Birthday Bed

When Audrey’s first birthday was coming up we were kind of at a loss as to what to give her.  Being a second child she already had all of Josiah’s toys from when he was a baby.  It was easy to think of things to give him when he turned one because we hadn’t bought him much since we live in a small house and babies are happy just playing with spoons and kleenex boxes.  But little sister has gotten to benefit from all the hand me downs and wants for nothing.  So, we decided to make her something instead. The whole family got in on this project.

The gift is a little above her developmentally wise, but she’ll be able to keep it forever if she so likes.  Ken and Josiah built her this doll bed together.  The bed is pretty large because it was intended for American Girl dolls.  You’ll be able to see the scale in the last picture.  The plans to build it are here on Anna White.com.  It is a really great place full of easy and free plans to build most anything and it is all done by a woman…how cool is that.

I made all the bedding.  I had seen this quilt on sew, mama, sew a couple of years ago and had bookmarked it knowing I wanted to try and make it one day.  It isn’t your traditional quilt which I like since that is one area in sewing that I haven’t ventured yet.  It was very easy to do but a bit time consuming.  I ended up spacing my scraps out a little more than I had planned just to save on time.   I used my own measurements for the blanket to fit our bed.  I also used different color threads on different rectangles on top to add a little flair.  The bobbin thread for the bottom is all white but gives a nice detail with all the rectangle shapes showing.

I tried to figure out for a long time what we already had on hand to make a mattress but couldn’t figure anything out.  So finally, I went to Hobby Lobby and looked at the foam they had back in the sewing section.  I bought 2 inch thick foam and cut it to size.  It is comfortable enough to be a real mattress.  Then I made a fitted sheet for it and some little pillows.  The pillows came out a little smaller than I had expected but oh well.

The doll pictured was actually given to her at Christmas.  It was one of the gifts I was able to make last minute after I finally got to stop sewing things for The Nesting Spot.  Thank goodness there is like a 3 day window between the last mail date and the actual holiday.  I got the pattern from here on Martha Stewart.  I modified the eyes and hair a bit based on Emily Martin’s other dolls on her blog.

I loved that we all had a part in this project together.  It makes me so happy when Josiah gets to go out in the shed with his dad and work with tools and help out with manly things.  (Not that women can’t do them either.  Audrey will be out there too soon.)  I just love him being able to learn real life skills.

So far this is mostly what Audrey does with the bed.  When she was given the bed at her party she and Josiah took turns sitting on it with the blanket on top of their legs.  Good thing it is so strong.  When I was taking pictures she did help me make the bed though by throwing the pillows and the blanket on it, so she is getting there. (Oh, and yes, my daughter does wear clothes but with her being sick it is easier this way.  Plus it is just so hot!)