Samantha’s Sailor dress

 

Samantha’s turn for a new outfit.  Back to my faithful Joan Hinds’ “Heritage Doll Clothes” book.  I used quilting cotton I had at home for her entire outfit.  As before, the instructions in the book are excellent.  The pattern went together easily.  The only piece I re-did was placing the collar so it was more even.

 

 

 

I did not use the suggested ribbon for the neckline area.  I did a bias strip of fabric.  I used a 1″ thick bias strip then folded it in half a couple times.  As for the blue “belt”, that I ended up hand stitching at the top so it would lay better on the dress.

The collar tie is also the same quilting cotton.  I just had to make the fabric tube then experiment until I got a reasonable length.

 

 

Saturn Connections

I was looking for a project that would use beads that I had in my stash already.  This is the Saturn Connections from April 2017 issue of Beadwork Magazine.

After looking at a lot of choices, I decided to go with the silver grey beads, rose gold beads and the pink seed beads.

The links are made from herringbone stitch and ladder stitch.  I didn’t find any trouble with following the directions.

The one recommendation for anyone doing this project is to add a little length.  The length given is about 7inches.  It does fit, but I do like my bracelets a little bit looser.  This one is about a half inch wide so that is pretty substantial.  I find the thicker the bracelet, the more snug it feels on my wrist even if it is 7 inches.  My wrist is about 6.5 inches around.

Rebecca’s New Outfit- Pemberley Threads Anne

I had seen Pemberley Threads mentioned in the No Drama Doll Sewing Group on Facebook.  Pemberley Threads has what I love which is historical clothes for dolls.  So I chose out Anne as my one pattern to buy and try out.  Rebecca got to be the model.

I started with the skirt.  It is made from the rayon/ poly linen look fabric.  The skirt was easy to sew and went together without any problems.  I used the three thread overlock to finish the skirt seams.

Intermediate is probably an accurate description for the shirtwaist.  The shirtwaist did take twice as much time to make as the skirt.  I made version A of the pattern.

For it I used a quilting cotton.  The pattern does call for a bit of lace.  As I was using what I had at home, I did reduce the amount of lace to just the yoke trim.  I didn’t add the 4 half inch pieces to the yoke.

I found the gathering on the bodice to be the trickiest part.  I followed the recommendation in the pattern of tying a knot at the beginning of the gathers.  That did secure that end easily enough.  But the other side seemed to slip out of my pins as I was stitching the twill tape down.

Market Bag

I loved reading Barbara Pym’s “Excellent Women”.  When I seen this market bag. I thought immediately of Mildred and her string bag.

I followed the tutorial on By Hand London’s website.  It doesn’t give an overall size or a gauge so this probably isn’t very beginner friendly.  I used a size H hook (5mm).  In hindsight, I probably should have sized down to the G hook (4mm).

The tutorial uses up-cycled denim yarn.  I used Lion Brand Re-Up cotton which will probably have more stretch than the tutorial’s denim.

I didn’t like how you did the handles.  If I make it again, I may make them separately then crochet them on to the bag.  I used 5 rows on the handles to have something a bit more substantial.

3 books inside the bag

The double crochet row up at the top seemed too thin.

The pattern yields a large string bag with decent size interior.  But in the end, I just don’t love this bag and will probably take it apart to use the yarn for something else.  This is definitely more for an experienced crocheter who is able to adapt patterns to their needs.

 

McCall’s 6963

This McCall’s pattern has become a fast favorite.  As of right now, I have a dress, 5 sleeveless tops, and one long sleeve top from it.  I definitely have improved on the back neck finishing since I started using this pattern in October 2018.

Here is what I had originally written in October 2018:

I traced out a straight size 16 but I blended the view A cowl with view C cowl.  I was trying to raise the cowl from being too low.  I didn’t really succeed.  The cowl is still low but blending the 2 cowls together I think gave me a fuller cowl.  The fuller cowl does cover the top more but it is still a low cowl but wearable for me.

The size 16 was fairly close to the size I needed for my waist.  I ended up using quarter inch seam allowance for the side seams just so it wasn’t super skin tight.

I used some of the magenta ITY I had in my stash.  It does drape well for this top.  I used an overlock stitch from my sewing machine just to finish off the cowl edge.

Really the only trouble I had in making my version was the back of neck facing.  There are ripples in along the seam line.  I used clear elastic to stabilize the section instead of twill tape so that maybe the reason.  But otherwise, the top was easy to put together.

I took about 2 inches off the bottom and took about an inch and half hem.

The pink long sleeve top was probably made in March and was a straight trial of view D.  I remember I had to shorten the sleeves.  I may go back and slim the sleeve down some too so it is more wearable.

I completed the dress in June 2019.  It is view C in size 16.  I lengthened the top by 9 inches.  I had to shorten the sleeves by 2 inches and take a 2 inch hem on them.  Plus on the sleeves, I had to taper in the sleeve from the bottom to about the elbow so that the sleeves were slim.

The main goal was to get a sleeveless cowl neck top that I like.  So I traced out view C/D (the higher cowl neck) and did the adjustments to the arm scythe.  I raised it a quarter inch in the bottom and moved the shoulder in a quarter inch.  I did end up removing the quarter inch I raised the under arm area.

 

 

 

Rahel’s maxi skirt

Doll clothes are so much faster to get on the blog.  I do have a couple of items for myself but still need to get some more pictures done.  I really wanted to use the stripe t-shirt to make a maxi skirt for my Hearts for Hearts dolls.  As for patterns, my first thought was Liberty Jane’s mitered maxi but it didn’t come in the 14 inch size.  I did have the mitered maxi in the 18 inch doll size, so I turned to what I learned at Wren Feathers to size the pattern down for my Hearts for Hearts dolls.  I printed the pattern at 77% and checked to see if there was enough width in the waist to fit my doll and seam allowances.

I measured a total length of 9 inches for the waist, so there was enough for my doll and seam allowances.  I used a calculator to figure my waistband measurements.  Then I held the pattern piece up to my doll to make sure the pattern was long enough.  After all the preliminary checks were completed, then I cut out the skirt.

I made the entire skirt on my sewing machine.  I finished the inside seams with a zig-zag stitch.  The hem was basted then turned up and zig zag stitched down.

I used a piece of half inch elastic in the waistband.  It was 7 inches long.

Dell’s Cardigan- My AG Doll Creations “Karina’s Cozy Sweater”

Christmas I received a book on knitting stuffed animals but the biggest problem is that I couldn’t knit.  After a couple of Bluprint classes and a knitting session at sewing group lunch, I have actually been able to make a few items.  The first was a couple of doll scarves.  Then there was a hat for my dad so I could practice decreases.  Next was to learn increases.  I wanted a simple doll shawl but couldn’t find a pattern.  So in the end I decided on My AG Doll Creations’ “Karina’s Cozy Sweater” as it was described for confident beginner to intermediate.  It seemed like I could possibly make it.

The sweater is knitted from the top down.  Then the sleeves are finished.  After the sleeves, the body of the cardigan is joined so that you don’t have to sew the side seams.

I used Rooster Almerino DK in damson with number 6 Clover bamboo needles.  I think the yarn sort of hides the lace pattern you make.  The cardigan included knitting in front and back loop increases, yarn over increases, slip knit decreases and knit two together decrease.  The project was challenging as it was the 4th project completed.  

I didn’t include the buttons as I didn’t have anything that would work at home.