arizona, United States.”

.... I agree ladies, It's amazing how small the world iswhen blogging ;)

*

Wow…. Am I done?! I think so! We really have been busy!!!  Thanks everyone!!  If I’ve missed you out (SORRY!) let me know and I’ll add you to next week ……. Keep sending me your photos!

And Happy Sewing!

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Another Dolly Wall Hanging For The Haiti Orphanage!

This week I focused on making another wall hanging, but this time to surprise Stephanie Victor, The President of The Abundant Ground Foundation for all the support and guidance she has given me throughout this process.

Hope you all like it! The trees and the flower hearts are all 3D and puffy.  The heart reads, 'We Love You!' in French.

There’s a tutorial in the works, I’ll keep you posted! Happy Sewing!

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For her 7th Birthday, Claire is hosting a ‘Make a Dolly Donations Doll Party!’

“For her 7th birthday, my little sister, Claire, decided that she would have all of her girlfriends over to make Dolly Donations. In lieu of gifts, her friends are bringing the supplies they want to use for their dolly. Making the dolls will keep them entertained and teaches them a lesson about doing good for the world.” – Shalva

I have had many wonderful e-mails and comments over these past few months, but this one was just so special I had to share it with the DD Community….

Thank You Claire ♥ & HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

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How to Make Boy Doll Shorts - Free Pattern

This fabulous pattern was donated by Melinda of Peppermint Grove. I hope my little doodle drawings do it justice!

Click here for the PDF Pattern!

From your first fabric cut two Boy Shirts. From your second fabric cut two each of the Shorts Top and Short Legs.

 
 

Sew a Shorts Top to the bottom of each of your Boy Shirts using a 1/4" seam allowance (1). Attach the head and arms, and stuff per the dolly pattern instructions.

Fold under 1/4" on one long side of your Short Legs toward the wrong side of the fabric and press. Fold over another 1/4" and press again (2). Flip over to the right side of your fabric & sew close to the edge along the folded side (3).

Flip back over to the wrong side of the Short Leg. Fold in half, matching the two short edges of your fabric piece and sew along this edge with a 1/4" seam allowance (4). Turn right side out and slide over a stuffed doll leg, placing the seam toward the inside of the leg and the leg toward the center of the short leg. Match the raw edges of the Short Leg with the doll leg (5).

Repeat with the second Short Leg and doll leg.

Pinch the bottom of the Shorts Top the same as the boy body in the normal doll pattern to create a 1/4" seam. Pin the short legs with the legs inside them on each end of boy body (shirt and shorts top). Sew straight across and finish exactly as you would with the normal doll pattern.

Remember the full Free Dolly Donations Doll Pattern can be found here!

Thanks Melinda, and Happy Sewing!

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Modern Spool says ‘Hello Dolly!’ and makes 12 in one afternoon!

Michelle, the owner of Modern Spool, hosted her very own sewing Dolly making group at her beautiful sewing studio in Portland OR. “We had so much fun sewing these darling little dolls.....”

Not only was it an open house, she even donated all the materials needed to make these beautiful dollies!

Don’t you just love the ribbon trim they added!

Thank you Michelle and all of the wonderful people who turned up for the Modern Spool Sewing Open Studio!

Happy Sewing!

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Free Dolly Cross Stitch Pattern!

I used to love cross stitch, my mum still has a little faun I stitched back in the day in her bedroom…… and I suddenly thought in the midst of all this crazy crafting….. I miss it. So I thought I would make my very first Dolly Donations Cross stitch pattern. (hmmmm am I getting a little obsessed with Dolly Donations?!).

Click to get the PDF!

I hope you like it! Happy Stitching!

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How to solve the ‘girly fabric’ dilemma when making boy dolls.

So you have a lot of ‘girly fabric’ scraps left over from past projects and you can’t bring yourself to make a boy dolly out of them……

Think Hawaii! Think Don Johnson, Elvis, and Magnum!

Pair them with a neutral color set of trousers/pants and you’ll be surprised at how masculine they will look.

(Source: Don Elvis Magnum)

If these men can pull off pastels and flowers, your dolls can too!

Happy Sewing!

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Make a Dolly 1st Aid Kit! – Free Tutorial

I can’t take all the credit for this, the wonderful Karen and the Guelph Home School Group, who I posted on earlier this week (link), included a mini sewing repair kit in their shipment of 37 dolls in case they got overwhelmed with love by their new owners ♥ - and I thought it was a fantastic idea!  So I decided to make a 1st Aid Kit for my Dollies too.

Here’s what you need:

A couple of spare needles

Thread

Cardboard

Tape

Scissors
Scrap fabric

• Draw around a business card (1)
• Divide it into 3rds (2) and draw a triangle, slash, triangle at the bottom and top of each section.
• Cut out the triangles, and cut the length of the slash in both top and bottom (3).
• Thread a needle (double it over makes for quicker wrapping!) with a good couple of meters of thread and tape it to the middle of your card (4).

• Wrap the thread around and card (5) and then thread it through the slit to secure it (6).
• Add a few scraps of fabric if you like too.  I cut mine in to squares and heart shapes ♥
• Add another double length of a different colored thread to the other side and your done!

Why not add a 1st Aid Kit to your Dolly when you pop them in the post!

Have Fun and Happy Sewing!

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Meet & Greet Melinda!

Let me introduce Melinda to our Dolly Community!

I'm Melinda. I think my Barbie dolls were my favorite toys when I was little. I always made my own clothes for them, cut their hair and colored on their faces until they were just right. I really think they started me on the path I'm on today.

I am what most would call a homemaker, but I'm so much more than that. I make toys, clothes and quilts for my children, friends, neighbors, family and sometimes total strangers. It's no small accomplishment with a two year old, an almost nine year old and one very needy, very dumb, black lab.

I make my home in Grand Rapids, Michigan...a new home, that we just moved to. I think my husband looks at the increasing pile of dolls, and the very slowly increasing pile of unpacked boxes and wishes for March 31, but he supports the cause and doesn't complain too much.

I blog mostly about what I create and sometimes about what happens when I'm not creating at Peppermint Grove.

Thanks Melinda! It's a pleasure to meet you!

Happy Sewing!

If you would like to take part in the DD Meet & Greet posts Click here for details!

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