As we were heading to her daughter’s birthday party the following week, I was asking my friend Lisa what her daughter is into right now.

“Barbies.”

Lisa is a Matilda Jane Clothing Trunkkeeper, so when she said she had an old holey MJC dress that I could use, I knew a perfect gift for her little girl, Corinne!

I ordered a Barbie Stacie doll (that’s Barbie’s tween sister) from Amazon, and set about designing a cute MJC outfit for her!

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t give me pause to think about cutting into this cute little designer dress, but I took a deep breath and plunged in!

I decided to use the pocket as a top, with the trim on the pocket becoming the top of Stacie’s tunic/dress. I cut off both straps and used them to create a halter neckline in front. The ruffled neckline became a ruffle on the bottom of the dress/tunic. And the bodice material became pants.

I think this is the tiniest ruffle I’ve ever pinned.

Originally, my plan was to tie in a bow behind the neck, but it was too bulky on Stacie’s little frame, so I cut two small slits in the back of the dress and slipped the straps through to make the top a tie-back.

Of course, once the outfit was done, it needed one last touch: tags! I scanned in the original dress’s tag, then shrunk it way down and printed it out on iron-on transfer paper.

These tags totally make the outfit for me!

This is the “Yay, it worked!” moment!

The simple pants construction is the same as in my upcycled t-shirt  pants tutorial, only on a mini scale. I used Stacie’s original shorts as a size template to cut the pants.

Now the Matilda Jane girl has a Matilda Jane doll! Yay!

So back in her box she went, all ready for the birthday girl!

I tucked Stacie’s original outfit into a little baggie in the box too, just in case she needs a change of clothes!

And I wanted another “one last touch,” so I scanned in the dress fabric and printed out a section of it onto textured cardstock. A little scissor trim later, and voila, instant matching stationery!

This is probably one of my favorite gift projects ever. I hope Corinne (and her mama) love it!

We had a great time at the party celebrating the bday girl!

And a good time was had by all!

Craftiness? Upcycling? Gift-giving? Ruffles? This project practically had it all for me! Wheee!