April 15, 2013

Harry Potter Robe for American Girl Doll

See my other free Harry Potter tutorials

What you need

  • 1/2 yard of black lining (very thin fabric, used to line fabrics)
  • 1/4 yard of house color lining (for the rest of the blog I will use red as the house color)
    • red: Gryffindor
    • blue: Ravenclaw
    • green: Slytherin
    • yellow: Hufflepuff
  • black thread
  • T-shirt transfer paper for black fabrics, has to be for black fabrics
  • Image of a house crest, see below for instructions

How to make the robe


1. Download pattern here
    Make sure you have set scaling to none!
    Please use for personal use only, this is copyrighted by me, Read Creations !!!

2. Cut out all pieces, 14 in total.
  • 2 back pieces in black (Part A)
  • 2 outer front pieces in black (Part B)
  • 2 sleeves in black,  2 sleeves in red (house color)   (Part C)
  • 2 inner front pieces in black (Part E), 2 inner front pieces in red (Part F) (these combined will form the inner fronts called Part EF)
  • 1 outer hat in black (Part D) (make sure you get the right pattern piece)
  • 1 inner hat in red  (Part G) (make sure you get the right pattern piece, since outer and inner are different)

3. We are assembling the outer part of the robe first. Take 1 back piece Part A and both front
     pieces Part B and sew along shoulder seams

4. Take both black sleeves Part C and attach to body, right sides together

5. Take black hood piece (Part D) and sew together along back (longest side)

6. Attach neck side of hood to body, right sides together.

7. Fold so sleeve and side line up and sew sleeve and side together, repeat for other side
    Now you have the outer robe done.

8. Now we start with the inner robe.
    Sew Parts E and F together to form the two front pieces Parts EF. Iron seams apart.

9. Sew fronts (Parts EF) with remaining back part (Part A) along shoulder seams, right
    sides together.
  

10. Take both red sleeves (Part C) and sew them in, right sides together
  
11. Take the red hood (Part G) and sew the top together. Attach neck side of hood to body,
      right sides together. Just like in step 6

12. Fold so sleeve and side line up and sew sleeve and side together, repeat for other side.
      Just like in step 7
      Now you have the inner robe done too.

13. Line up the outer and inner robe together, right sides together, hold in place with pins.
      Sew around front, along front of hood and then along the other front in one seam.

14. Turn to the right and put inner sleeves in outer sleeves (just as if robe was already done)

15. You can either hand sew the inner and outer sleeve together with a hidden seam
      (easier to picture) or do it with the machine, which is what I did.
      In order to sew it with the machine I folded the inner and outer sleeve (at the seam) as if to
      make a hidden seam and pinned it from the INSIDE. This way I new how to attach the sleeves
      together. Then I pulled the sleeves through the bottom of the robe as if I would turn it inside out
      again but I only pulled until I had good access to the sleeve. It will look really odd and twisted.
      You can see my two pins in the picture

16. Line up the inner and outer sleeves and pin them, then sew around. Turn back to as if robe is
      done. You should now have a finished sleeve front with a hidden seam. Repeat for other sleeve.

17. Turn inside out so seams are outwards (wrong side) and sew along bottom of robe leaving a
      small opening

18. Turn back so it is the right way and hand sew the opening at the bottom shut

19. Iron robe's seams, especially the sleeve fronts, the front and bottom of the robe and the hood


Your robe is done !!!


How to add the crest

1. Download image of  house crest, either google it or find it here

2. Print  picture on T-shirt transfer paper for black fabrics (make sure it is for black fabrics)
    with the following settings
 
3. Cut out, scissors worked best for me

4. Place on dolls left front side, cover with parchment paper and iron on without steam

You are done !!!! 


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April 14, 2013

Harry Potter Lantern for American Girl doll

See my other free Harry Potter tutorials

What you need

  • letter sized card stock (white or black)
  • letter sized paper
  • little piece of wire for candle wick (jewelry wire or piece of paper clip)
  • little gold or silver ring (jewelry item, you could also bend a paper clip into a small circle)
  • black thread and needle
  • tooth pick
  • Elmer's glue and optional Super glue (Super glue for adults only !!!)
  • hot glue gun
  • acrylic paint (white, black, yellow and orange)
  • acrylic sealer
  • hard clear plastic (from a tool or toy wrapper, the ones that you need a knife for to open)
  • permanent black marker

How to make the lantern


1. Download pattern here
    Remember to set scaling to none
    For Home use only, this is copyrighted by me, Read Creations !!!

2. Cut the 3 pieces along the solid black lines and fold along the dotted lines.
    (I used a metal ruler to get sharp, straight folds)
    The picture below has solid lines where it got folded, this was my hand drawn template)

3. If you used white card stock paint body and cap on both sides with black acrylic paint. Let dry
 
4. Seal the outside of the lantern body and the outside of the lantern top with acrylic sealer. Let
    dry.

5. Take the hard clear plastic and cut 4 rectangles 1" x 1 1/4"


6. Glue on the inside into each window one of the clear plastic rectangles. Let glue dry.

7. On inside draw a cross in each window with permanent marker

8. Glue bottom onto flaps. Let glue dry.

9. Glue the flap on the lantern cover to the side indicated to form a pyramid. Let glue dry.

10. Take the ring and wrap black thread around it a couple of times then take a needle and thread
      all  ends through the tip of the pyramid to the inside and attach with a generous amount of
      hot glue.


How to make the candle

1. Take the letter sized paper and cut in half (matching the shorter sides, long sides will be
    cut in half)

2. Take one half and put a tooth pick in one corner and roll


3. When about 2" are left, spread glue all across and finish rolling. Let glue dry

4. Take the wire piece and form a drop (candle flame) with hot glue. This might take multiple layers.

5. Cut a 3/4" piece from your paper roll from step 3 and glue onto the X on the second bottom with hot glue.

6. Use hot glue on top and push wire in center of paper roll, leaving wire a little exposed.
    The wire simulates the wick of the candle.

7. Use hot glue to simulate wax running down the candle, you can even "spill" a little at the
    candle's bottom.

8. Paint the candle and the simulated wax white. Paint the flame orange and yellow.
    Paint the card board square black up to the white of the simulated spilled wax.


Assemble lantern

1. Glue candle with square bottom into lantern bottom

2. Use hot glue gun to glue pyramid top to lantern

You are done !!!


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April 10, 2013

Harry Potter Shirt for American Girl Doll

See my other free Harry Potter tutorials



This is not a tutorial for a whole shirt. This is for a "cheater" shirt, it only contains the collar and part of front and back.

What you need


  • white fabric
  • thread
  • velcro
  • 2 small white buttons

How to make the "cheater" shirt

1. Download pattern here

    This pattern is copyrighted by me, ReadCreations.   
    For home use only !!!
    Make sure you have page scaling set to none !

2. Sew fronts and back together on shoulders

3. Sew along collar and trim corners


4. Turn right side out and top stitch

5. Find center on back of shirt and center of collar. Pin collar along neck.

6. Fold ends over collar so that collar is sandwiched in between

7. Sew along neck line, then zigzag it to finish it.

8. Top stitch neckline, folding collar downwards. Don't top stitch on fronts (I did that by mistake)

9. Zigzag all around the body or finish with a 1/8" hem

10. Add velcro

11. Add buttons, first one on top, next one about 1" down

You are done !!!!


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April 09, 2013

Harry Potter broom for American Girl doll


See my other free Harry Potter tutorials

What you need

  • branch 16" long
  • pine needles or very small twigs 2" long
  • twine
  • hot glue gun

How to make

1. Cut the branch to a length of 16"

2. Glue the pine needles around one end of the branch.
    I went around in multiple layers to get it nice and thick. The draw back with pine needles is,
    they are quite brittle and might not hold up to rough play.

3. Glue twine around top of pine needles to make it look like a broom


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Harry Potter Letter for American Girl doll

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A while back I found this great blog about how to make a Harry Potter acceptance letter.

I followed the directions and created the letter and saved it in the proper proportion for AG dolls.
Then I created my own envelope and stained the paper to make it look like parchment (see How to stain your paper below)

How to make the letter

1. You can download the AG sized letter and envelope here.

    Please use this only for home use !!!

    Print with scaling set to none. You can either print on parchment looking paper or stain the
    paper to make it look like parchment paper.

2. Write your dolls last name on the first letter page Dear Mrs ...

3. Cut pages and fold in half

How to make the envelope

1. Write in green letters your dolls address like this
       First Name
            description of place e.g. cupboard under the stairs,   XXX messy bedroom,...
                  street name
                         town, state
    The address is supposed to be offset like above

2. Cut along the lines then fold

3. Glue together

4. You could make a seal from melted wax, crayon or hot glue (painted red), ...



 
Hogwarts Ticket

I found this great blog that has a ton of great things that can be re-sized for your American Girl doll, like the chocolate frog cards and the Marauder's map.
Here is the ticket as image just in case

Save image to your computer than print with scaling set to 65% (under Options) and 9 images per sheet





How to stain your paper

To stain the paper make sure you print on a laser printer, then soak paper in warm (black) tea or coffee. If you want to put some darker spots on the paper, sprinkle some instant coffee on the paper while it is soaking in the tea or coffee, then swish the instant coffee off carefully. Take out of tea and let dry  (you could speed up the process of drying by putting it in the oven on the lowest setting). I ironed my sheets after they were dry.




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Harry Potter Chocolate Frog cards and Marauder's Map for American Girl doll


Chocolate Frog

I found this great blog that has so many wonderful Harry Potter things.

Here is the chocolate frog image, just in case
Save the image to your computer and print with 9 images per sheet.


Marauder's Map


Here is the image of the Marauder's Map from this wonderful blog.
Save the image to your computer and print full page, make sure you de-select "Fit picture to frame", then fold along the lines as described in this wonderful blog.



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Harry Potter for your American Girl doll - overview



The pullover knitting pattern I bought at Liberty Janes

Harry Potter Wand for American Girl Doll

See my other free Harry Potter tutorials

What you need

  • paper
  • 2 tooth picks
  • Elmer's glue
  • hot glue gun
  • acrylic paint
  • sealer (I used ModgePodge gloss acrylic sealer)
  • rubber band
  • cardboard, e.g. cereal box (for the wand box)
  • grey gift wrap tissue

How to make the wand


1. Take the toothpick and lay it diagonally across the corner and start rolling very tightly


2. Stop until you have about 4" of paper left and put glue all over the leftover triangle of paper (make sure you go all the way to the edge of the paper)

3. Finish rolling it up (if some glue pushes out, just wipe it off) and let glue dry

4.  Cut to about 5 1/2" in length. I cut an 1" past the middle and measured 5 1/2" from there. The thickest part (that is why I cut 1" past the middle) will be the handle and then it will taper off to the tip


5. Use hot glue gun to fill the tip and slightly round it.

6. Fill the bottom and add a layer of hot glue around to form the bottom part of the handle. (I added a toothpick in the bottom so I can dry it easier when I paint. I just stick it in a flower arrangement sponge, the disadvantage is, you will have a hole in the end that you need to fill when you are done)

7. Leave 1 1/2" where you don't decorate. This is the handle after that go wild and decorate with hot glue.

8. To make it look old and used, I first painted the wand in a lighter brown (kind of rust color) and let it dry, then I painted over it with a very wet dark colored brush and wiped some off with a paper towel. With that I got the darker coloring in the grooves which makes it look old and used.
You can layer it with multiple different colors to give it some depth.


9. After the paint has all dried, seal it with an acrylic sealer, I used ModgePodge gloss but matte would work too, depends on the look you want. This wand is so easy to make that you can make multiple ones and see what you like best

10. If you used a tooth pick in the bottom for painting, remove it and fill the whole with hot glue and paint and seal it.

11. Take a rubber band and attach to handle.

You are done !!!!


How to make the box


1. Take the cardboard and cut a rectangle 9" x 4". Cut the corners out (square 1")
    Bottom will be 7" x 2" x 1"

2. Take the cardboard and cut a rectangle 9 1/4" x 4 1/4"". Cut the corners out (square 1")
    Top will be 7 1/4" x 2 1/2" x 1"

3. Fold all sides up and secure with tape

4. I covered the inside and outside with paper to be able to paint it (some cardboard boxes have that gloss that doesn't take paint and the tape can't be painted either) but you can skip this step.

5. Paint box bottom and top inside and out and let dry

6. Print the labels (I found them on google and resized them and have them here for download)

7. Glue labels on box, then seal with acrylic sealer

8. Cut tissue paper to fit inside box, make sure it is long enough to be folded over

Have fun !!!



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