Sewing a doll from an upcycled baby vest and some clothes from baby clothes

Make it and love it recently posted a tutorial with pattern pieces for a doll. The post has lovely pictures of the three dolls she made and her children who received them, along with a detailed tutorial. I have a waldorf doll in the make since Luath was six months old, partly as craft time has been very limited.  When I saw these dolls I thought I could make one quite quickly.

I have been going through Luath’s baby clothes and a few have seen better days – some have been through a few other babies before Luath.  I thought one of the stained long sleeved vests would make perfect material.

The full sized pattern pieces would have been too big so my pattern is slightly smaller.  I also printed two copies so I could have a complete head and body.  I decided to attach the arms to the pattern.  I cut the legs from the arms of the vest.

I made my own hair shape from felt and cut the felt at the back and sewed them onto the head.  Next I attached the legs to the body piece, which was a bit fiddly and then sewed around the doll.  I am a beginner sewer so the corners were a little tricky   I finished the doll with coloured pencil drawn eyes and mouth.
 
It is far from a perfect doll, her head/hair needs a bit of reworking and doesn’t look much like the original but I am proud that I have actually finally made Luath a doll.  I would like to make another, perhaps more like Ashley’s dolls.

I left the doll out so that Luath would find her in the morning.  She instantly was drawn to the doll (great how she didn’t notice any imperfections) and happily went to the bathroom with her in tow.  I quickly made a dress for the doll from a baby skirt.  I seam ripped, sewed two hems and added a popper set (from the vest).
 
Later I made a nappy from an old bib.

  

Pants/shorts from a pair of baby pants (once that sometimes come with a dress), we never used these as we use cloth nappies, so the pants are never big enough.  Using half of one leg hole,   I used the other half of that leg hole to make a matching skater style skirt.  Great when the elastic is already done for you.

Luath goes through fads of which of her “guys” is the favourite but today doll enjoyed a trip to the mobile library, a walk, hide and seek .and a pretend party.
     
(Luath is 25 months)
 
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Outdoors – Wet Feet in Winter Water

The beach by our house is stony and below the tide line often has slippery seaweed, so it can be a little difficult for Luath to explore.  When there is a very low tide it exposes sand/earth which is toddler friendly.  As a low tide coincided with quite a pleasant February afternoon we took the bandy net for an explore.

We didn’t have much luck with the net so went for a paddle instead.  A few different shells were looked at and we found one was inhabited.  We looked at limpets and the different seaweed.

Luath then thought she would paddle a little further out.  She didn’t seem to mind getting wet (she had on wellies and a rain suit over them but the water still can get into her boots).  She did however seem to know her limits.  I let her wander for a while and then it was home, empty out the wellies and into the bath.  I have been debating about purchasing waders for her and they are now ordered so she can explore the water but stay dry.
 
(Luath is 25 months)

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Outdoor – Play while I try to sweep ending in a fun water hose game

We are having some gorgeous dry days – warm in the sun, frosty in the shade.  For us no rain is great even if it is cold.  After a  dog walk I thought I would try and do a little bit of patio sweeping and maybe another few small garden jobs.  Luath loves to sweep, she has an indoor and outdoor brush, so I thought we would sweep together but Luath had other ideas.  I thought it was fun to record how Luath played while I swept and how a job that really only would take about 10 minutes can take a lot lot longer with a toddler in tow.

A little bit of sweeping, then checking out the brush.

She then wanted to play on her slide – she needs help on this – so she had a few goes and I had a few pretend goes. She decided she then wanted to go indoors but to try to keep her outside I suggested some wall painting.  I gave her tubs of paint I had made a few weeks ago from food colouring, flour, water and salt. She enjoyed this for a little time – she loves the idea of painting but gets bored quite quickly, I had hoped the novelty of painting outdoors and on the wall would engage her.

Next she asked to go on her swing.  I managed to do some sweeping while I pushed her. She had another go on her slide and rolled some pine cones down it.  She then happily entertain herself investigating various items on the patio area while I finished sweeping.  I decided to clean our bird baths.  Luath thought we should use the hose and quickly climbed up but got distracted by some slates in a box.

Luath climbed down once I said I would use the hose, so we cleaned and filled the two bird baths.

Water hose game
I let Luath hold the hose herself.  I told her she was like a fire fighter and set up a pot to be the fire for her to put out.  The pot moved when it was hit at it’s base.  I then set up a few pots for her to aim and move.  It was quite a skill to get the water onto the pots as Luath tended to told the hose so the water was going upward.

We then build some pot towers, these proved tough to knock down completely.

We don’t use the hose often as we collect rain water (plenty of that usually here!) but I will definitely involve Luath for any future hose usage.

 

Shared with Tuesday tots via Rainy Day mum and outdoor play via Kitchen Counter Chronicles

Nature – Nesting Material for birds

We’ve had a feel of spring this and last week – frosty mornings but sunny blue sky days.  Daddy pointed out a sparrow with some nesting material in it’s beak so they must think spring is coming too.  So I thought we would prepare some nest supplies for the birds.

Providing easy access to nest building material means that birds use up less energy and time building/finding and so can use more on egg  laying and chick caring.  It also means that you might encourage chick rearing near at hand for you to watch.
    
Some things that they can use – make sure non toxic and natural (no plastic/nylon):
Nature – twigs, dead leaves, dead grass, grass clippings, moss, pine needles, feathers
Household – human/pet hair, wool/string/thread (in 3-8 inch pieces), shredded paper, cotton balls
Put items in a few different places – hanging baskets, fat ball holders, draped over branches, in small piles, in little mesh bags.  Seemingly house sparrows select materials only a few metres from their nest.  Try to place somewhere easy to access but sheltered from getting too wet.  Some birds including blackbirds use mud in their nests so a small muddy puddle can help.

What we did
Last week Luath and I had given the dog a trim (Luath was in charge of the comb even though she wanted me to fetch her scissors). I had saved the hair for the birds.
We collected some fleece caught in the bushes.

Picked up some dead leaves, small twigs, pine needles and moss from the side of the path in the woods.

We then placed them into a fat ball holder to hang in a shelter spot and left some out in the open near where we feed the birds.

We will gather more supplies and place in a few more spots as I think it is only the sparrows who are currently nest building.  I am sure the other birds wait until later in March, but it was a fun activity and a reminder to us to be prepared.
 
(Luath is 25 months)

Tot School – Nursery Rhyme – As I was going to St Ives – Number 7

25 months

We are continuing to look at numbers, this week we used the rhyme “As I was going to St Ives” for the number seven.  7 was one of the first numbers Luath recognised so the number side was pretty much covered already.  We still looked for number sevens in our puzzles and elsewhere.  We used the number 7 beanbag in our general play, it even joined in a party one afternoon.

We are continuing to measure our amaryllis and Luath is still playing with some number toys.

No photos of our rhyme based activities. We did two puzzles featuring cats.  Read books that featured cats or kittens.  Used a threading puzzle that has a cat and kitten.  Took a  (toy!) cat for a walk in a sack.

Other things this week
This week we were enjoying some cold but bright sunny dry weather and had a fun after dinner walk with a torch.
    
Shared with 1+1+1=1
(Luath is 25 months)

Outdoor Play – Ice fish fishing

This was a spur of the moment game but it was lots of fun for the short time we played.On the way out for our dog walk Luath spied her fishing net and was desperate to take it with her.  We have taken many things on our walks but I managed to persuade Luath to leave it behind and we would play it on our return.

When we returned I took out a tub and added various coloured ice shapes – fish, starfish and flowers, that were left over from some bath time play.

We then used the net to do some catching.  Luath enjoyed checking the net to see what she caught and then laying her catch out on our small outdoor table.

Luath would have continued this game for a long time but her hands were getting very cold.  It would be a fun game on a hot day.  For the meantime I’ll need to find some non melting fish so we can play with warmer water.
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(Luath is 25 months)