Another Motorcycle Jacket...but not...

Although I do have plans for more human-size sewing, honestly?  Right now I've sewn a lot of what I wanted to sew for wearing this summer (pull-over dresses.  several of them.)

And while I don't think I'm going to make posts here about all of the doll clothes I'm making, I will make posts for the more involved items, like the overalls in the last post that were made using (mostly) a pattern intended for human size.

This time, the pattern is from one of the Japanese doll publications with scans currently available on The Internet Archive: Doll Coordinate Recipe Volume 5.  On page 18 is a Momoko doll wearing a motorcycle jacket, and.  Well.  You know me and motorcycle jackets.

The pattern is on page 66, at half scale.  I set the PDF at 100%, screen capped it, and took it into a graphics program where I doubled the size, then split it into two to print because it was too big to fit on a single page.  The seam allowances at this size were ¼"/6mm, so I figured everything was scaled properly.  Nope!  The finished jacket ended up significantly bigger than something meant for Momoko, which was actually fine, because I was making it for a Barbie.

 

Yeah no I wasn't going to make it from pleather, who do you think I am?

Doll's Overalls

I wanted to make a pair of proper overalls for a doll--not just pants with a bib and straps, but full vintage-style overalls, with the straps coming off of a narrow high back.

Years ago, I thrifted Simplicity 9563, from 1990. 

At the time, I got it mostly because I thought the extreme 1990-ness of it was funny, and I was also amused by the fact that the fabric store stamp on it had a literal UK High Street address.  What kind of life did that pattern lead, to get from the UK in 1990 to a Nashville-area thrift store in 2014?

I added the pattern to my pattern stash just to giggle at sporadically, until a few years ago, when I saw so many people online making overalls that I thought it might? be fun to make a pair, too.  Other than the short leg length, this pattern has everything I want in an overalls style, including the tall narrow back that the straps are attached to.

When I finally opened the envelope to have a look at what was inside, I discovered that a previous owner had cut the pieces in size 6, and they'd cut off the crotch extensions to make an overalls-style jumper (well, if they were British, I suppose it would be a pinny.)  Adding the crotch extensions would be easy enough, by using another pants pattern, but, the size?  Well...I noticed that the back description called these "Very oversized"--given how everything was already extra roomy in that era, if something was specifically noted as "very oversize," it was going to be enormous.  So, I measured the pattern pieces at the size 6 cut waist, and estimated it would even be generous enough to go on my body.

However.  I hesitated for years to make them, because the shape of my body would, honestly, end up making them look like maternity clothes.  So, I put the pattern back in the stash, figuring I'd never actually use it, but, if I did have a need for proper overalls, well, I'd have the pattern.

And then, when I had the idea to make doll overalls, I thought, oh!  I can use this pattern for reference!  I got my doll jumpsuit pattern (first one here), copied the pieces, and started trying to modify them, looking at the pattern piece guide in the instructions for the Simplicity pattern.  I quickly ran into the problem of not knowing exactly where one part on one side related to the other side.

Then I thought: I'm never going to want to make another pair of doll overalls again, so why put this much work into it.  Why not scan the pattern piece guide, enlarge it to doll size, clean it up by tracing over it with vector lines, then print and use that. So, I did, and it worked pretty well!

...but not without issues.

Remnant Dress

I had enough of the lightweight chintz print cotton twill left to eke out the bodice for another take on Fake Burda 6401.  There was enough for some patch pockets, too, and, once I realized the skirt would be a bit short, I pieced a strip to insert on the skirt.

The rose pink polyester blend used for the edges of this dress provided most of the skirt, and the ruffle and bodice lining used the fabric from the edges of this dress.

 

Is it kind of a mess?  Sure!  Will it work for wearing around the house in summer?  Yep!

Chintz Print Pullover Dress

My pedantry won't call it 'chintz' with no qualifiers, because it's a lightweight twill instead of glazed.  It's also--again, being pedantic--very much the English Granny kind of chintz print, and not the traditional Indian style.

Anyway.

 

Cat Patch for Halloween...Gift...in March

 This is for a friend who likes Halloween

 

 

A Hint of Fairy Tale

Oh, look--another layer cake dress

  

Persicaria

I cut a bodice from some of the fabric I got in the last visit to the craft thrift store, and then realized that I didn't like how the construction of one of the other fabrics (also from the craft thrift store) I had picked for it contrasted with it (the  bodice fabric is a very fine cotton, the other fabric is a great print on a very distinctly poly cotton blend.)  I put aside the bodice pieces, along with the rest of that fabric, which was way too short to make much of a skirt, and poked around in my fabric stash to find something that would work well with the other fabrics I had already cut for the visible facings and edge bands to go with the former bodice fabric.

Since I have been working on refining both my fabric stash and my ability to keep new acquisitions within a relatively coherent aesthetic, I pretty easily found a piece of fabric I thrifted nearly a decade ago, but was never quite sure what to do with.  There was just enough of it that, at one point, it was probably very close to being turned into a small button-up shirt, but that phase of making so many small button up shirts did end before that happened.  There wasn't quite enough of it to make a full dress, but, when adding more fabric?  Just right.