Sewing (and crafting) blog for September 2016

Sorry this is going up late, I was so busy last week I totally forgot to post it.

This month I did a bit of sewing, mostly stuff for my Allison's Journal blog posts. It was nice that one batch of that sewing worked out to fit the theme for the September Sew-Along for the doll sewing group I belong to.

So I started the month off with some backpacks. I wanted to do an Allison's Journal post about getting ready for school. That meant the kids all needed backpacks. I had a few I had made a couple of years ago but I was never really happy with those. I had always felt they were too small for the dolls.

I did some wandering around Pixie Faire looking for a pattern and came across the Animal Backpack pattern. The first thing I noticed was that it was a much better size for the dolls than the patterns I had used in the past. I decided to get the pattern and get the fabric for it the next time I went into town.

I had intended to take advantage of the animal faces in the pattern for at least a couple of backpacks. The only problem with that plan was when I went fabric shopping I just didn't find any fabric that I really thought worked with the animal thing. I did get the felt to do the animal stuff thinking I would make it work.

When I got home I got the felt pieces all cut out but just decided that I liked the backpacks better without the faces.

I initially got fabric and zippers for two backpacks. About halfway through sewing those I decided I really wanted to make two more. So for those I searched through my fabric stash and found fabrics that worked perfectly for two more. All I needed to pick up on the next trip to town were the zippers.

I do love how this backpack pattern goes together and the two zippered pockets are fantastic. Just like a real backpack.

With 4 of those made I could get the big kids ready for school. That left the smaller bags I had made in the past for the little sisters in the group so everything worked out great.

The only down side was that by the time I was done making 4 backpacks I kind of felt like I was working in one of those sweat shops that turn out millions of backpacks a day. LOL

After the backpacks were done I barely let my sewing machine cool off before I started making some coats. As you probably guessed I wanted to do a blog post with the kids getting new winter coats. Also my doll sewing group's theme for September was coats and jackets.

For Chelsea I picked out the Cute as a Button pattern from Jelly Bean Soup Designs. I opted to leave off the buttons. I think I like it better without the buttons. I wasn't able to find any double sided quilted fabric at my local Joann's so I picked up ¼ yard each of a pattern and a solid and used a scrap of thin quilt batting to make my own. I only quilted half of each fabric and it was just enough to cut out the pieces. And I was able to use the remaining fabric for the non-quilted pieces. That made for a truly coordinated garment. I think if I were to make this pattern again- at least using similar fabrics I would add a bit of interfacing to the waistband piece. I think since I used just some quilter's cotton that part of the jacket looks a bit soft. If I wanted to actually make this pattern close in the front I think I would add a zipper to the front, I think that would make this one look totally real.

For Michael I wanted a hoodie so I used the Rough'n'Tumble Hoodie from QT(pie) Clothing for his. I used a cheap t-shirt for the main body and hood, along with the ribbing (there was exactly enough ribbing in the size large t to make this size jacket) I lined the main body of the jacket with some green flannel both to give more visual weight and to stabilize the knit fabric. For the sleeves and hood lining I used a quilter's cotton. I had a huge problem finding a separating zipper the day I was shopping for this jacket. I was hoping to match the fabric a little better. They only had this gray one and some white ones unless I wanted to pay for a 20” long one.

As I was looking for a coat for Allison I fell in love with the Oxford Square coat from Liberty Jane. The day I made it I was in the mood to sew so I dug through my stash. I found a pair of jeans that had a huge hole for the main fabric. I found a little weird shaped scrap of lining fabric for the hood lining that was the perfect color. This was a really easy pattern to make. If you want the coat to close you do need to add to the side seams but I liked the look of the it the way it was designed.

For Izzy I used the Wellie Wisher version of the same hoodie pattern. I think this size was almost easier to make than the larger one.

All of these coat patterns are available from Pixie Faire. 

In addition to my sewing I did undertake another major project for the blog posts so I am going to include that here too.

A while back I was alerted to some wonderful free printable books on a doll blog site. The blog is Jinjia Mixed Goods: American Girl Dolls with an Asian Flair. 

Along with wonderful stories about the adventures of the dolls there are some wonderful free printables on the site.

I had seen several people making the books that were put up recently and decided I wanted to join in the fun. That was the beginning of the “old books” Allison's Journal post. I made up a bunch of the books. When I got them done they were nice but I had something a bit more old looking in mind. So I decided to age my set of books. That was a lot of fun and involved the use of some inks, some emery boards and just a bit of destruction. It was a lot of fun and in my opinion made the books look perfect, at least for the story I wanted to tell.