A New Basic Dress

 I finished with the gingerbread fabric and there was just enough fabric left over to make 2 potholders. 

It was time to make a doll's dress to go with a sweater and hat I made. The sweater has pinks, yellow, aqua, and white in it so I chose a polka dot fabric from the doll's stash. It is white with tiny aqua dots on it. I bought it 5 years ago when I put it on clearance for around $5.00/meter. It is a nice full bodied cotton and perfect for Keepers Dolly Duds' Church Bazaar dress. 

The dress is a lovely basic pattern that has a lined sleeveless bodice and a skirt that has 2 pleats in the front and is lightly gathered. 

I was able to get the skirt and bodice ready to sew together which was a feat unto itself. The Spousal Unit wanted to finish his puzzle and I was voluntold to help. Thank goodness the pattern has basic sewing techniques. 

I put the sweater set beside the dress and I feel it is perfection. 

Perfect for a church bazaar. I'll show it on the model when it's done. 

Happy Doll Sewing...................................................

Boardwalk Boutique Apron Hack

 The apron is done and is cute. 

I did the adjustments to the pattern piece as per the instructions. I didn't shorten it as much as called for and if I make it again I would cut the pattern off for the ruffle length. The top of the apron has a upward curve to it and I would be inclined to make it straight across.

I made my own bias binding for a custom look. I used this bias maker from Clover. The bias in the picture is the width before folding it over. It was a perfect width for the apron.

I followed the instructions after I made the error of adding some horrid trim to the bottom of the apron. I picked it out and started again. 

I took my time attaching the binding. I sewed it on to the back side of the fabric and folded it over to the right side before stitching it down. Top, sides, and then the ties. I sewed on the lace last. 

It is cute but needs to be worn with leggings and a t-shirt. It is modern not historical. 

This apron is for the little girl I sew for dolls. I'm sure her dolls will enjoy wearing it this coming Christmas if she bakes with her Nan. 

Happy Doll Sewing...........................................................

Pattern Hack (Once Again)

 In February I made historical bloomers using Oh Sew Kat's Boardwalk Boutique pattern. This month I made the pattern as shown in one of the ways it can be made as sold. 

This extremely cute well fitting pattern brought about some discussion on making the top into a dress. That lead me to look at Oh Sew Kat's hacks. There are 10 of them for this pattern and you can find them part way down the page. The hacks make this a very versatile pattern. 

One of the hacks I am taken with is the apron. I have fabric left over from this month's quilting project and will make it. But, I looked at another hack and there are the cutest Christmas outfits using the pattern. I see the gingerbread outfit in the making later on as I need to get the fabric for it. I also see making the ruffled halter dress as I have lots of fabric that needs sewing up.

Once again, I really enjoyed sewing this pattern and looking at future ideas. It is great to see how this designer works with her patterns and shares her ideas. And I enjoy sewing them between more difficult historical patterns which I also enjoy making. I call this balancing my sewing. 

Happy Doll Sewing.......................................................

Historical Bloomers For The Dolls

Drawers, pantalettes or bloomers. They are a necessity for dolls to have under their historical dresses. Back in November 2019, I set out to find a pattern that I really liked for the dolls. What a search.

I sewed up 2 patterns and wasn't happy with both of them. I kept 1 set of bloomers to use on the skinnier American Girl dolls. They do not fit the fatter dolls well as they are tight. (I am going to enlarge the pattern to 103%)

 These are fairly historically correct which is nice but my question over the past 2 years has been "Do they need to be historically correct?" Yes, if you are selling historical clothing, no if they are for my dolls. 

I set aside making bloomers for the dolls for all of 2020 and 2021. I wasn't consciously thinking about them though I was keeping my eye out for what others were making. Nothing came up on the radar until Jan. 2, 2022.

I looked at Oh Sew Kat's blog and there was a post about a hack for bloomers to wear under historical outfits. The pattern she uses is the Boardwalk Boutique which is modern. I carefully read the information and put it aside with a note in my book to look at it again in February, which I did. I was ready. 

I knew I had some fine light weight linen for the bloomers and I found about 25-26" of eyelet lace in the lace trims bin. I had purchased the pattern on sale to make the bloomers plus the top and pants.

I spent a day having fun making these bloomers. I followed the hack, drew lines to help me out for cutting out the bloomers the correct length. I did serge all the seams which is not historical. When I tried them on the chunky doll, they fit her perfectly. 

Even the back fits perfectly. 

I did a couple of things when doing the bloomers.

* I cut the eyelet trim back so it was 1/2" from the top of the last eyelet. I didn't want excess fabric that had no eyelet on it.

* When I went to trim the excess eyelet after sewing it onto the bottom of each leg piece, I laid the pattern back on and cut according to the pattern lines.

I need to find more fabric and eyelet trim to make more bloomers.

Remember Oh Sew Kat's patterns come in 4 different sizes. 

Happy Doll Sewing..............................................................................

Bella Blouse

I've wanted to sew this blouse pattern for a long time. It has been almost 2 years since I first saw it as a test pattern. I didn't test it as I was in the midst of another test pattern. 

When I was making the Spousal Unit a shirt in June, I fussy cut out the pattern. It sat around waiting to be made. I finally had time at the end of August. 

I am so happy I took the time to fussy cut this blouse as I could line up not only the side seams but the darts and tucks. I had a great time making sure it was done perfectly. 

The pattern went together really well and fit the doll well.

I didn't rush the process as I wanted to make sure the lines matched perfectly. 

I am pleased with the results and will make this blouse again. I do love patterns that are well drafted. Fussy cutting makes them look high end. 

Something I learned when sewing on the snaps. I used 2 snaps by Dritz and 1 by Prym. While sewing on the Dritz snaps, the waxed thread broke very easily due to sharp edges in the holes. That didn't happen with the Prym snaps. I'll be using Prym snaps only once the Dritz snaps are used up.  

Happy Doll Sewing.....................................................

Fussy Cutting Project Completed

 The jacket is done and was worth all the time spent fussy cutting it out. 

There is a wow factor to this jacket with the placement of the rose on the back. 

I am not sure if I should have put the big flowers on the sleeves but they do not detract from the overall look. In actual fact, the chosen fabrics play well together (they were part of collection). The only piece that doesn't play well is the tote. Though the stripe is part of the collection, the colors do not match up with the print.

It matches as I chose thread colors that go with the jacket. It helps detract from the stripe. 

I hope to make this jacket again. Rather than fabric for the  ruffles and peplum, I want to use gathered lace trim. I have some chambray fabric left from the wardrobe I'm making and may do the cross hatch embroidery on the sleeves. I am still in the planning stage and need to spend some time thinking how it will work. 

The test group has decided to rotate people out of the group to allow new testers to bring their take on patterns to the plate. I asked to be rotated out in the first group and was denied. I hope they rotate me out soon or I will be asking to leave once again. 

Happy Doll Sewing.......................................................

Thinking About Testing and Fussy Cutting

 I am not missing but have been thinking a lot lately about sewing. I looked at my focus for the year, "sewing what I have". That had me looking at pattern testing. It is the one area that sends me buying fabric as I say I don't have the right fabric. That ends up getting costly and the stash does not decrease. All we get out of pattern testing is the pattern.

I am coming to the end of testing for designers. July was a month of having to test a pattern I didn't want to do. Feed back was horrid and I almost cried for all of the people who took the time to test. This is the point that I realized I was coming to the end of testing. The second pattern was one I wanted to test and it helped calm me down but it didn't change my mind.

A pattern came out that looked interesting and I do like the designer. I thought on it for a couple days, hunting through the stash. I decided I would make it out of fat quarter remnants that just wasn't singing to me until this pattern. It was a 2.5 hour fussy cut job.

I enjoy fussy cutting but have never done a whole pattern. It was an experience that was rewarding. I did use coordinating fabric and decided the look was going to be shabby chic. My process was probably not traditional as I started off with fussy cutting the sleeves which were the largest pieces. 

Once I got them done, I focused on the body pieces making sure I had some flower showing on each piece. The back has a large rose on it. The sides had roses on them also using a different fabric.

On the fronts, I made sure I had rose buds showing along with roses on the side pieces. 

The peplum pieces are not cut but are ready to be done. The upper peplum will be in the green and the under piece in the side fabric. I'm running short of fabric. 

It has been well worth the time fussy cutting this pattern. I have the body done ready for the sleeves. 

So far the fabric is playing nicely together and no one piece is over powering the rest. Hopefully it remains like that when the sleeves are set in. 

I will fussy cut again as this test has given me the confidence to it and to do it on almost all pieces of the pattern. It has given me a new outlook on large prints for doll clothes. 

On a note, this is the only pattern I will test this month. It is one of my decisions. 

Do you fussy cut to get a specific look?

Happy Doll Sewing....................................................