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Doll Bedding Tutorial 2 – Jelly Roll Pillow {and Tootsie Roll pillow}

As promised, here is the doll bed jelly roll pillow! I have a confession. I had already put the first doll bed and bedding in the “stash” when I went to make this. My 2-year-old was hovering around, so I didn’t want to blow my cover, so I thought I could just guess the size of the jelly roll to make another one. As you can see in the pic, I underestimated the length. lol So I’m calling the big one the jelly roll pillow and the little one the Tootsie Roll pillow. I’ll give you dimensions of each, but the process is the same. 🙂

For the smaller pillow, cut out one piece of fabric at 4″ x 6″. The longer one would be 4″ x 10″. Fold and iron each of the two sides (the 4″ long sides) and hem them at 1/4″. As you can see from my second pic here, it was a little difficult to back stitch such thin fabric so close to the edge. To alleviate this prob, you can either adjust your fabric width and make a wider hem, or just don’t back stitch. 🙂

Then you’ll fold it in half the long way with right sides touching. Sew that edge all the way.

It should look like this when you’re done:

Then fold it right-side-out. It should look like a little sleeve or tube with two sides open.

I have two here since I was making these for bunk beds. Don’t let that confuse you if you’re just doing one. Sorry!

Then take one end and pinch it closed. My Tootsie Roll ones are about 1/2″ in, and the longer one is about 1″ in.

Then stitch it closed where you had it pinched.

I find it easier to do multiple front/back stitches by holding my fabric like this. But be CAREFUL!!! Please do not stitch your hand!! 🙂

It might seem a little flattened out when you’re done, but we’re going to be putting a ribbon on it anyway, so it’s no big deal.

Now use that one open end, and stuff it with fluff. As mentioned in the other small button pillow tutorial, if you’re just doing a couple of small projects and don’t want to fork out the $$ for fiberfill, you might want to try just using cotton balls from the Dollar Tree!

I packed mine pretty tight since these are decorative pieces, and you want them to keep their shape. Leave a bit out at the end, so you can get ready to pinch that side and sew it closed. Then sew it just like you did the other side. You can push your filling down a bit and then refluff after you’re done sewing it up.

Then you’ll want to cover it up with some thing pretty. I really like using sheer fabrics for these pieces. My white one shown above is from the tulle that was part of my wedding dress. And this pink is an organza. Since the color really varies depending on how many layers you put on it, I’m going to leave the length up to you to decide. My white one only needed to be rolled twice, so the original length was probably 10″ x 8″ or something close to that. But this pink needed to be rolled quite a few times to get it to look the right shade of pink for me. I also realized it was looking pretty stubby, so I chose to widen it by giving a couple inches on the sides. So this piece was about 6.5″ x 17″!

When you’re starting to roll, be sure you match your new seam with the seam on the pillow. Then roll it up!

And tie some pretty ribbons on the ends. 🙂

I hand-stitched the ribbons right onto the pillow.

And I may have broken a needle going through all those layers of fabric and ribbon! lol

Then trim your ribbon, and you’re done! I also opted to seal the edges of my ribbon with a candle lighter to keep it from fraying, but be careful with your sheer fabric when doing this! Most of them are very flammable!

And there you have the jelly roll pillow AND the Tootsie Roll pillow. 😉

Aloha,

Charlie

Here is the link for the doll bedding small button pillow. And I’ll put up links when tutorials for the other bedding items are finished. 🙂

Possibly the Most Glamorous Hobby Horse Ever

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Yeah, you read that right. Glamorous hobby horse. You may laugh, but take a look at this awesomeness:

Awwwww yeah! She’s so pwetty. I wish I had some awesome pics taken outside with a little tyke enjoying her new friend, but alas, this is a Christmas gift, so these pics of the poor horse propped up with my feet while I click away quickly (hiding upstairs while my daughter watches Dora downstairs) will have to suffice. 🙂

If you follow my blog, you might remember the hobby horse I linked to in my 25+ Gifts for Boys Round-up. That hobby horse by Dandee Designs really lit the fire for me. I was hoping to find a cute girly hobby horse or unicorn or something and kept browsing Pinterest and Google, and I found another good hobby horse tutorial! This one is from Family Fun:

The two tutorials are pretty much identical, and while I like the concept, the lazy mom in me kept saying, “I REALLY don’t want to cut and thread a million pieces of yarn!!” So I kept brainstorming for something else to use as hair. What better way to get my creative juices flowing than to clean!! Yippee!! (where’s that sarcasm font when I need it?)

But this time it really worked! I picked up one of the 1500 feather boas we have in our playroom and was like, “LIIIIIIGHT. BULB.” (in my best Gru voice) HAIR!!!

So please feel free to use either Dandee’s tutorial or the Family Fun one, and I’ll fill you in on the differences I did.

Supplies for my Girly Hobby Horse:

-1 fluffy sock – These fuzzy socks found on Amazon are less than $3 for a pair
-Filling of some kind (I used an old pillow’s guts)
-Googley eyes – This multi-pack found on Amazon is $5 for 120
-Eyelashes (found at Dollar Tree in make-up section)
-Glitter foam or felt for ears (found my glitter foam at Dollar Tree in craft section)
-Hot glue
-Yarn (for nostrils, bridle, and to attach reigns)
-Yarn needle – found mine at Walmart near yarn — who knew? 😉
-Regular needle and thread (to attach feather boa)
-Feather boa – mine was about 60″, and This $2 one found on Amazon is the cheapest one I’ve found
-Wooden dowel (I used what I had on hand, and I think it’s a bit small. I would recommend about 3/4″ wide and cut it to 2.5′ long)
-Beaded necklace (Dollar Tree has a pack of 10 for $1)

Like any obsessive crafter, I had all these supplies on hand except the fluffy sock. Here’s my fluffy sock. It looks sparkly. I’ve seen other fluffy socks at the Dollar Tree, but this one is like snow. I love it.

Follow their directions and fill the end of the sock first.

Then thread your yarn needle and make a couple of nostrils.

I used the googley eyes and eyelashes from one of our two FLAMINGO COSTUMES since I knew they probably wouldn’t be needing two of the costumes at once again. One glamorous flamingo is sufficient. I also used the glittery beak as the ears. I set my eyes back 5″ from the front. My first instinct was to have them set back farther, and no one really explained where to put them. I decided to check with the “mane” on, and I definitely needed more space for the coiffure.

Bust out your 5th grade skills and trace out some ears. Then cut them out and pray it doesn’t look like a demented rabbit.

Pinch each ear together in the center and hot glue it. Don’t glue too far down the sides. You don’t want it closed completely…just a nice center crease.

Since the foam is stiffer than felt, I propped mine straight up and just stitched straight through the foam and then went back down through the sock. The fluffiness of the sock meant that I could be a little sloppy. He he

Plus I knew the mane would be covering it…

I tried braiding a few pieces of yarn for the bridle but decided I liked the simple elegance of four pieces of yarn next to each other. I believe I started with 15″ pieces and then trimmed down. I hot glued them right to the sock (underneath the chin to keep it more hidden).

Make sure your lines are nice and straight and not crossed over each other and then glue the second end on top of the first and cut your ends, so they’re nice and straight.

Our beaded necklace was 30″ long once I cut it. And I just whip stitched it right to the face. Don’t be scared if she whinnies a little. Just assure her that lots of women go under the knife for vanity’s sake. ((cough cough))

I opted for the yarn to attach mine since I knew my kids would probably be using the reigns to drag it around everywhere. I stitched between beads 1&2, 2&3, and 3&4.

For the mane, I took one 60″ feather boa and cut it in half. I laid the two pieces next to each other and folded the one on the right down to the right until the top side was almost lined up with the bottom.

Then I took the piece on the left and also folded it down to the right like a rainbow on top of the first piece. I made them cascade down, so the top piece was the shortest, and it got longer from there.

Then I pinched it at the top where the two pieces met and then whip stitched that one spot right behind the ears. That way she can change her hairstyle as she pleases. She’s going for the “bangs in the eyes” look today. 😉

And OF COURSE she needed a flower in her mane and a ribbon around her neck!

I made this for my 2-year-old, but I’m debating whether or not to make them for my older daughters as well…I think they might have just as much fun as the little one! Plus now that I’ve got it down, they’ll only take me about 20 minutes ANNND I’ve got that one lonely sock laying around now…

I think the fact that her mane is a feather boa might also qualify her as part pegasus. So magical powers are sure to be part of this horsey’s future…

Aloha,

Charlie

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Halloween BINGO – Free Printable

Aloha!

Today’s post is a simple printable. Perfect for a Halloween party with younger kids who are still working on their numbers!

There are 10 different, unique BINGO cards. You’ll need to plan for more than one winner if you need to make duplicates for parties of more than 10. 🙂

Click here to be taken to the Google Doc pdf printable.

It’s not a requirement to download, but it would show true aloha if you followed Attempting Aloha if this printable is helpful to you. 🙂 And I’d love to hear how they work out for you or where you used them!

To give credit where credit is due, I did not create the cliparts used. They are from various sites, including www.halloweenclipart.com. They have some really cute ones that aren’t TOO creepy…my girls aren’t into spooky and gruesome. We’re more into cutesy, fluffy Halloween. Ha!

Aloha,

Charlie

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