Monday, April 22, 2013

American Girl doll hair styling capes

I managed to get some sewing done over the weekend. Anything to keep me from looking out the windows was very welcome. The whiteness just can't seem to stop, and we are in for another 3-4" of it today. ACK!!

American Girl dolls' hair can be styled, but it needs to be done carefully, and directions say to spritz a little water on the hair to help with the brushing. So to protect a doll's clothing, she needs a hair styling cape, right? Of course! So I made two of them... one for Courtney's Marie Grace, and one for my own Kit.

Courtney has told me a number of times that you can tell an American Girl doll is "real" if she has the teeth showing. Of course, ours are both real. A real AG doll should also have a "real" hair styling cape, too, right? Well, these are both "real", in other words, authentic hairstyling capes... or at least made from one. One that I, in fact, begged from my very own hairstylist! She was very generous in giving me one of her older ones!

I made the first cape from this tutorial. I dressed it up a little bit and made it more colorful, just for fun. I happened to have some appropriate ribbon, designed by none other than Jessica Jones, so I added a little of that on the front.


This one is for Courtney's doll, since hers has much longer hair, and this cape covers more. I also decided it was much more convenient for the ties to be in the front. It seems to me the brush would get caught in the ties if they were in the back, not to mention being harder to tie under the hair.



I'll keep this next cape for my own doll, Kit, who happens to be my model for both capes. Since she has short hair, she doesn't need all the coverage of the other cape. Where the above cape is a circle, this one is made from a rectangle. The tutorial for it came from here.


It is also decorated with one of Jess's ribbons.


It's open down both sides, although it doesn't really look like it in these pics. It's only tacked together under the arms.


They were very simple and fun to make. What took the longest, of course, was deciding how I was going to trim them. I went with what ribbons and bias tape I had on hand, fortunately colors that went together well. Courtney hasn't seen them yet. I sure hope she likes hers best!

Thanks so much for the "real" cape, Lori!! If Natalie ever needs one for her doll, just let me know. I have enough left for at least one more of the smaller cape!

7 comments:

annie dee said...

Too adorable. You have 3 very lucky girls there! And I love the Jessica Jones ribbon trim!

The Luedtke Family said...

Does Courtney ever catch your news on-line before she sees you in person?

I love, love the ribbons. She does a fabulous job. How awesome that you inspired her by sewing all along, she is now creating awesome textiles, and you are able to use them! I love how you waste as little as possible!.

We are supposed to be sunny and 68 degrees today. While I am off of work, I am tending to a not-well little girl. No swinging and sliding in the park for us. Tomorrow, more showers and thunderstorms.

My basement looks soooo good. I decided to forego my garage sale and distributed items to people I know who could use them and the rest went to Good Will.

Sorry for more of the white stuff. Now I bet you are wondering when planting can begin. What is with the season re-arrange?

Jessica Jones said...

So lovely! And Kit's hair is looking very gorgeous so the capes must be working.

LiEr said...

Lovely capes! Love the high solid-to-print ratio, especially! And yes, those scissors trims were beyond perfect! I smiled so wide when I saw them. Trust Jess to design them years back knowing that someday in the future, they would be perfect for a doll's haircut cape.

Well, GG, the white stuff is about to happen here, too. Whatever pleasant warmth we had in the beginning of the day has now been replaced by that dull, overcastness that promises snow. It's just hard to feel jolly with this week's forecast which is why it's a good idea to just sew and lose track of time. Do we even care whether this is April, January or August? I don't.

Grandma G said...

Thank you all!

Becky... I usually don't post Courtney stuff before I give it to her. But she knows I've been working on these, so they won't be a surprise, except for what they look like. I doubt that she'll see them on the blog, but if she does, that's okay... it'll give her something to look forward to for tomorrow.

Of course, Jess, I had to try out the capes... thus the gorgeous hair. Yep, they work! ;)

LiEr... you know Jess so well! ;) And hang in there... our forecast says 74° coming for Sunday!!!

JHNickodemus said...

Way cool! Any chance we might still glide through spring into summer and not just make a scary jump?

Grandma G said...

I certainly hope so, Jess! I'm certainly not ready for 90 degrees yet... or even 80! I need a gentler transition.