May Sewing

Since the end of the month is nearly here I think it is time to do my monthly sewing update. I hope you enjoy these posts. My goal is to show you not only what I am making but maybe point out a few patterns you may not have been aware of. I also try to let you know about any problems I had with the patterns I made so hopefully you can learn from them.

The first sewing I got done this month were my outfits for the Sew Along for my online doll sewing group. The challenge this month was a specific pattern, this time we made up The “Bonjour Paris Mini Wardrobe” (#1033) from Lee & Pearl (here is a link to their site). The best thing about this pattern is it is the pattern that they are giving away to newsletter subscribers this year. So if you haven't subscribed to their newsletter now is the perfect time so you can get this cute pattern too. They also give lots of hints, and some free projects from time to time in the newsletter too, as well as a head's up on their newest designs.

This pattern will make a top, a dress, shorts (with or without cuffs) and a really cute apron. For the sew along we were tasked with making the top and the shorts with the cuffs. I loved this pattern from the minute I first saw it and it had been laying on my sewing table just waiting for me to get the time to sew it up.

For the sew along I decided I wanted to make two of the outfits one for Allison and one for Chelsea. I had originally planned to just use fabric from my stash but I knew I had limited time on the weekend I was going to have time to sew so I decided to shop for some new fabrics specially for the sew along. I found a really cute little pink with butterflies on it. Since the pattern has a French theme and when I think of French things I immediately think of my late little dog who was a Papillon- (Papillon is French for butterfly) so that was a must. I also found a really pretty small scale purple print for the other top. I then picked out some plain colored cottons to go with each of the prints. Since I have always been a clutz I never wear shorts or pants that are light colors and I never think of them for the dolls either. I found some nice dark pink and dark purple fabrics for those shorts, I used these same fabrics for the collars on the tops.

I got the fabrics ready to sew and cut out that same afternoon. I had set aside all day Saturday and most of Sunday to do some sewing so I was all set.

I did rediscover how much I hate pleats because the top has several. LOL It is a good thing I was home alone all weekend because I had some not very nice things to say to my project along the way. In the end it was all worth it because the tops are simply adorable! I did have to walk away a couple of times and I have to say that is my best advice when you start to get frustrated with any project. Just walk away for a little while!

I did cheat a small bit and did all my sewing with white thread, I really wanted to work assembly line style with these. I think they look good with the white and the only place I am not as happy as I could be is in a few spots of my top-stitching. I did do a bit of wandering for some reason on the shorts. On a real pair of shorts it wouldn't even show but on the doll size it bugs me a bit. I think I need to practice that a bit more with this relatively new sewing machine. I really haven't done a lot of top-stitching since I got it and it shows. I even thought about digging out my old machine just for the top-stitching but figured it wasn't worth the effort.

My next sewing project for the month of May was the new Lace Overlay Tank pattern from Liberty Jane (here's a link to the pattern in case you want to see it)

I fell in love with this pattern the moment I saw it. I love the idea of mixing up shorts and a tank top with a bit of lace for summer. The mix is a bit unexpected but fun. It is like something either my daughter or I might wear in real life.

Anyway although I always have a bunch of fabric on hand for tank tops and t-shirts I didn't have any lace I wanted to use. This meant only one thing I had to go fabric shopping! Right????

The Joann's that I normally shop at was in the middle of a re-model the day I went to look for lace. This meant I had to wander a while before I found where they had moved the lace to. I admit when I walked in the door I started to walk to where it used to be then I remembered that polymer clay was in that spot the last time I was there. So with a bit of wandering I found the right area. I walked down the aisle looking at all the possibilities and nothing really grabbed me. Then I noticed a bit of dark purple peeking out from behind another bolt. I moved things around so I could see it and found the most wonderful piece of lace. It is kind of ombre colored going from white to dark purple. I love it! And although the stripes of color are a bit wide to get the full effect on the tank it is still really cool. I cut the fabric so that the shoulder area is white and it gradually goes to dark purple at the hem area.

I know in the photo the back looks like it is pulling weird, it doesn't in real life. I should have checked that closer before I took the picture. That's what happens when I get in a hurry. I wish I had time to take the photo over.

The third sewing project this month was part of a rather large project I have been working on for a while now. Now that I have the dress finished that project was ready to roll forward and was the subject of a couple of blog posts this month. Here let's talk about the dress. I had a photo of my grandmother in a wonderful white dress that I wanted to replicate in feeling if not an exact copy. Since part of this project was to age the dress and for the most part “ruin” it I really didn't want to spend a lot of time on the construction. In other words it didn't have to be perfect to fit the story line. The dress as I made it was only for one photo. I didn't have a pattern that really was the same as the dress but by combining parts of several dresses I was able to get the basics down. I used patterns from Joan Hind's book “Home Decor for 18-inch Dolls” which I am sure has been out of print for a long time. I used the bodice from one dress, the skirt from another and the sleeves from the nightgown. I then shortened the skirt and added a ruffle with lace trim at the bottom. For the lovely square shaped part that overlays the bodice I tried a couple of things before I got the fabric to lay the way I wanted to. In the end I used the neckline and shoulder seams from the dress, then decided how wide and long it needed to be and drew the pattern from there. I was really torn about adding the insertion lace trim in addition to the lace I added to the hem. I really wanted to do it for the way it would look but at the same time I knew it would be a lot of work and I was not sure about finding lace that would work. I decided to put that decision off until after I made a cross necklace to go with the dress. In the end I had to skip the insertion lace because the store didn't have a single piece of lace that would have worked. I am happy with it the way it is and that is what is important. Right? 

Next I needed to come up with shoes. My grandmother had worn a pair of those high top lace up boots that ladies used to wear. The closest I could come up with were the Liberty Jane Combat Boots (link here) I have had this pattern since it was first released and had never gotten around to making them. I had pulled it out a couple of times but always ended up putting it away. The boots turned out a bit “baggy?” looking but they are still cute. I am not sure if that is because the black faux leather I chose is too thin or what.

The next project I worked on was the new Beach Chair (also from Liberty Jane- link here) I had been thinking about how to make a very similar chair for a while but had never gotten around to figuring it out. I was so happy the week that this pattern was offered for part of the Freebie Friday. I do love to work with PVC pipe.

I constructed my chair from the regular plumbing pipe from Home Depot. The only problem I had with the frame itself was that I tried to spray paint over the printing on the pipe. The ink showed through the paint no matter how many coats of paint I used. When I went back to pick up more parts I found a piece of the pipe that didn't have the printing on it and that worked much better.

As for the pattern for the seat- I found that when I made it as the pattern printed out it was too short to fit the frame. I added a ½” at each end and that problem was solved. The original pattern had the sleeve for the cross bars too small for the pipe fittings I purchased also but this same adjustment made everything go together just fine. I love the cute little chairs and they are soooo easy to put together. I can't wait to try other fabric/paint color combinations.

A few days later I made a second chair with an machine embroidery design on the back. I was cruising around one of my favorite machine embroidery sites and found a really cute beach/palm tree design in the free designs. It is perfect on the chair. I stitched the design on some pant weight off white fabric I had picked up recently for another project. It worked out perfectly. The only change I made in the embroidery design was I replaced the suggested red thread with some orange thread. I then picked up some orange spray paint to paint the frame of the chair. Soooo cute!

I have really been in a sewing mood this month and it shows in the amount of projects I have completed.

In the midst of all this sewing I also got the idea of trying to organize my tools and such that I use to around the ironing board. I picked up one of those cheap three drawer carts that have wheels on the bottom and it fits just perfectly under the wide end of my ironing board. Now all my pressing tools, fusible products and interfacing have a nice convenient place to live. In the past they have been kind of stored wherever there was a spot for them. Now I can just reach to the side when I need something and it is right there.

This organizing project takes me to my next sewing project. I had downloaded a free pattern from Thimbles and Acorns (link here) for a tailor's ham and sleeve roll sized for making doll clothing. That was another pattern that had been sitting on my work table for a couple of months. Now that I had a nice place to put them I decided to take the time to get them made. And as it turned out they didn't take much time at all. From the time I opened the pattern up to the time I had finished the project it was less than 40 minutes and that includes the time it took me to find the fabric in my stash. This is a really simple pattern and if you sew doll clothes I really recommend you make a set for yourself. These are going to be really handy.

The pattern calls for a small piece of medium to heavy weight wool and a piece of light to medium weight cotton. I knew I had seen some gray wool in my stash a couple of weeks ago. This is getting to end of the leftovers from some wool I purchased at a woolen mill in the fall of 1985 to make myself a wool winter coat that I would be able to wear while I was expecting my second child. I wore that coat for many years, it was wonderfully warm and durable. I still have a dwindling supply of that marvelous wool left and felt it would be perfect for this project. The other fabric I chose was a piece of white on off white quilting cotton. The pattern contains only 2 pattern pieces one for each of the items and they sew together very nicely. Then all that is left is to stuff them firmly and sew the remaining seam line together by hand. I think the only trick to this is to be sure they are really stuffed firmly, really pack that fiberfill stuffing in there.

As I was putting the pattern for the sewing tools away I happened to see the All Dolled Up pattern for Best Fit Jeans. I had picked this one up a while back (last summer if I remember correctly) after asking around to find a good jeans pattern for the dolls. I have the Liberty Jane one but have never been happy with the fit even after tweaking it a lot.

I had to go to the grocery store so I stopped by the Joann's and picked up some lightweight denim. I prepped my fabric when I got home and it was ready to cut by afternoon. I had the jeans mostly finished (all but the snap) by time to fix dinner. I do love a pattern that goes together quickly and without hassles. I decided I wanted to have the look of rivets where the front pockets end (like on the real ones I wear) so I dug through my fabric paint stash and came across my tubes of Tulip Beads in a Bottle- I had picked up most (if not all) the colors of this product a couple of years ago for a project. I decided the copper color would work really nicely for the rivets so that is the one I picked to use. I did make really tiny dots of the paint where I wanted the “rivets” to be placed and left the jeans to dry overnight. The next morning I was really happy with the result.

Now for the snap- I couldn't find anything I really liked then I got an idea. I used a small (size 15) snap fastener. You know the kind, the ones you need a tool to put in. I had some of the ones that have a white ring like face that shows so I used those and then coated that white ring as well as the area inside the ring with some of the same copper colored Beads in a Bottle that use for the '”rivets” once dry it looks like a matching snap! I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Of course a new pair of jeans meant I needed to come up with a new top too. So I dug out my patterns to look for something new to make. I wasn't in the mood to do the same old thing I had done before. As I was looking through my pattern collection I came to the Cortina Top pattern from Liberty Jane. I am pretty sure it was one of the Freebie Friday patterns at some point. I had never tried it so I decided to give it a shot. I found some white t-shirt fabric and cut the pattern out. The sleeves are a bit fussy and you really need to understand what you are doing before you start. I do admit I messed up the first set and had to start over but in the end they turn out really cute. Just watch your cutting sizes and know exactly where you are supposed to sew the strips of fabric before you start sewing (or even pinning) and you should be alright. The neckline gave me the most trouble, I am sure I cut the binding strip according to the directions but it just wouldn't fold the way it was supposed to. In the end I had to trim the little bit of excess off (I couldn't get it to come off without stretching the fabric) and then cutting a new one that was about double the width called for. I was able to roll that one and although it looks a bit heavy I am happy with it.

When I cut this out I was planning to to some work with either some fabric dye or my alcohol markers to give it some color. Right now I am leaving it white but that may change in the future. I can't decide if I like it plain better or if it would look cuter with some colorful splotches. Since once added you can't go back I am going to just leave it for now.

I was also going to make a necklace for this outfit, I have the perfect little charm but I can't find my lightweight silver color chain. Hopefully it will either turn up or I will remember to pick some up next time I go to town.