DIY Toys For Good Girls & Boys

If you want to give homemade toys for Christmas, you had better hurry!  The clock is ticking!  But, it's not too late... the Pattern Patter Team is there with a huge number of toy patterns to make any kid's Christmas merry and bright.

A homemade gift is an heirloom and treasure forever... so get started sewing now!

Simplicity 8967

I'm just crazy about this life-size doll pattern.  The doll and your little girl can share clothes together!  Won't she make a fun playmate?  Available at Keepsakes Studio and Find Crafty Patterns.

McCall's 4714

This sweet bear family is so retro and cute.  Cuddly too!  And you can make them some extra clothes, if you'd like.  You can get the pattern at Cloe's Closet or Lady Diamond 46.

Simplicity 4510

Sweet soft toys from the 1950s are just as cute now as they always were!  From Fragolina.

Lonestar Blondie has this amazing and adorable plastic canvas toy shop pattern in stock, along with several other plastic canvas toy patterns.  I love how creative these are!

Pattern Shoppe #118

This burger is technically hot mats and pot holders.. but.. why not leave off the hanging loops and make it a fun toy food playset for your budding chef or grillmaster?  From Clutterina.

Butterick 4973

Creative boys and girls of all ages will adore these hand puppet bugs.. where your fingers are the legs!  From MbChills.

McCall's 7524

This adorable soft alphabet book will definitely be an heirloom.  Beautiful and useful, what a treasure!  From Knightcloth and Vogue Vixens.

Simplicity 1341

These sweet ballerina dolls are perfect for your tiny dancer.  From People Packages.  

Simplicity 8365

A theatrically-minded child will love telling stories and making up voices to go with these adorable DIY hand puppets from Denisecraft.

Simplicity 6353

Make a whole barnyard for your little McDonald with this adorable pattern from  Fragolina or Knightcloth. 

Butterick 4026

Speaking of barnyards, how about this adorable pattern from Vogue Vixens?  This would be a great quiet toy for travel, road trips, grandma's house, etc.

Butterick 3791

Also good for road trips is this sweet dolly and her many outfits.. and her own carrying case with a bed to tuck her in goodnight!  Find Crafty Patterns has it in stock!

McCall's 4208

Also from Find Crafty Patterns are these bears and bunnies in their very own house carrying case.  Great for Grandma's!

Simplicity 9130

These funny sports-themed pillows are perfect for your little slugger.. featuring baseball, tennis, ping-pong, and football.  Way cute!  From Pitter Pattern Place.  

McCall's 1659

Frisky Scissors has this amazing and rare puppet theatre pattern in stock.

This packup doll house from Lonestar Blondie is really cute.

Vogue 2886

Another life-size doll that can share clothes with your little girl... way cute and hard to find.  From Sew Betty and Dot.  

Butterick 4602

And this life-size doll can really dance with you!  Perfect for your budding ballerina.  From Laguna Lane or Cloe's Closet.

Vogue 9688

Cloe's Closet also has this incredible heirloom doll, which comes not only with doll and her outfits, but an amazing trunk to keep her safe for years to come.

Simplicity 0747

Disney's Frozen seems to be every little girl's favorite movie right now, and you can make authentic licensed Disney costumes for your favorite 18" doll with this pattern from Jersey Girl Patterns.  

Vogue 1772

Or, you can outfit a dollhouse that dreams are made of with this pattern from Sydcam 123  or Clutterina.

Simplicity 6063

The child who likes to read may appreciate this whimsical Pippi Longstocking doll with her several outfits from Alls Fairy Vintage.

Simplicity 1514

Or how about these fun animal-themed hoods for both kid and doll.. sure to bring out the wild side of a child's imagination?  Via People Packages.

McCall's 8132

Your future Broadway star is sure to adore this Annie doll with multiple outfits.  Make it for her Tomorrow with this pattern from Blue Tree Sewing Studio.

Simplicity 2240

Speaking of famous heroines.. you can fall down the rabbit hole with this amazing soft Alice in Wonderland doll pattern from Rose Corners

Simplicity 9137

A perfect learning tool for both boys and girls are these "Dress-Me" dolls from Cloe's Corner.  We used to call them "Dressy Bessy" when I was a kid... you can learn to snap, button, count, use a pocket, tie a shoe, use a zipper, etc.  Very fun!

McCall's 6671

Lastly, I really could not resist the insane adorableness of this puppet-and-theatre pattern from Lady Diamond 46.  Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?  

Of course, this small sampling is hardly scratching the surface of the wonderful toys you can make as gifts with patterns from the Pattern Patter Team.  I hope you'll take a few moments to check out all the many offerings from our great shops!

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HAPPY SEWING and HAPPY GIVING to you!

Alice 150 - Alice in Wonderland Costumes

Maybe you didn't know, but July 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  In celebration, Alice fans all over the globe are participating in tea parties, museum exhibits, lectures, book readings and many more fun events!

I am a member of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America (LCSNA) and a really big Alice fan!

I thought it would be fun and super-interesting to look at all the Alice in Wonderland-related sewing patterns that have been produced over the years.  There's many more than you would think!

Won't you follow me down the rabbit hole to Wonderland?

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat..."

Image via Vintage Pattern Wiki

What have we here?  McCall's 1643 from 1951, celebrating the release of Disney's version of the story.  These adorable March Hare and Mad Hatter costumes are suitable for any mad tea party and just plain really cute.  RARE RARE RARE too.. if you have one of these, treasure it!!  Note that it is copyrighted by Disney, as is the below Alice pattern.

Image courtesy of Pink Blackbird

McCall's 8626, seen here, actually is labeled "Alice in Wonderland."  To be used as a costume or as every day wear, I especially adore the little bunny jacket!  This is a very rare pattern.  It was also featured with the March Hare and Hatter costume in McCall's own advertising.

Image via Vintage Pattern Wiki

This beautiful pattern, Simplicity 2240, features an Alice doll and her clothes.  I think this pattern was produced for several years but it's really hard to find!  A lot of reproduction and PDF copies are out there drifting around, but finding an original that's also in good shape is easier said than done.  Still, a must for any Alice collector and I wish I had one!

(Team member Rose Corners has one in stock, though!)

Picture via Vintage Pattern Wiki

While I think it's not specifically branded as an Alice costume, I think it's pretty safe to say that's what inspired Simplicity 3701 from 1951!  (McCall's apparently got the rights from Disney while Simplicity did not.)

Pattern picture courtesy of Historically Patterns

Here is 3702, which is I think is the number for only the toddler sized version of 3701.

Picture from Vintage Pattern Wiki

Vogue 2454 definitely is also Alice-influenced.  The blue dress is a dead give away! Realllllly cute!  The "Alice band" in the hair is another hint.  A type of headwear so firmly connected to Alice that it's named after her!  I also assume this came out about the same time as the Disney movie.

Picture via Vintage Pattern Wiki

In case you weren't sure if this 1970s dress and pinafore were supposed to be Alice themed, the illustrator has helpfully added a tiny white rabbit to the drawing.

Image via All's Fairy Vintage

From team member All's Fairy Vintage's shop comes this 1960s Woman's Day.  It featured cute Alice-themed toys!

Image via Ebay via Pattern-Vault, in a wonderful article about Alice sewing!

This INCREDIBLY RARE circa 1930s/40s Alice pattern featured a flamingo as well!  I have only seen one... maybe two of these for sale in my lifetime.  Does anyone else out there have one?  Do you want to sell it? :)

Images via The Sunny Stitcher

These rare-as-hen's teeth Alice patterns from Weldon's (a British pattern company) were found in a catalog, I've only ever seen the Alice one for sale.  Circa early 1930s and very rare!

Image courtesy of Marcialois.

Here is a picture of the actual pattern.  Like I said, I have only ever seen the Alice pattern for sale.  If anyone else out there has seen the Hatter or Hare for sale (or in a personal collection) I would be very interested in seeing the pattern.  

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Okay, so that's a look at Alice patterns from the past!  If anyone knows of any others... please let me know!  I want to have the most comprehensive list of them possible.

Let's look at some newer ones now, shall we? :)

Images via Amazon.com

There are really way too many for me to do a feature on each of them individually!  If you want to be an Alice character these days, you have plenty of patterns to chose from. :)

Image via Simplicity.com

These costumes based on the Tim Burton Alice movie are reallly nice.  When they came out, I bought them right away for my collection.  Good luck finding the Alice-print fabric shown in the picture though... I couldn't find it anywhere.

Images from Amazon.com

Still more mostly-recent patterns.

Simplicity 9947, image via Ebay.

Images via Amazon.com and Simplicity.com

OH WOW, there are so many.  I'm exhausted just looking for them all.  And I'm sure I haven't even scratched the surface of what's out there.  As you can see, Alice is very popular!  I'm sure there are many more patterns that are Alice-themed and I would love if you would share if you know of more. :)

But, you can make an Alice costume without an "ALICE" pattern.  Almost any dress with a pinafore apron can be an Alice costume!  Any snazzy suit in a loud checker print can be a Mad Hatter.  How about these ideas from the Pattern Patter Team?

Images courtesy of the Pattern Patter Team

Any of these patterns would make a very cute Alice costume!

Row 1: Vienna's Grace; Lonestar Blondie; She Finds Vintage

Row 2: Wits End Design; Roma's Maison; Rose's Pattern Treasury

Row 3: Lady Diamond's Emporium; Keepsake Studio; Vintage Needle Finds

Images courtesy of the Pattern Patter Team

Or how about these wonderful patterns for your Alice costume?

Row 1: All's Fairy Vintage; Clutterina's Shop; Erika With A K Vintage

Row 2: Keepsakes Studio; Patterns Plus Notions; Maison Mignon

Row 3: J Ferrari Designs; Stitching By Numbers; Jersey Girl Patterns

Images courtesy of the Pattern Patter Team

Still more patterns that could easily be adapted to make a pretty Alice costume!

Row 1: Em Sew Crazy; Vintage Sewing Shoppe; Pitter Pattern Place

Row 2: Pitter Pattern Place; Find Crafty Patterns; Kinsey Sue

Row 3: Redcurlz's Patterns; Vienna's Grace; Cloe's Closet

WOW!

Don't you think you could make a cute costume?

I hope you enjoyed this look at Alice costumes.  If you know of any more, please let me know in the comments!  Do you have any tales of Alice that you would like to share? :)

Also, please be sure to visit all the great shops of the Pattern Patter Team!