Now that she's 11, Sophie has well and truly grown out of playing with dolls. She does still have the odd Bratz doll sitting on her bedroom shelf because they're "more grown-up" (so she tells me !) and they focus on fashion and make-up more than playing with dolls. But it is still OK, apparently, to play at dressing up dolls if you're actually creating cool fashion for them - which is where Crayola Catwalk Creations comes in. We reviewed a Catwalk Creations craft kit earlier in the year so Sophie excitedly started unpacking this kit to see what would be in it.
For anyone who doesn't know what Crayola Catwalk Creations is all about, the concept is very similar to the Harumika kits (but with a name that is much easier to remember !). You get a plastic stand very similar to a dressmaker's dummy that allows you to create a fab outfit with no sewing involved, you just use double-sided tape to hold it all together.
The House of Fashion kit has another model in it that you can use for creating outfits with trousers, which is rather handy. Why limit yourself to skirts and dresses after all ? (Even if they are easier to create !)
The main idea of this kit is to create a fashion boutique to showcase your designs, rather than just throwing them back in the box when you've finished. You get a very swish looking shop front that you can customise with the ready-made signs and decorations (or you can create your own online on the Crayola Catwalk Creations website and print it out), and you can use the two interchangeable backdrops to feature a summer or winter collection.
The fabrics and embellishments are specially selected to create two distinct seasonal collections, although Sophie went for a totally eclectic mix-and-match collection of clothes ! She also ransacked my patchwork box (which hadn't seen the light of day for many months so I didn't mind) to add different fabrics, colours and textures to her "inspiration box".
I'm ashamed to say, I haven't got a photo of her finished fashion boutique because she kept changing her mind about which outfit to create and, by the time her creative flair had reached its peak, I was tied up cooking dinner and didn't get to take a picture before she had to put it all away ! I'll try to add one next time she gets it all out again though.
We'd already discovered that Crayola Catwalk Creations was a fun way to while away a wet afternoon. The House of Fashion is a fun way of showing off all your hard work and allows younger children to integrate their fashion dolls, making up stories about them going to their very own fashion boutique. Here at The Madhouse, Sophie created the clothes and filled up the racks and Juliette brought along the customers ! It was great to see them playing together in parallel with no squabbling.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £29.99
Disclosure : We received a Crayola Catwalk Creations House of Fashion kit in order to write an honest review.
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This looks so fun! How perfect for a young mind who is interested in fashion.
ReplyDeletethis looks fantastic, one pressie sorted for me now!
ReplyDeleteSounds like they had a lot of fun with it
ReplyDelete