Dollhouse Designs Fiesta Folklorico Skirt

The Hearts for Hearts dolls haven’t had any new clothes in a while.  So first up was Consuelo.  I already had Consuelo a nice rose-colored t-shirt and wanted something to go with it.  In the end I decided on Dollhouse Design’s Fiesta Folklorico pattern.  It gives options for two dress styles, a peasant style blouse and two skirt options.  I decided to go with the long skirt option with ruffle at the bottom.

Next step was finding fabric for Consuelo’s skirt and out of all the fabric at home nothing seemed to work well.  Friday after paying my mortgage and getting a library book, I went fabric shopping for Consuelo’s skirt.  I picked her out a quilting cotton that has a blue schemed floral pattern on it.  It should work well with her pink shoes and rose top.

This is the first Dollhouse Designs pattern I have used.  The PDF was sixty pages.  The instructions were well written and had great pictures.  I didn’t use the instructions much.  Everything seemed pretty intuitive.

The skirt went together very easily.  The most difficult part was gathering the bottom ruffle to fit. My ruffle was longer than suggested.  I probably had a 89 inch ruffle but I wasn’t going to over think where to trim it for an 86 inch ruffle.

The biggest change I made was switching the skirt from Velcro enclosure to an elastic enclosure.  As Consuelo is a 14 inch doll, she has a waist that is almost a quarter of an inch smaller than the Wellie Wishers.  I did baste in the back for a smaller waistline but really thought it was too much of an overlap.  So instead, I cut a 6.5 inch piece of half- inch elastic and threaded it through the waist band and then sewed the back seam at 3/8 inch.  The skirt was a little tight sliding over Consuelo’s hips but otherwise, it fits her perfectly.

 

 

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McCall’s 6654 Skirts

Over the spring, I had a little “knit elastic skirt” project.  Last summer I went to a store and couldn’t find any.  So this year, being proactive, I made about 8 different skirts so I would have plenty for separates over the summer.  First up on the blog is McCall’s 6654 which was the second pattern I tried.

I made two skirts of view F (19 inch length), one skirt in view G (23 inch length) and one skirt in view I (42 inch length).  All skirts are from ITY knit.  I did a larger hem allowance at 1.25 inches for 3 out of the 4 skirts.  I also used size 16 for all of them.  Only the maxi skirt had any major pattern alterations.

First up the View F.  I made two version of this view.  The first was from the black patterned ITY.  I used the 1.25 inches for the hem so it was above knee-length.  As it was the first, I also had doubts so I took in the side seams some which I shouldn’t have done.

The second View F (skirt 3 from pattern) is from a brushed sueded ITY knit.  This fabric did not like heat at all.  I burnt it with the iron which was set under 4 (just on the steam side).  Because of that, I did a double folded narrow hem that I would not need to take the iron to.  It is serged then rolled twice.  Otherwise there were no pattern alterations.

View G was the second version of the pattern completed.  This time the only change made was to use the 1.25 inch hem.  Everything else was according to pattern.

Last skirt completed was View I (the maxi skirt).  I knew immediately that 42 inches long was too much.  I had my dad check the length I needed with a tape measure.  It came to 36 inches.  I ended up using 37 inches.  I figured I would rather have the pattern piece too long instead of not long enough and I used a deeper hem (the 1.25 inches like previous versions).  I started at the lengthen and shorten line and marked off every three inches 4 more times.  At each line I took out an inch of length then blended the side seam from top to end of adjustments.

I really like this pattern (I guess making it 4 times proves it).  It was extremely versatile and allowed me to try out a midi length also.  The pattern is extremely easy to sew together and would make a perfect beginner project.  I think all total each version was probably about 4 hours from cutting to finished.  It took two evenings to complete just because I don’t like fighting elastic late at night.  It always seems to twist.

It is also fairly easy to modify.  I made my mom one for mother’s day and at the side seams to fit her.  But she doesn’t like having her items posted to the blog.

 

 

 

Draped Doll Cardigan

After changing my mind several times about what to make Grace for her new outfit, I went with Suzy M Studios’ draped cardigan, Liberty Jane baseball tee, and the Liberty Jane jeans I had previously made.  This is the first time I have used any of Suzy M Studio’s patterns.

As a quick over-view, I used a cotton slubbed jersey for the baseball tee.

The draped cardigan is rated as easy.  As long as you are comfortable with light weight knit fabric, I would say that is fairly accurate.  I really only checked the directions to see information about hemming.  But you do need to keep in mind that light weight knits can be shifty.

I used a rayon jersey for my version.  So it was definitely shifty when I was trying to hem.

I like that the instructions gave details about how to make it in a stripe fabric also.  I would like to make a stripe one eventually.

 

 

Kirsten’s Prairie Ensemble- Keeper Dolly Duds 3

It was Kirsten’s turn for a new outfit.  I have had this Keeper Dolly Duds’ “Prairie Ruffle” for a little while and went with that for her.

Both the dress and the apron are from quilting cotton.

Prairie Ruffle was listed as easy.  I think that is appropriate for the dress.  I really only looked at the directions for the collar of the dress and for the ruffle on the sleeve.  But the apron while it wasn’t hard was definitely tricky when trying to imagine how the pieces go together.  I used the instructions for the entire apron.  I didn’t quite understand how the bottom corners at the hem were constructed either.

It isn’t something I usually do with doll clothes, but I would definitely recommend stay stitching the neck line for the apron.  It is such a wide open neckline that the stay stitching should help it from stretching out until you finish it with the ruffle and bias binding.

As always, I didn’t want to make the buttonholes so the back closes with hook and loop fastener.  I probably need to add another row of hook and loop fastener on the apron as the back is loose.

This is another personal preference but I didn’t want as long of a button placket down the apron.  I kept all the buttons up on the bodice of the apron so I didn’t mess with the gathering of the apron skirt.

Ethel the Kiwi

As I was ordering Edward’s Menagerie Dogs book, I realized I never made anything from the Birds book.  Thus the next crochet project was a bird.

Ethel the Kiwi is a level one.  I picked out this one since it was simple and the embellishments of loop chains is easy and similar to the sheep I previously made.  Like before, I used a size H crochet hook and Red Heart yarn for my bird.

 

The birds are definitely more tricky than the original menagerie.  The legs are very challenging.  I had never had to split a round before and that is the method used to make the toes.  Also, the thin 6 stitch sections made it hard to stuff the knee of the birds.

The body and head are constructed as a single piece.  I was afraid of over stuffing my kiwi that before I was doing the loop chains, I went back and added stuffing to it.  It is possible after the piece is closed up.  I used a pencil eraser and small amounts of stuffing and pushed it through the stitches up near the neck of the bird. That was where the lack of stuffing was the most noticeable.

I think I prefer the original menagerie over the birds and am not sure if I will make another bird.

Right now, I am working on several skirts and finishing up a new outfit for Kirsten.  With nicer weather coming soon (hopefully), I should be able to get a few projects that are lacking pictures taken to share on the blog.

Learning From History Up date

The posts for “Learning From History” sort of got side-lined when life just got too busy to type up a post and learn.

The closet did get sorted and organized.  Everything seems to be working well.  I just need to get a couple more containers for items.

For moth control, there is a combination of lavender and cedar.  In fact, my dad noticed some of his wool dress pants had holes in them (probably from moths) so they joined in with my “moth control” kick.  As of now, there is grated lavender soap (a suggestion I found on the Olive + S blog), a solid lavender air freshener, cedar blocks and an open box of bounce.  I haven’t noticed any problems with my closet.

As for mending, the darning mushroom won out over the darning egg.  I am still not the best but I at least am putting forth effort to try.

As to mending, Closet Case Patterns has a couple of blog post on mending.

Invisible Mending on Sewing Machine

Visible Mending (Sashiko)

More Heritage Doll Clothes

So this time around, I pulled out Joan Hind’s “Heritage Doll Clothes” book to make the dropped waist dress for a Rebecca doll some little girl got for Christmas.  The designs for the early turn of the century are just so pretty.  I don’t know any of the little girl’s likes or dislikes so hopefully a purple and white dress will be well received.

I will have to admit this was one of those dresses I really didn’t like putting together but look so good when it is done.  I know I will suffer again when I go and make one for my own dolls.

Compared to the other dresses from the book I completed, there may be something just tiny bit off.  The pieces didn’t line up as easily as the other patterns did.

The sleeve cuff was labeled as 5 inches long.  I had to slightly gather the bottom of my sleeve so that it would fit the 5 inch width.  When I make it again, I will have the cuff a little longer so that they match the bottom of the sleeve.  Also my sleeve took some wiggling to get Rebecca’s had through the opening.

I don’t remember seeing it in the directions, but I trimmed the ends of my yoke seams so that it was easier to put in my sleeve.  On my dress, the corners of this seam were very obvious and would have made it harder for me to put in a sleeve.

I didn’t see any marks on the pattern showing where the belt should go.  I probably put this a little low for the doll.  But I did change the look of the belt with using a cross over and a single focal point button.  (Thank you Melody for the button.)

I used the instructions provided in the book to make the yoke piping.