Christmas may be over but it’s still cold outside. Today we made sure that some of our little friends got some nice warm DIY Sylvanian Family clothes.
There are some amazingly talented makers who knit, crochet and sew beautiful, detailed clothes for these tiny creatures. However I know from past experience that these can be tricky things to make. I wanted some easy DIY Sylvanian Families clothes.
I love working with felt. It has a lovely feel, doesn’t fray and and is easy to use. Perfect for today’s task. I wanted simple, easy to make clothes so these are perfect for beginners. The jacket doesn’t even need any sewing at all.
First, some trousers. Cut a rectangle of felt long enough to go around the doll and wide enough to go from feet to waist.
Sew the two short ends together to make a tube, but only about 1/3 of the way. Leave the rest open to go around the tail.
Sew the join to the other side of the tube with a few stitches to create two leg holes. Don’t forget these little guys can have quite big feet so keep the holes as big as possible.
There are various ways to fasten the trousers at the top of the unstitched section. What you do might depend on how big a tail your critter has. You could add a small press stud, some Velcro or elastic. I usually use Velcro, but today I tried sewing a loop of thin elastic and sewing that to the inside at the waist. The tail fits into the unsewn section and the elastic loops over the top of the tail.
And that was the trousers – finished!
Next we made some dungarees for another rabbit friend. I cut a piece of felt in a T-shape. Sylvanian Families come in different sizes and tails make a difference so giving exact measurements is tricky. Felt is easy to bend round and cut to size.
Fold the two long ends into the middle and stitch them to the other side at the bottom with a few stitches in order to create the leg holes.
Use thin elastic to make straps, sewing from one (unstitched) corner of the back to the opposite shoulder strap, then repeat for the other side. Then the dungarees are all done.
Finally I made a no-sew jacket. These are quick and easy to do. You can add buttons, pockets and fastenings if you want to make it more complicated. For a simple jacket, cut a rectangle big enough to go round the doll, snip two small arm holes and add a slit or gap big enough to go round the tail – and that’s it!
Once they were all dressed and ready we decided to make a teepee tent for them to play in. Again I went for a simple, easy to make tent – all I used was a sheet of felt and some drinking straws. First build the straws into a frame. There are different ways of making teepees – I used 5 straws for mine. First I tied them together, then to make it more secure I sewed through the straws to keep them in place.
There are lots of templates and patterns online for making teepees – it basically involves a semi-circle, I used a little trial and error, pinning the basic felt shape onto the frame and trimming from there. Then I sewed the felt and straw together at the top and bottom of each straw. At the entrance I folded the edges back and sewed them open for easy access.
And that’s it. Just a few pieces of felt and a needle and thread and you can make some really simple DIY Sylvanian Families clothes. Add in some straws and you have a tepee too.
And now they are off to play with their tent in their new clothes, and I’m off for a cup of tea!