Granddaughters and Pullip Dolls

Granddaughter, Savannah, turned sixteen this year Here she is opening some of her gifts.

The birthday party was in a local park where they live in Oregon. The weather was perfect, the kids played 'Capture The Flag' and some other games, hung out, visited and we all had cake and ice cream.

Savannah is the first of our granddaughters to have a Pullip doll, from Korea. Pullip, in Korean means 'Young Leaf'. Savannah named her doll Violetta.

Aidan, our grandson, had a great time at the party, he enjoys playing with the older kids.

Aidan could care less about Pullip dolls.

Granddaughters Emma (Aidan's sister) and Alyssa (Savannah's sister), at the birthday party.

They really enjoy each other's company and have a great time together. Alyssa also has a Pullip doll and Emma is saving up to buy one soon.

This is leading up to 'The rest of the story!'

Savannah soon discovered a U Tube site, by a Korean girl, with tutorials on how to make clothes for Pullip dolls.

You know what that means.....'get ready grandma!' So, here I am in my Pullip Doll Design Studio. Our living room, with the ironing board as a sewing table (works extremely well) Surrounded by fabric, lace, trim, elastic, floral decorations, cord, pins, thread, measuring tape and scissors.

Would you believe the little pink square I hold in my hand is the 'top' for the dress I'm sewing? Yes, they are small, but easy to make, thank goodness!!

We also discovered that we could make clothes from girls socks. Medium weight, colorful, cotton knit are the easiest to use. If the sock is too heavy the seams are too bulky.

The top, finished edge of the sock becomes the bodice of the strapless dresses, or the waist for pants that are made.

The two "Hello Kitty" dresses are the tops of socks, I sewed a pink cord in front at the top to tie around the doll's neck.

The striped 'hat' is the toe of the sock, the top is made from the heel of the sock, a hole is cut on the edge of the heel for the doll's neck. The pants are made from the body of the sock, one sock, one complete outfit. I reinforce at the ends of all seams.

Here is Savannah's doll, Violetta, with an outfit made from a turquoise and white striped sock.

Hat, top and pants. They are so cute!!

And they're fun to make also.

These are two of the dresses I made following the instructions from the tutorial instructions I got on youtube at www.youtube.com/yunledhc

The pictures are captioned and you can stop and start the video to write the instructions. You watch as she sews the item step by step.

I used a light weight cotton fabric, sewed velcro for a closure in back, added the pink cord to the front of the top (on the inside) to tie around the doll's neck.

I bought small purple bows and attached them with fabric glue. Rick rack was sewn on the skirt before closing the vertical seam in back.

Here is the creamy yellow dress with a floral design. I sewed lace around this one.

After the dress is completely finished, you can hold it at the top and twist the entire dress, as if squeezing water out of it. You twist it very tightly.

The video suggested even twisting and putting it under a heavy object such as a book to set the wrinkles, or iron it when it is twisted. it gives a crepe look to the fabric. I haven't done it here.

But I do like the look!

Here are three 'sock toe' hats.

If you don't like the look of the brim when it is rolled up (it shows the wrong side of the sock), you can cut the toe of the sock a little longer, turn the material back into the sock and sew it in place, then turn the end out and up and the right side of the material will be showing.

As shown here, you can add small flowers, bows, buttons (like the large orange and white one shown) or decorative trim, beads, anything you like.

This is a dress that Savannah made from a stocking. She told me that it took her over an hour to sew it, since she had to do it by hand with a needle and thread.

We can do an entire outfit, hat, top and slacks in about 20 minutes using a sewing machine.

Looks like there may be a sewing machine in Savannah's future.

She did a wonderful job. Savannah has also hand sewn animal plushies, using fleece and buttons for eyes. She makes them for her friends, what a talented granddaughter we have.

Here's a variety of clothing we sewed one evening using various socks.

Voletta is wearing some in the upper right corner. The others are slacks and the pink, white and black one is a strapless dress.

The knit material doesn't unravel easily. The items are easy to put on and take off.

Here is a knit material, with Spandex in it, that I sewed into a bathing suit. This was another tutorial I followed on the yuniedhc site.

Very easy and it looks so cute on the doll. I need to make several more, hopefully I'll get the shape of the top pieces closer to what they should be, lol

The girls went home yesterday, I left the machine up and the supplies out, so today I sewed two more dresses.

Here's the pink one, very delicate and pretty, I love the addition of the silk flowers on the bodice.

Here's the yellow one.

Each dress takes ten minutes to cut out and about twenty five minutes to sew, add the velcro, ribbon and flower.

So each project is quick and you don't feel like you're laboring all day to get something done. That's why I've enjoyed it so much.

The girls were here earlier in August for their grandpa's birthday party.

We have squirrels in our back yard, they come to the door for hand-outs. Savannah decided to put Violetta in the middle of the back yard and have her give out the peanuts.

She is wearing the dress and hat that Savannah made, and waiting for Buddy to show up.

This isn't Buddy, it's one of the other squirrels,

Alyssa added her doll, Lily to the scene. The squirrel decided that he could trust them, they didn't make any sudden moves, so he helped himself to the goodies.

Savannah and I decided that Violetta needed to have a photo session for her portfolio.

Here's Voletta in the Lemon Balm on the back step.

Voletta in the Petunias. Love her hair!

Savannah didn't care for the wig she had when she came, so she saved her money and bought the long burgudy one, good choice!

Close up of Violetta in the Petunias. She's very photogenic don't you think?

Violetta by the Crane statue.

Savannah holding Violetta. It's been a fun experience having Pullip dolls around. Today I purchased material to make a coat for the dolls, another tutorial from yuniedhc.

They are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to get them finished and post them here. I thank her for all of her beautiful clothing.