A little sewing: swaddle babies

We got invited to a first birthday party for wee Marly and I was at my wits end what to give her. There’s not much choice when it comes to “shopping” here in Port Moresby, and first birthday’s are pretty special.  I trawled the internet and found a swaddle babies tutorial – a swaddle blanket complete with a built-in baby.  I decided to make something similar, a doll with a separate blanket.

I sewed up two dolls, based on a bunny I made Xaria last year (which her dummy/pacifier attaches to). The first doll I gave to Xaria as my tester.

The best thing about these dolls, they are the perfect size and shape for little hands to hold.

I embroidered the faces on, keeping their expressions neutral. I read somewhere on a waldorf doll website that this helps with role-playing (I’d need to Google that to double-check though). Xaria was so funny, and kept pointing out to me that they had no noses.

I also employed some slave-labour, and had Xanthe stuff the dolls while I was sewing the blankets, complete with a pouch style pocket.

In hindsight, the blanket could of been smaller.  But I am pretty happy with how out they turned out. A week later Xaria is still carrying her’s around, and at the party, Marly was seen pushing her’s in the toy stroller.

Xaria was also pretty stoked that the dolls matched this dress I sewed her last summer (once again I did two, one for a friends daughter turning 3 and one for Xaria).

Thank goodness I still had the template I’d made when I sewed this twinkle star bunny. I think it may get a lot more use with Christmas just round the corner.