When I Sew Slow and When I Sew Fast

When I turn on the sewing machine, I adjust several settings before I sew. 

1. The speed at which I sew is set to medium (half way between fast and slow). 
2. The needle position goes too down.
3. The tie off is shut off. 

These are personal preferences that may not suit you. 

Sew Fast

I don't sew as fast as other people, but I can sew faster than I normally do. When I do sew faster (not all of it is the machine sewing at high speed)? 

• Test sewing a pattern.
• We have a time frame to sew an item in. It means lots of focusing and sewing quickly while reading a pattern and finding any errors. I think it is more stressful than other sewing I do. But, I do enjoy it. 
• An easy pattern that I've sewn 2-3 times before. 
• These are patterns that have simple lines. You could assembly line sew them to get ahead if you were sewing for a craft sale and wanted something that didn't cost a lot to make or sell. I love these patterns if you can do simple hacks to make them look different. 
• Straight sewing. 
• I do speed up on straight edges unless I am top stitching or stitching in the ditch. 
• Great instructions.
• Combine that with easy patterns and I can sew up a pattern quite quickly. 
• Fully prepped.
• Fabric, notions, and trim are ready to begin the project. I usually have it all in a basket and am ready to start. If I have to look for items along the way, it slows me down. 

Sew Slow

I have several reason when I sew slow. Not only is the machine sewing slowly, it means I am working slowly. 

• The pattern is intermediate to advanced in skill level. 
• I slow down and read every step, look at every picture and may do some research. Many of these patterns have a lot of steps in them. Other patterns call for lots of lining.
• I'm changing the pattern up.
• Lots of times I do things differently than the instructions state. I love to hide the waist seam of a dress between the outer and lining fabric. I sew the bodice in a different order than most patterns call for. 
• There is a lot of detail and trim being used.
• When this happens, I often do a lot of hand basting. This helps keep things in place. 
• Hand sewing parts of the outfit.
• This takes time and is slow sewing. I do hand sew the bodice lining to the skirt. There are times I will hand sew lace or trim onto the skirt. Other times, I will hand sew the hem in place.
• I'm not prepared or change things up. 
• There are times I'm missing notions and need to find them. Other times, I change up what fabric or trims I want to use. Show casing along the way slows down the sewing process. 

I like to sew both ways. I choose when I want to sew fast or slow when I am looking at patterns. The choice is mine and I'm happy with the choices I make. 

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

Adapting A Pattern

The girls would like you to know I am not missing. I'm still here but not doing a lot of doll sewing. October became a month of sewing for family in the west. 

I tested this dress pattern for a lady who needed this pattern published. I was the only tester. I had the cotton but not the lace she called for. The question was:

How do I substitute to get a similar look?

The pattern called for a lace not an organza trim. If the lace was gathered, you removed the top piece and pressed out the gathers. You sewed two pieces together to get a wider lace. Then you gathered it. You don't take the gathers out of organza trim in my opinion. You are asking for a disaster. So, I sewed two pieces of gathered trim together and with no further gathering, laid it where it belonged and stitched it down. Worked like a charm. The skirt was to have a wide flat lace on it so I sewed two rows of organza trim onto the skirt to get a bit of a different look. I made it work. 
When I did this process, I took a full 3-4 hours to try it out and work through the process and finally sewing the trim on. It was worth the time as the dress is quite cute. 

I am getting ready to tackle the doll's drawers this month. 
Happy Doll Sewing....................................

How I Practice New Techniques.

When trying something new or learning to a new technique, I usually go back to sewing something simple. I know the way the item is made and I usually choose something with a lot of straight seams. 
Since the doll's drawer mishap, I decided I needed to work on getting a nice 3 thread narrow serger seam finish. I have used the 4 thread and, though it is nice, it is wider than I like on doll clothes. I tried the 3 thread without removing one of the needles and it wasn't working. Lesson #1: remove the needle not being threaded to get the best serged seam finish. Once I did that the finish was what I loved. Well balanced and narrow. It is perfect for doll clothes.
I had a piece of fabric left over from a project that was 9" wide by the width of the fabric. It was perfect for the Four Season's Skirt (and hack) by Oh Sew Kat. There were lots of straight edges to practice on which was one goal. The other was to play with needle placement for top stitching nicely next to the serged edge. 
The skirt went together easily and in good time. From start to finish - 90 minutes. It was a good practice session for what I wanted to do. I could focus on the serger and the top stitching without worrying about curves, linings, etc. 

I plan on knitting a white sweater and hat to go with this skirt. I have all the supplies for that when I have the time to knit it. 
Happy Doll Sewing...............................

Doll Drawer Decision

The dolly drawers have been shelved as I cannot get them historically correct. Take One is not historically correct for a pioneer girl of the 1850's as they did not use French seams. That would be correct for Anne of Green Gables if the setting was in the early 1900's. Then they would need to be shortened. Take One has been retired, Take Two and Three are in the trash. I'm not unhappy with where I got to but had to shelve them due to the stress they were causing me. I was trying to do something to fit into both the early and late Victorian era. 

Decisions

As the stress was making this project an unhappy one, I decided to have a time out. One reason was to do a bit of organization (once again) and the other reason was to decide where I was going. Historically correct or neatly finished. 
Neatly finished won out so I am working on getting a nice 3 thread serger finish for doll clothes. I need to tweak the tension a bit and work on sewing nicer on the curves. 
There will be a bit of practice at the beginning of each sewing session. 
The outfit I am making will be pioneer girl. I will be using Lumineria's pattern "Carrots" as the dress and pinafore style was worn the 1850's. I have Prairie Girl by the same designer and will do the bonnet and drawers from it. I'm set. The goal is to have neatly served seam finishes with a few couture finishes put in where necessary. The size will fit the American Girl dolls. 

The goal for October is to do the drawers neatly. Yes, they have an elastic waist but I'm fine with that. Neat will be trump. 

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

Drawers From Another Era

I stumbled across this picture on Pinterest. I can not find out who made it or who the designer is. I had thought Keepers Dolly Duds, whom I admire, but it isn't in her photos. I would love to give the designer/sewer credit.

The next era I want to sew will between 1910-1920. When I saw these drawers, I knew I would adapt the pattern I have to this style. Research shows the drawers got shorter over the years and they were similar to this. There was a bit on the combination which I am sure this set is. 
In the mean time, I will be focusing on the 1850-90's period and am planning on doing both Anne of Green Gables and Laura Ingalls Wilder as children and as young adults. That should keep me busy for a while. 
Back to Take Two of the 1850-60's drawers that await me in the sewing room. 
Happy Doll Sewing..................

Take One - The Drawers

The first muslin for the drawers was sewn and there were a few issues. Most were operator issues. 

I added 1/4" seams to the the center front and back plus the leg seams. 1/4" french seams are too big for doll's clothing. 

Sewing all the seams but the center back were easy to do. The back created a problem as a fold showed up where it should have been flat. Good or bad? Who knows but I didn't like the look of it. 

The casing at the waist was to be sewn on with it folded in half and a raw edge showing. The raw edge would have to be finished. I put it on like a waist band to hide the raw edge. 

What Will I Do Next? Take Two

• Cut the extra 1/4" seam allowances off the pattern. The french seams will be 1/8" wide rather than 1/4". 
• Start with the back seam rather than the front.
• Do the fold over piece first, then the seam. 
• Do the center front seam next
• Shorten the leg length first by pinning it up and making a decision. 

It would be very easy to go back to just finishing the seams with a zig-zag stitch or on the serger. But, I am to make the under clothes using french seams and working through how to do them with the patterns I have. 

Point of Interest

In researching drawers for children I have looked at a lot of pictures from the 1850's to 1890's. I looked at pictures of Anne of Green Gables movies and no drawers are shown. I'm sure children of that era living in PEI had drawers as the cold north wind blows down onto the province in the winter. I also looked for pictures of Laura Ingalls Wilder and there are none of her as a young child. But I did find a picture of the original cover of "On The Banks Of Plum Creek" and Laura and Mary's drawers are showing as they play in the Plum Creek. I guess these items were not readily displayed as they were known as "unmentionables".

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

The UnMentionables - The Research of Drawers

The time is here to start the pantalettes. I've been doing a lot of research on them while sewing other items on my September Accountability List.

What I Learned

I did a lot of wading through pictures and information and as I went along I found a few things in common. My favorite article is from Kate Tattersall. But I did find a few other tidbits while researching. Most indicate that these undergarments were worn starting in the 1850-60's.

• Pantalettes refers to drawers from a specific time period. Drawers were referred to as underlinens as they were next to the skin to protect the outer garments from the skin and the skin from them.  I will begin referring the pantalettes as drawers.
• Most drawers were made of linen and silk and were hand made for the wealthy ladies. The rest wore cotton which were mass produced thanks to the sewing machine. 
• Flannel may have been used and flannel was usually made of wool for warmth. 
• Drawers started off longer in length and shortened over the years. 
• With the onset of the cage crinoline in the 1850s, it became essential to wear drawers, for warmth and due to the risk of embarrassing accidents. 

In the era I'm sewing for, the 1850's drawers were often two separate legs with a casing a the top. They were tied at the top with a cord of some sort and overlapped for modesty. Over time they were sewn together with a back or side opening. 

My Take

McCalls 7227 OOP

The drawers in this pattern are not quite historically correct. They have a drawstring waist (used in Victorian times) but the legs are too baggy. If you wanted to you could sew up the front seam and leave the back open. At the moment it isn't about being historically correct but being able to adapt a pattern to sew using with french seams. Once I get this in place, I will do these drawers. Start with the easy and move to the more difficult. 
The next post will have the tracing of the pattern pieces and how I adjusted them for sewing french seams. 
Happy Doll Sewing................................