Modifying American Girl Pets - Removing the plastic innards

We are into the 18" dolls at our house. I came across a fun find at a thrift store: an American Girl dog. The American Girl pets are super cute but they are very stiff; they have a hard plastic, poseable body instead of being soft. I looked inside and it turned out the dog could easily be modified to be soft and snuggly instead of hard. (I followed the same procedure on an American Girl cat and it also worked).

 He's super cute. Here he is before:

 First I split the back seam, from his head to his tail.

 Here is what it looks like inside:

The face of the pet was stuck into the plastic lining where the eyes are attached. I removed the screw:

 And pulled out the hard plastic innards.

 I pried the head open to release the face.

 The eyes and this little "mask" are left attached to the dog.

 Then he was just an empty skin. I stuffed him full of Poly-fil.

So he was nice and full:

 And stitched him back together. I just stitched from side to side along the back:

 And pulled the thread tight as I went:

 And here he is! Adorable AND soft.

Shirt Pillow - Upcycled Shirt Tutorial

My son, Dodge, loves sharks. He has a favorite shark shirt. He has outgrown it but he could not bear to give it away. Instead, we decided to make it into a pillow for his bed.

This is a fun project for lots of reasons. It reuses something you no longer need, it is super simple (just cutting, measuring, and sewing 4 straight seams), the buttons are used for the opening so you don't need to put in a zipper or buttons or Velcro, and the pocket from the shirt ends up on the pillow so you can use it.

Here's how you do it:

Difficulty: 🎔

Cost: 🎔

Materials needed:

Button-up shirt

Pillow form (or an old pillow you want to re-cover)

Thread

Use a button up shirt (with a pocket is the best), like this:

Start by making sure your pillow will fit on the shirt. It should fit between where the sleeves start and under the collar since this is where there aren't any curves in the shirt. You could also tuck the pillow into the shirt and do a test fit.

Now cut your shirt apart so you have flat pieces to work with. Cut off the sleeves and cut up the side seam. You will end up with the front, the back, and two sleeves, like this:

Now, measure your pillow. Measure from seam to seam each direction.

My pillow is 12" by 14".

Now add 1/2" inch to each of those measurements for the seam allowance. This means mine needs to be cut 12 1/2" by 14 1/2".

Start with the back of the shirt/pillow. Mark you cut lines on your fabric. I used chalk but you could use a pencil or a pen.

Cut on your lines. (You could use a rotary cutter if you have one; I did).

Now lay your back piece over the front piece. Fold it in half, and center it so the fold is in the middle of the buttons. This will make it so the buttons will be centered on your pillow. Make sure your pocket isn't going to be too high.

Here is a close up of the fold centered on the buttons:

 Now unfold it and trace around it.

 And cut it out. Now you have your front and back:

 Pin the front to the back, right sides together.

Stitch around the entire perimeter, using a 1/4" seam allowance. You don't need to leave an opening to turn it.

Pivot on the corners.

 It will look like this:

Now remove the pins and unbutton it.

Turn it right side out.

 Now press it. See what a difference the pressing makes? Here it is before pressing:

 And here it is after pressing it. It's worth it. Trust me.

 Now put your pillow form inside it and button it up:

You're done! It's a super cute pillow, a fun project, and a thoughtful way to reuse a favorite shirt.