Doll Sleeping Bags

 Every girl needs a sleeping bag, don't they? I remember having several sleeping bags in my younger years, and it was always important to me that they were a reflection of my personality. My last sleeping bag was pink with kitty faces on it. I still have it and have actually passed it along to my daughter who adores it. She doesn't have much opportunity to use it, but we have camped out in our living room in the teepee tents on occasion, just for the experience. :)

So ... I know of three little girls (not including my own) who have 18" dolls and would like sleeping bags for them. I just so happened to want to make some dolly sleeping bags, so I picked up McCalls M5019 during Hobby Lobby's last $1/pattern sale.

There are free tutorials online, but sometimes it's just easier for me to have pattern pieces to lay on top the fabric, rather than trying to draw rectangles on the back ... or waste fabric trying to use a rotary cutter instead.

I'm not a huge fan of storebought patterns because they sometimes have you do ridiculous things like sewing up the side seam of a doll's sleeve before attaching it to the bodice (or hemming it, for that matter). Those things are important on real people clothing, but absolutely maddening and unnecessary on tiny doll clothes.

BUT I found this sleeping bag pattern to be very easy and straightforward. I'm very pleased and would still pay $1 all over again just for this sleeping bag pattern. I plan to make at least the doll tote and arm pillow yet, so my verdict is still out on those.

 
One of the really neat things about these is the attached pillow. You can't lose it because it's not going anywhere.

The pattern calls for a 28" zipper. I have tons of zippers in my stash, but none of them are that long. I looked them up online, and at about $5 each, I figured my shorter zippers would work just fine.

As a result, these sleeping bags  don't unzip the whole way to the middle like the pattern calls for. But they really only need to unzip on the side, so it doesn't matter.

I had so much fun picking out these fabrics! I chose them according to the girls' favorite colors. The fabrics are all from Hobby Lobby, a company and store that I am proud to support.

This fabric combination was my absolute favorite. It's for the youngest girl, who doesn't have a color preference yet. Whenever she makes up her mind, her favorite color will probably be here. :)

One quick note about my zipper modification: If you use a shorter zipper like I did, there is no need to cut the lining of the bag in two pieces. You simply cut another piece identical to the outside (but with the pattern piece flipped for mirror-image). The bottom of the sleeping bag will be "open", so you turn it right-side-out that way, and then turn it inside out to finish the seam. (It sounds confusing, but it made perfect sense when I had the fabric in my hands.) I used my serger to make the finished edge neat.