I’m the leader of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Days for Girls. I’m a 38 year old pastor and I still have my Molly American Girl Doll. A while ago, my mom made clergy apparel for Molly, so she is not Pastor Molly and I occasionally use her in children’s sermons. I’ve been holding onto some orange fabric scraps that we too small to even be DFG shield pockets for a long time… well, with activities being restricted or canceled, Mom and I had some time to finally make Molly an apron.
We began by making a pattern. Mom’s tip is to fold the paper in half that way the arms are identical. If you’ve been following my Instagram… yes we are in another room in my house that has a different stack of books… while we were in the spare room I said, “Ooo, I really want to read that one” more than once.
Next, iron a long piece like you would for a quilt binding. We guesstimated the length needed… basically it was the piece I had and we hoped it would work. I think we did wrap it around Molly’s shoulders and waist to make sure.
While mom ironed the binding, I was sewing the little pieces together. Then she lined up the pattern to make sure the seams would be hidden by where we think the pocket will go (eye balling again, I think its safe to say we didn’t measure anything in this project). She folded the fabric and the pattern again to make sure whatever we did was symmetrical.
After that, Mom ironed the edges of the apron that would not be covered by the binding. (This would be all of the straight pieces because the binding will cover the curved arms). We guesstimated the pocket size (no surprise there) and then I sewed three sides (wrong sides together) than turned the pocket. After that I sewed the edges that mom ironed on the apron. She ironed down the top edge of the pocket (both layers of fabric down). We thought about sewing that part too but decided against it. We also decided against sewing the pocket into divided sections like my DFG apron because this pocket is just for show anyway. If you were making really clothing for people to wear and use you would probably want to do that.
We pinned the pocket down so that it covered the seam and to be sure we didn’t sew it on crocked. Remember this seam is only here because we are using scraps. If you buy fabric that seam is totally unnecessary. The pocket will hide most of the seam and what isn’t hidden by the pocket will be on Molly’s sides and won’t be noticeable later.
After the pocket was sewn onto the apron, we pinned the straps (binding) into place. The straps need to cover the arm holes (remember those aren’t sewn nice) and the rest of the strap needs to be sewn so it stays folded. Pinning her is important here because I am about to sew this as one long strip.
Before you sew, double check that it fits over Molly’s head 😉
This is why pining is important on this step. This will be sewn in one long piece.
Sew binding. If you pinned well, making the curves should not be a problem. Remember to go slow.
I found a travel sewing kit that had scissors just the right size for Molly. When I’m able to get into our church building to get a DFG tag, I plan to sew that on her apron too. But for now, on to the next project. Messy bun and getting things done!
Period Pastor Pad 