Well, Hello Dolly

I have written a lot about my dear friend Amy Jandrisevits of A Doll Like Me, but please indulge me again.  She has been in the news lately and has been given the honor of being a Go Fund Me Hero for the month of January.  She makes the most incredible dolls for special kids (and adults) with some unique circumstances.  Some examples are this doll below for a child with limb differences.

Another example of a special doll is this one below for a child with albinism.  

So you see, Amy makes dolls for people that wouldn’t otherwise have one that looks like them.  She brings joy, acceptance, love and comfort to so many people around the world.  Her orders come from social workers, nannies, parents waiting for adoptions, expecting parents, relatives, friends and so many more.  Her clients are children with special circumstances that can require long medical treatments, hospitalizations, surgeries and life-long need for updating prosthetics.  Amy takes the time to learn all about the client and then spends endless hours paying attention to details that show on the resulting doll.  Here’s another one that’s a great example.  The photo may be small but look at the detail on the body of the doll.  That isn’t a shirt, it’s a replica of an “amazing” child’s actual body markings. This young boy is the bravest, happiest kid who is loved by many.  Now he has a doll to love him as well.

I sew clothing for Amy’s dolls.  Her fabulous Mom makes most of the clothing, but I fill in when I can.  And yes, all of the the clothing featured in this post was made by me except for the above shoes and white sweatshirt.  I scour the internet for patterns and then adapt them to Amy’s doll proportions.  Her dolls are 18″ dolls but the measurements are slightly different than, say American Dolls.  In fact, even American dolls have differences in measurements so not every pattern will work well with every doll.  Working closely with Amy, I have been able to better adapt my sewing for the dolls she creates.  Here are some new doll items that I had some fun making.

These little capris with ruffles on the bottoms were designed for feminine dolls that don’t need a dress.  These days, it’s rough to describe anything as for a girl or a boy, but I leave the distribution for Amy to figure out.  These will look great with little white tees that Amy already has in her stash.

And for the stylish doll that does need a dress, here are two new patterns that I played around with.  The navy bell sleeve dress pattern is from Sophie Clareese and includes instructions for a shirt with the same sleeves.  I’ve made the dress twice now and it’s a rock solid pattern with easy instructions.  It is meant to be a mini dress, so before making anymore, I’m waiting to see how it looks on Amy’s very lanky dolls.

Doll mimi-dress with bell sleeves.  See above comments for pattern link.

This next new dress style below has a fun hem, but the drop waist style may or may not work with the dolls.  Again, I’ve made one dress in this Hann’s House fabric to test before trying more.  This pattern comes from Jelly Bean Soup Designs and is fairly easy to follow, but is not for beginner sewer.  I made one adaptation to the pattern to suit the A Doll Like Me bodies.  I switched the sleeve style for ones that cover more of the shoulders.

Finally, something for gender-neutral or boy dolls must be included.  (Again, I’m careful to label anything boy or girl specific, but hopefully you know what I mean.)  I used some fun new fabrics, and oldies.  Here are new pants and shorts, all of which include my favorite key fob detail.

Sadly, that was the last of the monster fabric and therefore I could only cut a pair of shorts.  I’ll keep my eyes out for another print with monsters.  Most kids I know just love the monsters, though as a child, I would have not wanted them around.  To each his own.  The U.S. flag pants are kind of fun.  I hope Amy will have some patriotic family to use that for. I try to make clothing with different novelty prints so that Amy can customize clothing in addition to details of her actual dolls.  Sometimes a kid needs something unique and that is where Amy’s talents really shine!  She loves having a medley of stuff on hand to choose from when pulling together a doll mailing.

While browsing my blog last year, Bernie of Needleandfoot.com discovered A Doll Like Me and reached out to Amy.  They struck up a friendship and the word spread further of Amy’s dolls.  In February, Bernie began an incredibly successful doll quilt drive called Share (or Spread) The Love.  Amy received over 300 doll blankets from “literally” around the world.  She still has plenty in her stash thanks to the generosity of so many sewers.

NEEDLEANDFOOT.COM HOSPITAL DOLL GOWN DRIVE.

This year Bernie is asking for hospital gowns for Amy’s dolls.  No doubt, the quilting and sewing world will respond and she will be flooded with these very important doll items.  Bernie, you are so thoughtful again in reaching out to Amy to help with her mission! For more information on making one or more very simple doll hospital gowns, go to needleandfoot.com.

On the site, you can find the link for an easy hospital doll gown pattern that uses just a fat quarter of fabric and some bias tape.  There is no time limit for this drive since they are needed all the time.  For the information on where to mail your items, email Bernie at needleandfoot@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, thank you again to Bernie.  Thank you to Amy and all of you reading this blog post.  Surely, the world needs more kindness and isn’t it great to read about something uplifting!?

Linking up to:

Monday Making

Free Motion by the River (Tues)

Let’sbeesocial (Wed)

Midweek Makers (Wed)

Needle and Thread Thursday  

Canigetawhoopwhoop (Fri) 

TGIFF

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