Periwinkle and red

So I thrifted a few yards of a...sorta...dusty periwinkle heavy knit, and decided I'd use some of it to make a hoodie for the kiddo, once again using Burda 9672

(yes, I know, the separating-zipper view is not the hooded view.  Minor quibble.)

 The only separating zippers in the appropriate length I had were white, gray, and bright red.  I couldn't decide between the white or gray, so I showed all of the options to the kiddo and let him decide.

He chose the red zipper.

Well...then...

Huh.

I'm sure he would have had no problem with a purely periwinkle hoodie with a red zipper, but my brain demanded that something else be done so the red zipper would 'make sense'...somehow.

Ah, but, I had about a half yard of a red double jersey knit!  As to what I did with it...

Scrappy

I like making patchwork...but generally only in the spirit of "use up this cloth you already have and probably won't use any other way."  This does extend to the tub full of scraps left over from other projects, of course...but...since most of my 'other projects' are 'making doll clothes,' which can use some rather small bits anyway, my scraps can be...small.

This still doesn't keep me from filling up a 53 gallon storage tub.

OK, actually, no--this is the scrap tub after scrounging through it enough to assemble (most of) a (roughly) 37" x 47" panel, plus four more 10" square patches.  I put it all together with some vaguely-coordinating cloth I thrifted in the form of a roll end cut-off (just visible in the lower left of the tub photo.)

And it looks like this (57" x 67")

...yeah, yeah, I go into projects like this with the expectation that there won't be enough of anything to make good proper patchwork blocks, with traditional designs, so I just...start sewing' stuff together.  Then I realize I could get into the "doll cloth" dresser and pull out larger pieces left over from other projects, which means I probably could have made proper patchwork patches, but...too late, la la...

I have an old sheet to use for the backing, but no batting and no real inclination to get it all put together, so it's folded up and put in the top of the cloth closet with the other patchwork blanket tops I've made and also have no idea when or if they'll ever be finished...

Arachnoleopard Cheer

A few months ago (what?  longer than "a few"?  surely not...) I posted this picture

with the note that I would post more about it later, after I gave it to the person for whom I (surprise!) made it.

...which I did a few months ago...  And now I'm remembering to make a post about it--the year's not done yet.

Don't be so angry little bird

I've decided--once again--that it's maybe time to stop acquiring random cloth and patterns and to start actually making things (well...non-doll things.  I'm still always sewing for dolls, as my Flickr shows.)

So, of course, I start with a re-fashioning of a thing I made a year ago...  The kiddo likes big piles of blankets, which is something we have in common, and I go through phases where I'm happy to sew lots of blankets.  I decided I'd use his too-small Angry Birds and Bad Piggies t-shirts to make a little t-shirt quilt...only...yeah.  I rushed it, and not a thing was on grain, and I tried to force it to align with the backing cloth...and it didn't...no matter how much stitching I did through all layers...

I don't think I ever showed it here, so...taadaa:

...and looking relatively nonwonky thanks to the magic of photography.  The camera lies.

I presented it to him and he immediately forgot about it, so I eventually--quietly--removed it from his blanket stash.  I didn't know what I'd do with it, but the time I'd taken to make the patchwork seemed to make it worth saving.

Since he loves jackets as much as he loves blankets, I decided I'd see if I could squeeze a jacket out of it, once the backing was removed, and I chose this pattern

which is from 1977 (and which I acquired in that gigantic grab bag'o'patterns from the summer.)  The kiddo likes hoodies, so I went with view 2...well...more or less...

Late August Thrift Cloth

So I've been putting little videos on YouTube with the intention of documenting doll things I've found and done, but, when it comes to reporting thrift finds, I can't help but want to show off the sewy stuff I find, too, and I brought home a nice handful of cloth this week, most of which were featured in the latest video (that still is such a weird thing to think about in reference to me.)  But, since me waving cloth around in a video isn't the best way to show off the cloth, and since anyone who might be here for the sewing, with no interest in the dolls, probably would like to see the cloth without enduring the dolly natter, I'm posting pictures of the cloth here.

Starting, as shouldn't be surprising given the directions my brain goes, with cloth that's not in the video at all.

Just a little thrift

Ventured to the out-of-the-way Goodwill yesterday, was confronted with a bin full of 49¢ patterns, managed to constrain myself to only four.

House Blouse

One of the patterns in that recent gigantic grab bag'o'patterns was McCall's 7956, a 1982 Laura Ashley shirt and jumper pattern.  Now, the jumper...no, it's not a thing I would wear, but the shirt looked intriguing, so I chose a print that Laura Ashley would very probably not have chosen and got started

Large Bag and Big Bag

I forgot to post about it here, but, a few days after my birthday, I was able to go a'thriftin' on my own while Husband watched the kiddo, which meant I could take as much time as I wanted to look around without a certain little someone exceeding his boredom threshold.

I also wanted to stop in JoAnn, too, to see if I could find any cloth to make a pencil bag for the kiddo (at school this year, they're supposed to use large zip bags instead of pencil boxes, and, hey, I can make a zip bag...)  He'd wanted a print with as much BB-8 as possible, which I kind of found, and I also picked up a Halloween eyeball print that I thought would work well for doll clothes.  When I got back and asked him if he wanted to combine any other prints with the Star Wars print, he said, yes, he wanted the eyeball print.  Well...OK, then!

I picked out the zipper (because I still have a lot of these yellow zippers) and lining (because I wanted to make sure it would be bright enough inside that things wouldn't get lost in shadowy corners.)  He's happy.

But!  The bigger find was in the Goodwill--which is usually a relatively disappointing Goodwill, and seemed like it was going to be just as disappointing this time, yielding only two dolls (granted, one was a Marin Chiclana guy, something I'd wanted for a while), one piece of cloth, and a bag full of perler beads and small pegboards...and holes.  It was while I was chasing down escaped perler beads that I noticed the big bedding bag that was full of sewing patterns and marked $7.99.  It was held closed with a cable tie through the two zipper pulls, so there was no possibility of surreptitiously opening it up and digging around to see if anything was worthwhile, and, hooboy, was what was visible on the outside...not worth it.  So much late '80s/early '90s blandness.  Still, if there were eight patterns I liked, I could consider it to be breaking even...and...this was supposed to be silly birthday shopping,  stop trying to be reasonable, Self.  So I picked up the last perler beads I could see and dragged the...um...delightfully heavy bag of patterns to the register.  The nice customer ahead of me put it on the counter for me, expressing (possibly) a bit of appreciation for the find.

After I got home and put everything else away, I parked myself on the living room floor, snipped the cable tie, and dove in.

So.  Yeah.  When you get a grab bag that ends up having 120+ patterns, you're probably going to find plenty that look worthwhile, no matter how many 1980s beginner patterns or early 1990s fancy jumpsuits patterns (for girls and women) or curtains patterns or indie quilted vest patterns there are.  There were even a few men's patterns in Husband's size range, and kids/boys patterns for the kiddo (whose foot is visible here, yes), and a lot of patterns in sizes suitable for some of my friends.

I'm happy with what I got from this, although I'm now out of room in the file drawers where I keep my patterns, and I'm unsure of what to do with the giant stack of patterns left that I have no use for.  Still, definitely worth the $8.

I have a 1982 Laura Ashley shirt pattern picked out (and ironed flat) for my next project--hope to get back here soon with that!

Making a note

Just a quick post to record the fact that today was when I finished this

which I will post about, in greater detail, at a later date, but not now, because it's a gift...

Sing the praises of pants

Or, at least, of Kwik Sew 2544, revisited in denim with lime green top stitching and vague memories of what needed to be corrected from the last time I made this pattern.

Kid's Choice

So I've been venturing into the thrift store every few weeks over the summer, acknowledging that the kiddo is not as enthused about the activity as I am.  I make the deal: we'll only look at toys and cloth.  Toys he's fine with, but, cloth?  Enh.

So I was surprised when he fell in love with a yard of fluffy polar fleece, a camo print in colors I think of as "spring thaw."  I said I'd make a hoodie for him, thinking I had a separating zipper of appropriate length, which...no.  I'd intended to use Burda 9672 again, anyway, so I asked him if he'd rather have a jacket or a pullover, and he chose the pullover, also choosing a yellow zipper.

It went together pretty fast, except for the part that involved unpicking stitches in fluffy cloth...

Thankful in July

I'd been planning for a while to make a patchwork blanket (still not ready to get into actual quilting) gift to thank some relatives for their help with a family situation over the last year and a half.  I figured we'd see them mid July, which gave me plenty of time to work on the gift, after taking some time to make a stack of doll clothes for gifts and trades.  Then I discovered we'd be seeing these relatives right after Independence Day.

Well.

It's Easy Being...Red

I volunteered to chaperone the kiddo's field trip to a science center, fun!

But.

Everyone had to wear a red shirt, or "as close to that as possible."  I delved into my closet, pretty sure I didn't have anything red, but was surprised that I didn't even have dark pink.  Huh.  So!  A trip to the thrift store on 99¢ day and I was able to find a short sleeve button up woven shirt that I turned into...

Easy Breezy

After finishing the quick knit dress, I wanted to make another quick pull-over dress, but I don't have a lot of appropriate knits, so I wondered if I could combine bits of Simplicity 9406 with McCall's 5675, a pull-over shirt pattern for wovens.

I've made shirts from this before, using view C, and always with short sleeves (although not always the same style of short sleeve), so I knew it was fairly quick--the biggest hassle is the pressing-folding-pinning needed for the bias neckline finish and tie ends. (I'm going to  try to remember, next time, to press the binding before sewing it to the body.)  And the way the armscye and sleeve cap fits together is just fabulous, no need to hassle with little bits that don't quite want to smooth out.  Adding the length and flare to it by tracing the knit dress pattern was no problem and it's really comfortable but...

Maybe we can call this a vaguely wearable muslin?  (It's actually really cute with a belt, but belts don't stay put over my mom belly.  So.)

When the weather is warmer, I might at least wear this around the house, because...I mean...it certainly looks like a housedress...

The 1990s, You Say?

I wanted to do something quick, and with a...somewhat out of date print synthetic jersey knit--so, hey, why not use an outdated pattern, too?

I've gone up a pattern size (...um..at least...) since the last time I used this pattern, but I'd apparently only used the higher neckline view then, so I was able to cut out the lower neckline in a better size, then added tissue to the edge of the back piece to grade it up a size.  I left the sleeve cap alone, and it  fit well enough that I'd forgotten that I'd forgotten to alter it until after the sleeves were sewn on, so...that worked out.  I did make the short sleeve shorter, for purely aesthetic reasons (as opposed to my usual "the sleeve is shorter because there wasn't enough cloth left to eke out the length shown" reason.)

And I made the whole dress shorter, too--again, for aesthetic reasons, since there's still a lot of this cloth left, so no need to scramble around limited resources.

I did a Meh job on stitching the hems--I'm so much more accustomed to facing necklines, instead of just plain turning 'em.  And I remembered to press the sleeve hem allowances before attaching them to the dress, so I wouldn't have to wrestle the whole assembly around while trying to measure and iron things.

The result is not great, but it's definitely acceptable

I feel like I was dressing the way I often dress my dolls.

Speaking of dolls, I used a bit of this giant gray floral print to make a doll dress

 ...and Chip is always around...

Trolling

So a generous friend recently sent me a big box'o'doll stuff, with a bit of cloth thrown in as well.

Cloth like this

Which I did use for a doll dress!

...but there was much more of it, so I used it for a shirt for me...

Temporarily Diverted (well, not really any more 'temporarily' than usual)

I'd decided that my next project would absolutely be making something to wear from a fabulously horrible vintage unlicensed troll print sent to me by a friend.  I shuffled through my patterns and eventually settled on one I wanted to use...but...didn't feel like sewing that particular thing at that time.

But!

I was reminded of another pattern that I'd been wanting to make again, so I thought I'd go ahead and pick out a fabric and make that really quick!

But.

While looking through the cloth stash, I spotted a group of prints that weren't in a color range that I usually use, but that harmonized well, so...another patchwork future quilt top happened.

It's about 50"x70" and used up almost all of these prints (what's left can easily be worked into the back), so it turned into a decent stash buster.

Official UFOs

I finished the patchwork blanket top I'd wanted to work on before starting the cat patch experiment project

...and then I added a few more rows to the cat patch experiment project, doubling its size

This one is roughly 90" square, the first is roughly 60" x 90".  They'll be put aside until some unknown date when they'll get backs and batting and proper quilting.

I hope I can figure out how to take better pictures of 'em by then, too!

Spring will be here before it's finished

...mainly because I have no batting and also no experience actually quilting a patchwork blanket, but, hey, this part is fun (so far)

Once the top is finished, I'll probably take a picture of it and then put it away indefinitely.  Progress!

And there it shall stay

Here's where I've gotten with the experimental cat patch project

Not at all sure if I'll stop here (roughly 43" square) and finish it with the remaining piece of the watercolor-style floral for the back, or keep going until it's grown to bedspread size.  For now, it's been folded and put back into the cloth closet, making it my first official UFO in a long time...

Patch Cat

I saw Elizabeth Hartman's cat patchwork blocks and thought they were adorable but way too complicated for my sewing inclinations, so I played around in CorelDraw (hooray for snap to grid) and came up with this cat block idea

which I decided to try out today (instead of working on the other patchwork project I had ready to go...)

I showed it to the kiddo without telling him it was supposed to be a cat, and he gave it a hug and asked if he could have it, so I took that as a positive ID.  (After I made progress with this springtime palette, he asked of he could have something wilder...so...yeah...eventually...)

The only tweak I think I'll make is to flip one of the eye blocks so the patch arrangement is mirrored instead of identical (although it doesn't really matter.)  And eventually I'll make an entire proper patchwork top arranged something like this

Eventually.

The Dolls March On

When I started this blog, it was with the vague idea that it would be only for, shall we say, human-size endeavors.  I've posted a few doll sewing things here before, but I've posted loads more on Tumblr and Flickr.  But...there was no real reason not to post them here, so I'm going to make a better effort at doing that, starting with the silly little outfit I made for a silly little doll.

I've had this doll for a few years, originally thrifted in a cheap satin and lace and fringe flamenco dress, with a coarse black wig glued to her head.  The eyes are what convinced me to get her--not only do the lids work as sleep eyes, but the eyes themselves are also on pivots and make her more than a little shifty-eyed

Such attitude.

She'd been in a box, wigless and unclothed, until I pulled her out yesterday and played around with a few doll wigs sent recently by a friend.  This wig is technically Blythe-size, but a quick dart in the back made it snug enough to fit this doll's head.  Since the friend, Mmy, is also possessed of Mediterraneanly dark skin and giant pink hair, I decided to dress the doll in Mmy style.

The pin tucks already existed on the cloth, which came from the waistband of a skirt I shortened from the top--which also meant it was interfaced, giving the skirt more body than usual even at doll scale.  I used one of my 16" fashion doll patterns for the bodice, shortened significantly; it probably could have been taken in a bit on the sides, too, but I didn't think 'figure skimming' was a necessity for this doll's clothes.  Lace, rickrack, and a satin bow (eternal cheers for fork bows) were all stitched to the neckline, which was finished with a facing (my usual approach, because I do not want to even consider the idea of turning a curved seam that small *shudder*.)  The puffy sleeves were improvised around a cap sleeve pattern, with some unfortunately obvious elastic at the cuffs.

Underneath is a pair of bloomers, made without a pattern (because "big, floofy, elasticized, and mostly hidden" is seldom in need of formal patterns.)  No pattern for the socks, which have decorative elastic at the tops, either.

The shoes...um...they're more placeholders than anything.  I am absolutely not a doll cobbler.

And in the hair is a length of ruffled lace, sewn into a loop, then flattened and the edges seamed together.  It's held in place with a simple thread tack through the wig cap on each end of the seam.

Silly, quick, and fun!

I'll leave you with this picture of her passing judgment on the Christmas cactus that decided to bloom the morning before Valentine's Day.

H...hand...sewing...?

I am not good at hand sewing.

I used to take this as a point of pride.  I used to say things like "I hate making clothes with buttons!  Because I hate sewing the buttons on!  Because I hate hand sewing!"  But, then, I got a machine that made a better four-part button hole, and I realized that what I hated was not "the hand sewing of the buttons" as much as it was "the unavoidable confrontation of crap buttonholes." Then I got a buttonholer and I figured out that one of the random presser feet I had was to hold buttons while using the machine to zig-zag 'em in place, and I forgot about my "I don't exactly hate hand sewing after all" epiphany.

So, what this basically means is that, while I might not detest the idea of hand sewing now, I still don't usually think "Oh, I should hand sew that instead of using the machine"...and it means that my hand stitching is not...um...good.

But!

I didn't hesitate to volunteer to hand sew a few little felt thingies for the kiddo's teacher Valentine card.  I'd never made any little hand sewn felt thingies before (...um...obviously...), but I did have this book

which technically does have patterns, but I feel like they're more...suggestions...than the rigorous templates most patterns are.

Scarecrow Chic Shirt. Sorta.

You know those projects that seem like a good idea until after you've started and then you decide that no actually that wasn't a good idea after all?  Of course you do.  Those projects are part of hobbies in general.

Most rational sewing people will put the project aside in a UFO pile and move on to happier craftiness.  Me, though?  I'll hang the offending item in plain view and glare at it, refusing to start any other projects (wellllllll, any other human-size projects, 'cause doll clothes are a different realm) until it's finished.

Soooo, yeah

Squares

I wanted to make a quick patchwork zip pouch as a gift for someone, and, for some reason, my brain insisted on making same-size squares for the patchwork--I usually just square up whatever size cloth scraps I have and start piecing things randomly, so this was an unusual thing for my brain to wanna do.

So I made it and I wasn't entirely happy with it and I forgot to take any pictures of it and I decided to make another, smaller, Halloweenier zip bag, and that's this one.

Nope, no pattern to it, but it is 35 different Halloween prints--most of which were from the scrap box--on the patchwork side, so that's nice.  And the ghosts on the other side are printed with glow-in-the-dark ink, so that's even nicer.  Lined with a synthetic plaid, because Halloween is for all the time.  or something like that.