To clothe the naked...dolls that is!

For many years my family has packed shoeboxes full of gifts to send to kids in need all over the world through Operation Christmas Child (OCC) . Because of our family involvement and our love of this organization, I eventually started getting others involved. We have since set a goal each year to pack at least 1000 shoebox gifts for OCC.  Because of that we call ourselves "Shoebox 1K"

Our group recently received a donation of over 200 dolls. Which is fabulous! Little girls LOVE dolls and we love being able to put them into shoeboxes! Yet we had a problem. These dolls were a little larger than your standard sized Barbie doll and  that means they cannot wear Barbie clothes and the dolls came to me naked!





















Knowing that the creative community has a huge heart, I reached out to them.  I put out a call for help and my friend Laura Johnson from Ellie Inspired answered that call! Laura not only created a pattern but enlisted the help of her Ellie Inspired Pattern Group to help us create dresses for our dolls!

Today the first of the dresses arrived! I received a lovely note and 20 dresses!

How exciting for us! We quickly dressed our lovely ladies! These are now ready to be put into shoebox gifts for this season. 

But, we still have more to finish! 

The the simple peasant style dress looks adorable! The pattern takes under 1/4 yd of fabric and goes together really fast. Best yet Laura made the pattern available for FREE to anyone that wants to help us clothe the dolls. The dress pattern has the added advantage of working for your Barbie sized dolls as well. So it's a great project to do with your kids. We would LOVE for you to be a part of our project!

You can find the pattern and information on how you can help  ---> HERE