Making the World Cuter with The Sewer, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker

I am on Maternity Leave from September 4th-October 12th: This post was contributed by Vanessa-blogger at The Sewer, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker.

Look at me, Ma! I'm all DRESSED!!!

Hi! I am Vanessa from The Sew*er, The Caker, The CopyCat Maker
and I am SaHoooooo excited to show you my project!

Thanks so much to Tiffany for having a baby so I could be here today!!!

I have had this project swimming around the murky waters of my brain
for quite some time. I wanted a fun way for my 2 year old to get
dressed and thought this idea would work. Do you have
a sweet child that can't seem to get ready and out the door for
the school bus? They can't find
socks...shoes...underwear...You name It! I am thinking this cute
little clothing stand will solve all of our problems on those rushed
mornings, while adding a little bit of fun.

I actually made two versions. A (literally) stripped down
version, then my dolled up girly-girl version

We will start with the stripped down version.
I began with some strips of 1x2 (only $0.89 at our local
Home Depot), 10 painted clothespins, two wooden cutouts of my son's
hands (you can use chipboard if you don't have a saw), a head
(printed on cardstock and modge podged to wood or chipboard-you could
even use foam core if you have some handy), and lastly but not in
my picture, a base-mine was made from 1x12" pine.

Now, when I got the thing all put together I discovered a couple
things that needed to be slightly bigger/smaller. The
measurements in this post are updated to the measurements I would
use if I were to make this project again. You can use my crazy
figuring, or measure your own child. Whatever works for
you.

Your cut list:

1x2- body-40", arms- 1@24", hips-1@12"

1x12- for base-15"

Cut out hands and head

I started out by attaching the 40" board to the base. My husband
recommends a block nailed to the back of the board and into the
base to make the thing more sturdy and durable. Also,
you don't want the "body" board right in the middle of the
base. Make sure when attaching the "body", to attach it about
3-4" from the back of the base. That will ensure the
whole thing will stay standing when the center of gravity is changed
with the addition of clothing.

Next, I laid the board down on the table and placed the arm
and hip boards where they go, 24" for the arms and 12" for the
hips, and nailed into place. I used my nail gun, but regular
nails would work just fine.

Now, the clothespins were not my best friend. I took them apart
for painting...would not recommend it. They are very hard to get
back together. When nailing on the boards, I twisted them so
they were still together, but I could nail once in front of and once
behind the hinge like in this picture. That seemed to work
and I didn't have to go through putting them back together all
over again :0)

Once all of the clothespins are in place, you can start loading your
clothes.

Ummm, disregard the dirty socks. They were the only ones I could
find in his disheveled room in the middle of the dark night. You
can rest assured, however, that the briefs are clean!

Load your undies, socks, undershirt, then add your over clothes.
Or, you could load in reverse order so that the clothes are in the
order you put them on. Whatever you prefer!

Whew! That is much less embarrassing!

Now for my "Dolled Up" model.

You can add dimension to the hair by simply sewing lines in it before
sewing the pieces together. The piggies I was going to turn
inside out, but decided I liked them with that sewn border. Go
ahead and stuff the piggies.

Your supplies for our little lady:

1x2- arms-1@24", Hips-1@10", legs-2@20", head stick- 1@16"

1 body-I made a pattern and cut out of 1/8" wood

(you could also use chipboard or foam core)

10 clothespins

a base-1x12" pine 15" long

one felt head

various ribbons and bows

Lay your little lady out on a table and position everything where you
want it. Again, I used my nail gun, but good old hammer and
nails work great. I attached everything to the underwear, then
turned the whole thing over and nailed from the backside as
well.

This is what she looked like from behind.

Attach the clothespins in the same twisty fashion as shown up
above. I went with as many clothespins as I did in order to
accommodate cold weather layering or, like here in Arizona, the much
smaller skimpy clothes we must wear to survive the heat. The one
thing I would tell you when placing your clothespins is to
measure with some of your child's own clothing. My kids were
sleeping and rather than risking a tragic wake-up, I just
guessed. Not recommended! The clothespins ended up
just a little too close - All avoidable by having an actual
outfit on hand :0)

Now for decorating the face! I use REAL BLUSH! It works
wonders! I even use real blush on my wood crafts. It turns
out so much more natural than paint. Blush those cheeks, dab
some paint on the end of a paintbrush for eyes, hot glue on a
piece of ribbon or yarn for the mouth.

Finally, I added ribbons on all of the clothespins and tied some
ribbon onto the pigtails to give my hairbows a resting place
too. You know you don't have a complete outfit without hairbows
:0)

Once she is all together, it's time to play dress-up!

There you go! A home for your outfits the night before you wear
them. What else can you use this for? They work
great as a project holder for all of those precious paper
creations.

Leave off the clothes pins and use the arms to hold headbands
and necklaces. Hang ribbon down the arms and keep your hairbows
on the ribbon. Put velcro on the body and make huge paper doll
clothes :0) Oh! You could put it in the front seat of your car,
in a booster seat of course, and drive in the carpool lane! See,
you NEED to make one!

Thanks again for letting me show off my project.

Feel free to stop by and see what else I have been up to!