Still That Little 80s Girl….

Hey y’all! Today’s post is about a simple but sweet (“Berry Sweet!”) sew!

As a little girl growing up in the 80s, I had an obsession with Strawberry Shortcake. I had the dolls, the play sets, the bedsheets, watched the cartoons…

Well, among my SS collection, I remember I used to have a Huckleberry Pie pillow doll. Do any of you remember those DIY sew-your-own-pillow dolls? They start out as a sewing pattern that you cut out, sew, and then stuff to make a pillow doll. Well, my Huckleberry is long gone now, but I recently stumbled across all kinds of SS pillow dolls from the 80s when I was browsing on eBay one day. There were listings for already made dolls vs. unmade sewing patterns. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy my own when I saw Strawberry Shortcake herself, among many other SS characters.

It was an easy choice picking Strawberry out, but I had to choose which other character I wanted to pick, as the dolls and patterns were a little pricey, given they are vintage 80s. In the end, it was between gal pals Blueberry Muffin and Raspberry Tart. I ended up with Blueberry because Raspberry was just a little too pricey (Although I may end up regretting not getting her if it ever gets sold though because I couldn’t find another unmade sewing pattern for it...Ugh. Decisions, decisions, I guess.)

Now on to sewing these cuties! The pattern pieces look like this:

Blueberry Muffin and Strawberry Shortcake Pillow Doll patterns via 1980-1981

The directions for making these are super simple. All you do is 1) cut out the front and back sides of the doll pattern on the dotted line, 2) Pin the two parts together with right sides facing each other, 3) Sew all around the outline of the doll pattern using the solid line as a guide (leaving the bottom open to allow for stuffing), 4) Snip all the short lines around the perimeter of the pattern and pull it right side out, 5) Stuff with fluffy-floofs (I don’t know the actual crafting term for “stuffing”–would it be batting? Plain old Stuffing??) , 6) hand sew the bottom part pf the doll closed with an invisible stitch, 7) Enjoy!

Already cut out front and back pieces

Make sure you are pinning with front sides facing each other!

When pinning, I held my front and back pieces up against the window so I could see the back piece sewing lines and made sure they lined up with the front, rather than just lining up the outside seam allowance perimeters. Doing this ensures that as you are sewing along the lines on the front piece, you are also following the lines on the back piece as well. Doing it this way will also cause the snip lines to become unevenly matched. That’s ok. As long as you cut along the front snip lines, the back lines are unnecessary.

Here are the finished pillow dolls:

Berry Best Friends!

Aren’t they just adorable? Pillow dolls are a perfect project for Newbies or kids who are interested in learning how to sew. I’m pretty sure you could find similar projects like this nowadays in other cute, modern patterns. Or if you are tragically nostalgic like me, you can scour eBay or Etsy for other vintage/retro patterns. I was lucky to find another reasonably priced listing for a set of two SS sewing patterns on eBay, so I was able to gift a pillow doll for both my sister and niece.

I finished these two while listening to the rain and thunder of last night’s thunderstorm. It was the first storm in a long time that we were actually able to see and hear happening right outside our house. Usually they take place too far out by the coast or in the mountains/deserts. This particular one was scary at times because the booms of thunder after lightning struck was super loud, but it was also just as welcoming and relaxing and cozy at the same time. Perfect sewing weather, if you ask me…

xoxo,