McCalls 6938

The Christmas holidays have been wonderful here. The laughter of children is truly a heavenly sound. We have hiked, launched bottle rockets, knitted, played games and ate, ate and ate too much! We even sewed a bit, too. The house will be so silent when our daughter and family leave tomorrow. I hope all of you have been able to spend your holiday just the way you wanted to. We have been blessed to have done so and for that I am truly thankful.

The tiny ski suit was completed just in the nick of time. Those skis really were more of a project than I thought they would be but they look pretty good. Carly L O V E S her dolly's ski suit and it matches ner new vest. Santa left a matching hat for her as well as you can see above. DD's family opened Christmas presents Christmas morning, had breakfast and then headed out on the five hour journey to our home up North. Seems Santa did not deliver Carly's number one item on her list, but being the little trooper that she is , she was totally content with what she recieved. Halfway through the long ride she told her Momma, "maybe Santa will leave a ski suit for my dolly at Bunbun's house". He did and to say she was thrilled is an understatement. I think she thought it was a lost cause but Santa came through. Now for the reality of it all: I was finishing up ski poles at 3:15. They arrived at five! Let's do a review.

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Pattern:

This is McCalls 6938. It consists of  a tennis outfit, swimsuit/beach outfit and bag, ice skating ensemble and the ski suit and accessories. This pattern alone could keep you going for a long long time making dolly clothes. Making the full ski outfit does take time with most of it on the shoes, skis and poles. The hat, which I love, and the suit are pretty simple and fun.

Fabric:

The suit, boots and hat are made from fleece, green, blue and white. The goggles are made from white poly felt and a clear piece of plastic from a produce container, in this case salad greens. The ski boots also used findings such as large hook and eyes and clasps for closing pants to give them that more authentic look. While it wasn't a perfect reproduction, I think it is pretty stinkin' cute. The ski's are made with layers of cardboard glued together, boning like we use in formal wear for shape  and duct tape. Duct tape was pretty critical to this entire project. The ski poles are knitting needles that have been cut down with the handles and bottoms out of clear plastic and  duct tape again. The zip is a separating zipper that I cut down.

Construction:

This was involved and took more time that I thought it would but was worth it in the end. I would say the skis were the most fiddley. Honestly, with the skis and poles I went with the "idea" of the instructions, adapting to my own ideas. For the ski poles I searched "American girls ski outfit" on Pinterest and numerous DIY methods came up for the skis and poles. I think I took a bit of technique from each. The design on the skis was done with a Sharpie, much like the trim on the jacket. And the flag, after all, our girl is an Olympic skier, was made by a much appreciated blog follower, Penny H. She even sent me six different sizes to choose from. I just simply hand stitched the flag to the jacket.  I think the most fun was making the hat. It literally took me ten minutes and was so cute I made a larger version for Carly to wear  with her doll. If you attempt this project, know that you are getting into fiddly business but nothing too complicated that any beginning sewist couldn't handle. It just takes time, so don't underestimate that like I did or you may be still at it right before the gift is due!

Conclusion:

This is a great pattern with lots of cute, very detailed options. If you have shopped for anything American Girl you know that the prices are beyond the pale and to be able to make them yourself allows you to gift nearly any of the collection to your young lady. There are myriad patterns from the Big Four, great to stock up on with the 99 cent sales. And there are also free patterns on the web as well. This is fun sewing and I highly recommend it. This particular pattern was clear enough to follow with a successful result. Know that there is also much on the web about making clothing and accessories for these dolls as well. You really can craft a great gift for your favorite young lady and her American Girl doll friend.