Homemade Princess and The Pea

This past Christmas, I decided that it was a good idea to start a tradition of making homemade presents for our kids.  In retrospect, starting a rather time consuming tradition while nearly nine months pregnant right before Christmas time probably wasn't the best idea, but that's okay.  I mostly finished the projects I planned:).  This present was for Lucky Girl.  I was inspired by this Princess and the Pea set:

Princess and the Pea

My Sweet Muffin

I love this set still.  The size is perfect for play and storage too.  (My version is bigger but the bed also fits Kit, Lucky's American Girl Doll, so it works for two purposes.)  The doll is hand knit, and the bed is cute and simple, but I couldn't justify the $104 cost for this one item.  Charm and I decided to make our own version with some left over fabric and batting, a doll bed from IKEA, a green felt ball (for the pea) and a muslin doll form from Joann's.

Here's the blank doll form:

18" Bendable Muslin Doll Form

Joann's

It's 18 inches tall and is $7.99 full price, but of course a coupon will bring it down to as low as $4!  A steal, I'm telling you!  Charm helped me pick out clothing for the doll using an old dress that almost went in our garage sale pile until I realized the fabric was worth more than the 50 cents I would have earned by selling it.  I used yarn I had on hand for the hair, and embroidery thread for the facial features.

Charm gave Lucky the doll for Christmas, and I gave her the bed set:

Since I had lots of materials on hand already, the total cost was about $25 for the bed, doll form and pea ball.  I also bought Lucky the book, The Princess and The Pea, which I read AFTER I made this set.  I discovered the book didn't give quite the right message I wanted to send to Lucky.  I actually changed a word in the story.  It no longer reads, 'Only a princess would be so delicate as to notice a pea in the layers of mattresses'.  Now it reads, 'Only a princess would be so perceptive to notice a pea in the layers of mattresses'.

Hope you have a great day, and that there are no peas in your mattress tonight!