Or should it be “Third Childhood”?

I was going to name this post “Second Childhood, Part 2”, but then I realized I’ve already written that one! So what else makes someone decide they really need a little animal family to make clothes for? I guess it’s Second Childhood, Part 3!After a friend whose daughter has the “Calico Critters” dolls told me you could get these at Target, it wasn’t long before the Cottonball Rabbit Family was its way to its new home. It turns out that “Lil Woodzeez” are a cheaper version of “Calico Critters”, aka “Sylvanian Families” (just so you know I did my research). But I still think they are super cute.Yay! One more thing on the sewing table! Can you tell the rabbits were excited to get out of their box and have new clothes?Okay guys, this won’t hurt a bit!I soon realized that getting these rabbits out of the box was not going to be an easy task.Whoever packs these things should receive an award!Even my trusty assistant was mystified.When I finally got the grandpa rabbit out, to my dismay he still had plastic around him! It took another few minutes to get it off. Grandpa Rabbit was happy to be free.“Glory, hallelujah, I’ve been set free, pardon me a moment while I have a jubilee!”It took awhile to get all of them out of the package, because each one was just as securely attached with plastic bands as the grandpa had been. (Gotta love the kitty feet and whiskers in the background!)Grandma Rabbit’s outfit seriously had to go. She looks much better in her new felt and ruffle dress with Velcro in the back. I do wish I could get the glasses off, because that pink isn’t going to go with everything, but they seem to be permanently attached. I took the mom rabbit’s dress apart to make the pattern for this. Not unlike the troll clothes of my youth! (See “Under the Bridge” if you want to see how troll dolls dressed in the 1960s.)Don’t they look better now?

The baby clothes proved a little more difficult. I couldn’t believe that the little diapers they came with actually had real Velcro closures! No way was I going to sew Velcro on something that small, so at the moment the baby boy’s church outfit is held together in the back with a safety pin and a straight pin.

The baby girl’s outfit was easier because I just had to make arm holes in some lace and tie a ribbon around it. Her “slip” is also made of a piece of ribbon.It’s not like I have a shortage of materials to work with! So, I had to experiment with a few more outfits.

I really like the way the pattern on this eyelet forms a nice design on the front of the dress.Felt is good for stuff like this because you don’t have to worry about the edges fraying. After a bit of trial and error, Grandma even got a hat.Grandpa goes for a more casual look.So far the dad and the little boy rabbit still need their new outfits. But the Rabbit Family’s wardrobe is progressing nicely. What am I going to do with them now? Take pictures and write blog posts about them! What else?

In case you were wondering about the little house, I made it for my granddaughter when she was around eight years old. It has always been kept here, and I had made a little family of stuffed mice to go with it. I was thinking it would be perfect for the rabbit family, but someone had other ideas! Foster thinking about joining the “tiny house” craze!