Sewing tutorial: Quiet Book pages - Clothesline and dress up doll

When I first made this page for my daughter's Quiet Book almost three years ago, I decided to combine a clothesline with dressing dolls. It is a great idea for a velcro page and she has really loved playing with and dressing up the doll.





The clothesline page is made up of felt, ribbon and velcro. The first step is to sew down the velcro and ribbon strips. Cover these with the brown felt strips and sew around the edges to fasten in the sides of the ribbons and velcro and to hold down the clothes line poles. The last step is to sew the grass down over the top.

The doll page is made up of felt, velcro and some embroidery. The grass should go down first. Then attach the body felt. I like to use an adhesive backing (Heat n Bond Lite), made for applique. To use this, trace an outline of the body, iron it onto the felt, cut out the shape around the outline, and then iron it down on the background fabric. The doll will need some hair and I like to give it some underwear. Then attach a sun in the sky. Embroider on eyes and a mouth, or you could use markers to draw them on.

I then sew a square of velcro on the tummy so that the clothing will attach.

I find it a good idea to sew around the edges of the shapes to secure them down so that they withstand repeated pulling when your children are pulling off the clothing.




The clothing can be as plain or as decorative as you choose. I like to keep mine fairly plain. The adhesive applique paper can be helpful again for drawing out the outline of each piece of clothing. Use the body as a guide as you want to cover all of the body and fit the arms and legs. Draw the clothing outlines onto the paper and iron on a neutral colour felt which will serve as backing. Sew on velcro and then iron on the clothing coloured felt. Again, sewing around the edges will make the items last long and withstand all that velcro action.