Between the Lines

Finished this today, listed it on Etsy.

There're bloomers under everything--right now, I like making doll bloomers more than doll petticoats, but that could change.  I've been using bits from the long-saved-for-no-clear-reason interfacing scrap stash for the brims and crowns on these little witch hats--the crown could be folded over/crumpled, if so desired (leaving that choice up to the buyers.)

Next thing sewn will either be a dress for my own dolls or a skirt for me.  Maybe.  Something else could seem like a better idea before then.

Applying myself

While I'm getting the hang of the process of satin stitching densely around the edges of things, I'm still not very good at it, and I'm even less good, apparently, at choosing the correct backings to stabilize the things involved in the applique.  Lesson learned:  medium weight interfacing won't do, won't do at all.

A square watermelon pillow with a cute face was the kiddo's idea, and he's happy with the result, and that's what's important.

Hat Hat Hat

I made these for Etsy today

I used a sort of...space-dyed stripey seersuckerish fabric for a contrast under the brim of the squash print hat

and I'm entirely in love with the combination of those fabrics--going to try to figure out what non-doll thing to make with the rest of those two fat quarters...

Teal Thread in the Bobbin

I initially loaded the bobbin with teal thread because I decided I had no more excuses for not sewing incredibly belated birthday doll clothes for a friend (who ls Australian, so who knows how belated the stuff will end up being after whenever it is that I get everything finished once mailing time is added.)  No pictures of those, because they're supposed to be surprises, but then I did sew this for Etsy with the same thread

(It's not a thing like what's for my friend, who prefers Mod style for dolls.)

Then I said to myself that it would be a good time to finally sew something for the kiddo from either the Angry Birds print or the Skylanders print, both of which had blue/teal grounds.  He's not really interested in either game right now--his heart belongs to Terraria at the moment, with Minecraft and Lego Worlds getting sporadically remembered--so I figured it wouldn't bother him if I chose the fabric and the project.  s.o.t.a.k. handmade has been posting a lot of drawstring bags lately, so that inspired me to try a drawstring pouch.  I'm not sure if I've ever made a drawstring pouch before, and my results are pretty much what you'd expect from jumping in with no pattern and a reasonable-but-not-positive idea of how it would be constructed.

Skylanders it is.

It's large enough to hold all the figures (I scored a bakers dozen of them in a thrift store earlier this year...)    I did use a middle layer of a heavy twill to give it body, with a vaguely-cloud print (sky) for the drawstring casing and a continent print (land) inside (get it get it?)  And then I made another one that's not as structured and is lined with the kinda-cloud print (because I didn't have enough of the continent print left) to hold The Portal of Power.

I think I'll use the Angry Birds print to make a pouch to hold all of his Angry Birds figures and Telepods, and I think I know how to add a divider inside, which seems like a useful thing...

Little Witchy

Still having fun making vaguely-lolita dresses and matching witch hats for dolls.  Forgot to post this one here before I put it on Etsy (it's on its way to Belgium right now)

 This one (which is admittedly not very loli) is on its way to an American destination

And this one is staying here for my own dolls

And I just got a bunch of doll-appropriate black lace--I hadn't realized how low I was until I made the cat eye print outfit and ended up using almost all of what I had left...  I mean, yeah, sure, I still had a suitcase full of other laces, but...black lace is important...

Well, I thought it would be a skirt skirt, but it ended up being a skirt.

Skirt on a dress instead of a skirt on its own, that is.

I sewed five 4" wide selvedge-to-selvedge pieces together and finished one edge of that with the rolled edge foot before attaching it to the bottom of the patchwork piece with the ruffler foot...which took two tries, because it was set to gather too much the first time.  The second time had some  of the ruffle cloth left over, but that was OK because precision there wasn't required.  Attaching the patchwork to the bottom edge of the upper tier of the skirt, though...actually, it only took three tries to get it the right width, so it wasn't too tedious.  ('Traditional" gathering of ruffles is something I do find too tedious...)  I serged the seam allowances where the tiers came together, then topstitched close to those edges and then started to think...hmm...maybe it wouldn't be too misguided to make it a dress instead of a skirt...

I used the simple bodice I cobbled together from disparate patterns, opting to put the zipper in the back (instead of the side) because the skirt pieces were made with a back seam in mind.  Everything went together with no problems, and I finished by topstitching close to the edges of the arm openings and neckline.  Taadaa.  (Now I need to get back to my last-year weight to fit comfortably into it...)

Always and never ready for Halloween

I put together roughly 10½" by 116" of bright Halloween print patchwork today

Plan to turn it into one tier of a ruffled skirt...maybe tomorrow, maybe not...

Back to the Etsy

I'm slowly getting back to sewing doll clothes for Etsy again, trying slightly different approaches and design ideas, because what I had been making had been losing popularity, it seemed, on top of the severely lessened desire to sew that I've had since late last year.

I listed this early today and it sold almost immediately

 which is certainly a big boost to wanting to sew for Etsy...

Well then

In the last post, when I mentioned that I had some solid fabric that might maybe sorta match the pink in the odd toy print?

Yeah.  It's not perfect, but, for something I just happened to have (and which itself was either a thrift acquisition or random gift), it's very very good.  And also the same slightly coarse texture as the toy print!

They've both been laundered and added to the everchanging sewing queue...

Thriftin' Again

Since it's a Sunday, meaning Husband is home to watch The Child, and it happens to be my birthday, I decided I'd trek solo to some Goodwill stores today.

The first store I visited didn't turn up anything even vaguely tempting--yesterday was the "July 4th cancelled the regular Half Off Saturday so we're doing Half Off Saturday on the 11th" day at area Goodwill stores, and the stock levels in that Goodwill reflected this.  I wasn't there even 10 minutes before I set out for the other, closer Goodwill.

It was considerably better.

I hadn't been thrifting for a while, because The Child doesn't have the patience for it anymore, and I respect that. (Summer break ends in a few weeks, so I can get back to thrifting more often, if I want...which...I'm trying to convince myself I don't want, because it's not like I lack for stuff...  Anyway.)  I picked up several color-of-the-week fabrics, some of which I might have purchased earlier at 'full' price if I'd been in the store then.  Maybe.

Top is one of the half-price selections.  I knew there was a lot, and had the idea that it might be nice in a dress with an excessively full skirt.  There's cotton involved, although I can't tell if the slightly oily hand is from polyester content or from the heavy ink.  It's 44" wide, and as I was measuring the length, I found an attached tag with a handwritten note of "8 3/8  $1.99."  The length ended up being more like 9¼ yards, though, and I paid $4 for all of it, so...yeah.

Middle is cotton, 42" wide and 3 5/8 yards long.  It was marked $1.99, which seemed low for the way that store prices cloth--I discovered the stains after I got home.  Ah.  I'd been thinking I would make a shirt from this, so there was plenty of room to work around the stains, but I doused them with stain release before throwing the piece in the washing machine.  No stains left when it came out!  (I've seen many pieces of thrift store yardgoods with stains in the middle.  My imagination has decided that they were all used for bake sale tablecloths.)

Bottom is a yarn-dyed cotton plaid with a slight nap (not a full-blown flannel.  I think I'm the only person who's not a huge fan of flannel.)  56" wide by 2¼ yards long, was half price at $1.50

The other yarn-dyed cotton plaid is a set of colors that can't decide if they're royal blue and taupe or dark purple and pale green.  At 1 1/8 yards of 56" for $1 (another color-of-the-week cloth) I don't mind the ambiguity.

Below that is just over a yard of a 60" wool plaid, which might become a winter jacket for the kiddo.  Maybe.

Next is another half-price cut, $1.50 for 2 5/8 yards of a 60" polyester lining fabric with a fine yarn-dyed stripe.  It's a bit heavier than the lining fabric I'm used to.  If I ever make that chintz floral print motorcycle jacket that's been percolating in my mind, this'll go inside.

The solid yellow cotton and the blue cotton blend (I really wanna say it has nylon in it) were purchased because I have the idea to make a Fallout Vault Suit for The Child (shh, don't tell him--it's a surprise.)  I had debated going to JoAnn Fabric today specifically to buy stuff for that project, but the Goodwill in that direction is usually disappointing, and, y'know, there was always the possibility I might find some suitable cloth in Goodwill...  Yeah.  They're both about 2 5/8 yards long, with the yellow being 45" and the blue being 60"--more than needed for both, but for about $5 combined, that's OK.

And then there's the toy print.

The fabulously off toy print.

It's a slightly coarse cotton, which I expect to feel a lot softer after it's been washed and dried (which it's doing right now.)  At 44" wide and about 43" long, I'm envisioning it in a skirt with a wide border of a plain pink cotton at the hem.  I don't have any plain pink cotton, much less in that odd shade of pink, so that will require a further purchase...although...I wonder if I could bleach that intense salmon I have (it's a similar coarse cotton, too...hmm...)

So.  Nine cuts of cloth, most of which I have Actual Ideas about, totaling 26 3/8 yards, plus a small tin, two T-shirts, two dolls, a Lego Technics set (still in it's screamingly-late 1990s box--I didn't know that Technics pieces were ever made in purple and teal...), plus tax for a bit over $25.  My friend M says I have Magical Thrifting Powers.  I'll admit it, I'm proud.

But now I have more to sew...

Big Little Doll

I bought a Monster High Gooliope doll a few weekends ago.  She uses the new 17" Monster High body, so of course needed new clothes.

And a new face.  And a wig.

This ever-so-vaguely lolita ensemble was the second outfit I made for her, with this being the first

I used the "cover it with tape to get the shape" approach for the first time to make the leggings pattern, which, while successful...yeah, not really my style.  After getting comments on it from other places, it's probably enough other people's styles that I can put it--and similar items--on Etsy.  Like these similar items

I have more sweatshirt-appropriate cloth than legging-appropriate cloth, so there will be lots of sweatshirts soon.  Hopefully.   (And I really think I need to re-do her right eye...)