Sidetracked

Wonderful Husband, quiet justifiably, pointed out that my American Girl doll stuff that I was storing in the garage was blocking access to the electrical panel.

So I hauled it all into the family room and started sorting.  Some of it is still there, some of it is better organized and back in the garage (and NOT blocking the electrical panel).  And some of it turned into a project.

I have set up on top of the 4x4 Kallax unit that (theoretically) stores most of the boys' toys Courtney's bunk bed (which came out in 2020), with Courtney and a few other dolls hanging out on and around it.  (The box underneath the bed is the remaining Kallax shelf divider, which hasn't yet been used.)

But!  At some point, I had also picked up from a thrift store (for ~$7) the frame for the yellow bunk bed American Girl released in 1995.  Interestingly, the two beds both have metal frames, but they're very different.  Courtney's cannot collapse; it's built as one piece, while the old one is designed to be packed away for storage.  Courtney's is slightly longer, especially once you count that exterior shelf on the right, and while they're the same width, Courtney's bed is significantly taller, with about 4" more headroom on the bottom bunk, allowing it to be used as a socializing space, as shown in the photo above.

Wanting both beds on display, I relocated a couple of the other things (lamp, fire truck) that were on top of the Kallax, set it up on the other side from Courtney's, and started crafting and sewing.  Because what it hadn't come with was any bedding.  Which, honestly, the original AG bedding was black and white prison stripes, so I wasn't in love with it anyway.

The first thing it needed was mattresses.  And I had a 2" chair cushion that had never been taken out of its package.  I cut a 12"x9" rectangle, then glued the leftover pieces together and cut another the same size.  I had some cream and other light-colored bits of fabric courtesy of Lynn in my quilt guild who passes her scraps to me, so I pieced those together to make covers for the very green foam mattresses.  I made a dust ruffle from a bit of muslin and a lacy scrap, then did the math to make fitted sheets for the mattresses, so I can make others to change them out for a different look later if I so desire.

Then I made a couple of pillows (4"x6") for each bed and pillowcase covers for them.  The sheet/pillowcases fabric is very lightweight, like lawn, but given the way it frays, it's definitely not cotton.  Maybe a polyester blend?  And finally I Frankensteined together some batting scraps and made a pair of identical two-sided duvets that fit comfortably over two sleeping dolls.  I've had this Cranston Printworks fabric, with its tiny quilt squares print, in two colorways for a while and am happy to finally get to turn it into bedding.  Hmm.  Maybe matching pillowcases from the duvet fabrics as well...?