Plush Artist, Illustrator, Designer, Artist, Crafty Chick

Below is my take on a child’s version of a Mary Poppins dress.

I choose a white cotton eyelet fabric. Bodice and skirt are lined with a white cotton fabric. I could have gone with a satin, sheer or lacey material, but decided on cotton because of the durability. After all it is for a 4 year old.

I simplified the look a bit. Decided to not add the high collar. I could see complaints of itchiness around the neck being an issue. Went with a short sleeve instead of the 3/4 length sleeve and also left off the frilly collar/chest piece. If I had been making the dress for myself I would have gone all out to recreate the look. But on a 4 year old I think it would be a bit much.

The red corset/cumberbun is detachable. It is secured with velcro in the back.

I used Simplicity pattern 2989 in a size 4 width and size 5 in length.

After seeing a clothes pin doll of Mary Poppins on Pintrest I knew that’s what I wanted to make for the top of my daughter’s birthday cake.

I didn’t realize how popular these clothes pin doll cake toppers were. There are some great ones on Etsy by LittleBun and TinyBlossoms. I love the wedding cake toppers created by Sarah Neuburger of The Small Object. Love the costumization and attention to detail!

I had a lot of fun making this. I kept thinking of a ton of other things to add to it but decided to keep it pretty simple. I’ll definitely be making more. It’ll be a great project to do with my daughter and a great way to use all those fabric scraps I have laying around.

The wooden clothes pins, heads (wooden balls), and bases can be bought at any hobby store.

I noticed that most of the clothes pin dolls I found all had painted hair. I decided I wanted yarn hair. It was a little tricky. I drew the on the hair line and used Tacky glue, works much better than Elmers, to attach yarn.  I think the yarn hair gives it an extra texture and gives you more choices of hair styles. The key is to find a thin yarn. Sock yarn would work well.

Illustration and design for birthday invitation.

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Every now and then I’ll do a drawing or some sort of art work depicting my daughter. This time I decided to try embroidering a portrait. Definitely a lot harder to capture a persons likeness in thread as opposed to a sketch. I started with a sketch that I really had to simplify. Then I transfered it to my material. I used a light table to set my drawing on then placed my fabric on top to trace the image. I used a blue Dritz marking pen that is water soluble to trace my drawing onto the fabric. Then I started stitching. Once I was finished I lightly sprayed the fabric and stitches with water and the blue line work dissappeared.

My husband and I are BIG fans of Adventure Time. So much so that I made my husband some Adventure Time plushies for christmas.

Here is Jake, Finn, Lumpy Space Princess and Peppermint Butler. These guys measure 13″ tall and 14″ wide. The wood base measures 8″ x 10″

“Get the lump outta here!!” – Lumpy Space Princess.

This is the Ice King. He measures 18″ tall and 10″ wide. His crown is removable.

“Gunter, you’re embarrassing me!” – Ice King

I need to make Gunter!

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Princess dresses complete!!!! I finally got the velcro put in them. These were all made using Simplicity patter 5705. I have one three year old who is gonna freak out!!

He’s completely hand stitched and made from wool felt and cotton yarn.

Snow White dress is finished. Love how the collar turned out. Made from costume satin and velvet.

This is Simplicity pattern 2817 in a child’s size 5.  I did alter the sleeves.

Harry Potter robe is also complete. This is a child’s size 8, Simplicity pattern 5512. I altered the sleeves on this too. I cut them down so they wouldn’t be so wide.

Made from cotton. Found a Gryffindor patch for the front.

Just saw the plush snowman I did for a christmas card for work at Walmart. You can find these in the Hallmark Cards display.

I finished the bodice of the Snow White dress. I used Simplicity pattern 2817. I cut out a 5 in width and a 6 in length.

Sleeves are costume satin and the bodice is blue velvet. I thought a different material for the bodice would be nice and keep it from looking to “slick” or “cheap” because of all the satin.

I didn’t like the idea of appliqueing the red tear drop shapes on the sleeves. I know that over time that will not hold up. I am very happy with how the sleeves turned out.  I cut the sleeves into three sections and added red satin inserts. I’m not sure if this is called a gusset or a pleat. It definitely makes the sleeve puffier.