When Isabelle Palmer American Girl of the Year 2014 made her debut January 2014, I fell in love with her beauty and her sewing attributes. I purchased the doll on January 1, 2014. The sewing machine and her accessories is more that I can afford. I was talking with my husband and he said he would build be a sewing machine, iron and ironing board. I have put together a photo tutorial on how he made these items for me.
He had some scrap wood and glued three pieces of wood to make the machine. He cut the tip off of a wooden dowel (5/8) for the dial for machine stitch selection. He drilled out a hole for it to attach and glued it.
He used 8D finishing nail to made the pressure foot and used a small picture hanger and cut a slit in the center to made a pressure foot. He hammered it into wood. He used a small cap - red one in photo from an oil container he had in the garage. He drilled a hole in the center and used a 8D finishing nail to attach to the side of machine. He cut tiny slits into and used a black sharpie to make black lines.
He painted it white covering up pressure foot. He used another nail on top of sewing machine to hold spool of thread. Measurements for sewing machine. Base is 2 1/2 inches wide and 5 1/2 inches in length. Sewing machine is about 4 1/2 inches tall. The dial on side measures 1 inch. Dial on front is 1/2 inch inch.
I had some miniature spools of thread and they worked perfect.
I purchased the sewing kit from Michaels (cost one dollar), and I purchased the round box from the Dollar Tree. I made the dress form, he had already made the chair, table/desk, and night stand that I used as a side table, folded some scraps of fabric and placed on bottom shelf. These items worked perfect to create Isabelle's sewing room. I had some buttons and I used a straight pin to attaché them to the wall for a decoration above sewing machine. I used my three trifold poster that glued scrapbook paper onto to make a wall.
Below is the sewing kit - perfect size scissors and tweezers for the 18 inch doll hands.
He made the ironing board - still need to make a cover for it. It actually folds like a real one.
He cut out the wood to make the iron and glued the handle to the wood. The ironing board is 14 inches long, 5 1/4 inches wide. The legs measures 11 inches and the wood that sits on the floor is 3 inches long.
Iron is two inches (could be made a little bigger). Painted iron pink and silver.
Here are some snapshots of Isabelle's sewing room. We used a silver paint pin to create a faux bobbin holder under the pressure foot.
Her is Isabelle using her iron and ironing board
I hope this tutorial is an inspiration to you. My husband did not have plans. He designed his own. Please feel free to leave comments or ask questions. As always, thanks for reading my blog.
GiGi
