For those of us in the sewing, crafting and alteration businesses, the main goal is looking at the profit end of the business and what we can do to increase the bottom line. However there are also a great many of us who have small children or grandchildren who are in the house while we try to work our home business.
Today I want to talk about those children or grandchildren who are constantly wanting to “help” us with our sewing / crafting projects. From time to time I’ll have one of my 4 year old grandchildren on my lap while I sew and let them help “turn” a piece of fabric while I’m sewing. Other times two of the quads will make “sewing offices” on each side of my chair at the sewing machine (my sewing cabinet opens up with large doors that can easily be made into “offices”), so one can help move fabric and the other can help put pins back into the pin cushion.
Today I found something even better that the children can play with while the adult is sewing — FABRIC paper dolls! My daughter began her sewing career making doll clothes for a small doll, but I simply LOVE the idea of having fabric paper dolls. Young children are hard on the actual paper dolls, and usually have difficulty with the tabs that fold down to put the garments on the dolls, so I think these fabric paper dolls are the answer to hours of playtime fun for children.
ModaBakeShop has an excellent tutorial on how to make the fabric paper dolls, and even has a template for making a boy and girl doll. These dolls are so cute and I can’t wait to start making some for my grandchildren. As a matter of fact, a box of these in your sewing area could help keep children occupied while you’re working with their mother.
The clothing is made using velcro to attach the garment items to the dolls. What a wonderful idea, Angela!
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