Childhood Treasures: Handmade Dolls Clothes

When my mother was a little girl, she had two special dolls: Chloe and Emily. Chloe was bought for my mum, and Emily had been my grandmother's doll when she was a little girl. Later they were both passed down to me and my sisters, and we played with them and dressed them in a lot of the same clothes my mother and grandmother had.

We were sorting through a box of old dolls clothes and other bits and bobs recently (deciding what to keep for my niece and nephew to play with, what to send to the charity shop, and so on) and I couldn't resist taking some photos of the loveliest handmade things to share with you guys!

My grandmother made this dress for Emily, using off-cuts from the outfits she made for my mum and her brother. "I had shorts and a blouse in that fabric", my mum says.  Aren't those tiny pockets adorable? You've got to love a dress with pockets.

Then here's Emily's silky pajamas, complete with pretty lace trim. I have very vivid memories of dressing Emily in these pajamas to "put her to bed" at night!

As well as Chloe and Emily, my mum had a few other smaller dolls which didn't survive to be passed down to us - but their clothes lasted and we used them to dress our modern plastic dolls.

My grandmother made this dress (with pockets and super cute piping details) for a doll my mother's aunt sent her from Canada. 

This outfit belonged to the same doll, but my mum isn't sure if it's one of her mother's creations. She remembers having some clothes in a very similar fabric as a kid, though, so chances are these were sewn by my grandmother from more dressmaking offcuts.

These clothes were sewn by my grandmother from a kit, for another small doll. Maybe someone in your family bought the same kit and stitched these, too?

Chloe had some handmade dresses too, of course!

A pretty yellow dress and matching knickers (love that collar)...

... and a floral print dress, with a stylish waistband:

When I was a baby, my mum knitted me this cardigan and matching hat, mittens and booties... and when I outgrew them, they were inherited by Chloe! I spent many happy hours dressing Chloe in these, buttoning and unbuttoning those buttons to get her ready for all kinds of adventures.

Finally, what did Chloe wear when we tucked her in at night? Not a chic pair of pajamas like Emily, but a sweet floral nightdress.

My mum took Chloe with her to boarding school - she had a homemade nightie in this floral fabric and a matching blue dressing gown, so my grandmother made a matching set for Chloe! How adorable is that?

Fancy reading about more of my childhood treasures? I've also blogged about Sylvanian Families (and the handmade furniture and other things we made for them as kids), my shell collection, my badge collection, my sticker album, my eraser collection, Fuzzy Felt, Keypers, lots of puzzles and games, some of my most beloved childhood books, and a bear I stitched for my sister when I was eight.