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       This is a good idea for reusing some of your old holiday plush. Why not unstuff it and make quick doll costumes for a doll's party? It takes so little effort and the results are inspirational. Before you know it, you can create an entire cast of characters for a doll play, parade, or trick-or-treat adventure.

In this video, learn how to make: a skeleton, ladybug 

and pumpkin doll costumes for your 18" American Girl dolls.

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       The headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone were worn in the late Middle Ages by European princesses and women of the nobility. Various writers on costume history use hennin to cover a variety of different styles. Almost all agree that the steeple-cone style was the original hennin. You can make these theatrical looking princess hats for all of your Barbie dolls!

       This summer top with spaghetti string shoulder straps was made from a recycled baby sock and a bit of embroidery transfer. The cuff of the sock is used here as the waist edging on the doll. The toe of the sock was cut away and the raw edges were finished with a tacky white glue. As soon as the edges were dry, I finished these with blanket stitching all along the top of the garment. Then I attached some yarn at either shoulder to act as my spaghetti string straps.

       Make cool weather slacks for your fashion dolls from recycled long ribbed socks. Our versions may be made either by hand or on a sewing machine if you prefer.

       Cut the child's sock into three separate pieces, two identical sleeves for the arms (from the foot of the sock) and one continuous piece for the torso of the doll, cut from the leg of the sock. (see photo below) Then thread your needle with the dental floss and sew both a straight seam and then a blanket stitch up the sides of each sleeve leaving a opening for the shoulder at the top of each sleeve and an opening at the bottom of each sleeve for the doll's hands to stick through. Sew a straight seam and a blanket stitch across the top of the neck line leaving a hole for the doll's head to fit through. The cuff of the former sock becomes the waistline opening and it is left open all the way across.

       Knit doll clothes cut from recycled sweaters and socks can be finished in such a way as to prevent future unraveling to some extent. However, you must treat the clipped ends of the knitted stitches with a fabric glue or tacky glue!

       These clipped ends must also be sewed securely, making sure to pass a fine needle back through each row of the knit and firmly sewing shut any stitched seams with several tight lines of straight stitches.

How to apply a fabric glue to the ends of your 

clipped knitting in order to prevent fraying.

       I think that our family's dolls will agree that there is nothing nicer than a new, fresh set of towels! I chose a couple of brilliant azure blue, terry cloth, hand towels from a local dollar store to cut apart for this simple craft.

       In the 1970s and 1980s, it was popular to furnish doll houses with small wicker furniture; the alternative to plastic inflatables. Because wicker is not very strong, much of it did not survive the playtime I suppose.

       I picked the stool, side table and one chair on the first day and then I returned the following day to retrieve the second chair. When visiting resale in the city, I always return the day after I have purchased something in order to see if it is a part of a larger set. Doll furniture in specific, was and still is sold in sets from high end toy stores. By the time these little furnishings are donated by former owners, many pieces may be lost or shifted into multiple bags or boxes.

       I have also discovered that employees in my local resale shops, do not always put sets of doll furniture out on display all at once and they don't always bag these items together. So it is best to keep a close watch for matching items once you have discovered one piece that you want.

This is the same exact furniture that I have restored above. 

However, these pieces are in excellent condition.

       What doll wouldn't enjoy such a fun, bumpy rug to decorate her home with? 

       This little miniature doll house rug is a simple and entertaining first sewing project for a nine to ten year old student.

       He or she will need to learn how to thread a needle and control it while stringing together a whole fist full of colorful pom-poms.

       Our family nursery has so many old-world props for grandchildren to play with while learning about Midwestern history and culture. Below are directions for making very simple burlap bags to contain pretend food stuffs like coffee, flour, potatoes and rice. And I have also purchased a coffee grinder at resale for $3.00 to teach the kids how coffee and flour were processed in small amounts prior to the invention of electric grinders.

       Burr mills were commonly used in early American kitchens. A burr mill, or burr grinder, is a mill used to grind hard, small food products between two revolving abrasive surfaces separated by a distance usually set by the user. When the two surfaces are set far apart, the resulting ground material is coarser, and when the two surfaces are set closer together, the resulting ground material is finer and smaller. Often, the device includes a revolving screw that pushes the food through. It may be powered electrically or manually.

       Burr mills do not heat the ground product by friction as much as do blade grinders ("choppers"), and produce particles of a uniform size determined by the separation between the grinding surfaces.

       Food burr mills are usually manufactured for a single purpose: coffee beans, dried peppercorns, coarse salt, spices, or poppy seeds, for example. Coffee mills are usually powered by electric motors; domestic pepper, salt, and spice mills, used to sprinkle a little seasoning on food, are usually operated manually, sometimes by a battery-powered motor.

Left, The first coffee-grinder patent in the United States was issued to Thomas Bruff, Sr. in 1798.  Right, English and French coffee grinders in the nineteenth century.

The photograph above shows coffee grinders or burr mills kept in a Museum in Wisconsin. The photo itself was taken in 1873. On the far right you can see a burr mill similar to the one we have on display in the Grimm nursery.

       Here is a simple craft that a older brother or sister will enjoy making for the birthday, Christmas stocking, or even an Easter basket of a younger sibling. Teach them a few basic hand stitches: a straight stitch and a whip stitch to complete the project. But you may need to supply enough materials to make more than just one, just encase they need one for their own growing collection of sewing samples.