Hello Everyone! Shari here... As we kick off the new year with Sewing with Cinnamon & Friends, I have something fun to share! When Cinnamon started her mini holiday quilt project this past December, I was taking a little time to work on a cloth doll project I had started earlier this year. After sewing her hair on, my husband pointed out that she reminded him of Holly Hobbie, and with that prompt, this darling Holly Hobbie pattern hack immediately moved to center stage in my sewing studio!
Now, I had been a big fan of Holly Hobbie back in the 70s.
She was a natural draw to all of us young girls who became enamored with 19th century prairie life after watching the Little House on the Prairie television series and reading all the books.
Feeling a little nostalgic I started looking up some of those old Holly Hobbie pictures I had loved so much. An interesting fact, the character we now know as Holly Hobbie was originally unnamed. Later, she took on the name of the artist, Holly Hobbie. Tom was right, my doll project was looking a lot like Holly Hobbie and the stack of Tilda swatches Cinnamon had sent me this summer, when we were working on the Sewing With Coordinating Fabrics theme, looked like they'd be perfect for her signature patchwork apron.
My mind was spinning with ideas!
So, for my own amusement, I set aside ALL my other projects for a few days and decided to make a Holly Hobbie doll! It was a fairly easy project to make since I could use a few of my existing patterns to piece her outfit together with a few simple alterations.
Follow along in video to watch me bring my ideas to life!
For all the specifics on this project, download the Holly Hobbie Doll Hack PDF. (Find it in the Sewing with Cinnamon Bonus Section)
But, here are the project highlights:
- The bonnet from my Prairie Rose pattern was just right as it was.
- For the ruffled drawers under her dress, I used my 1920s Girl's Combination Underwear pattern. All I needed to do was add 1/2” to the length of the legs and attach a ruffle along the bottom edges.
- I used the dress and apron from my Country Girl pattern for the rest of the outfit.
For the dress, I simply shortened it so I could add a ruffle at the bottom. I thought cutting it at the Present Underskirt cutting line would be short enough, but ended up adding two 1/2” tucks to get the length I wanted. If you don't want to deal with tucks, just cut the dress 1” shorter.
The apron was made by piecing together one hundred thirty-two 1 7/8” squares I cut from my Tilda fabric swatches. The colors and prints of the Tilda fabrics align almost perfectly with the colors and prints Holly Hobbie used in her drawings. The only changes I made to the apron was to remove the pockets, shorten it about 3/4”, and add a lining to the skirting to cover the patchwork seam allowances.
The cloth doll pattern isn't available yet, but it will be coming soon!
Projects that are inspired organically like this one are so satisfying to work on and often become the ones that are the most meaningful. I hope I can help to inspire some new sewing projects for all of you this coming year... and expect you will inspire me as well!
~Shari
A note from Cinnamon...
This was a treat! I have such fond memories of Holly Hobbie from my childhood and mixing this with the Tilda fabric line was icing on the cake! If you're looking for other ways to use tiny scraps, be sure to check out the tutorial post I did during the
Back To School theme,
Patchwork Jeans. I created a piece of patchwork fabric using 1" squares which I then used to made some stylish jeans. The technique I used to sew all my tiny squares together was something I learned from my quilting friends, it really helped to speed up the process! Check it out!
9 Comments
Leave a comment
Kathy W.
February 11, 2025
I had already reached adulthood — yes, I had — when Holly Hobbie became popular, so my interest was in pictures, plates, figurines. My mother made my daughter (b. 1982) a Holly Hobbie afghan. And I collected every Holly Hobbie doll pattern, which I still have. Thanks for this topic.