Roll the Die Roundup

  Patch Waist A

Also made the shirt and beret, skirt is thrifted

Nummer

Also made the skirt

Varsity

Made the skirt

Patch Waist B

And made the shirt and skirt

Patch Vest

Made the jacket, skirt, hat, tights

Reverse Appliqué

aaannnd made the jacket, skirt, hat, and leggings

Halloween Patchwork Jumper Fix

 Last year, I made a Halloween-themed patchwork jumper from Kwik Sew 4138 McCall's It's Sew Simple 9603 (they're the same pattern.)  Since it was a new-to-me pattern, I chose a waist size that ended up larger than needed

and only got around to fixing that this week

(inadvertently spooky photo?)

I tried it on and pinched out the waistband so it felt comfortable on my waist, instead of falling generously below it--ended up being 3"

I picked out a few inches of top stitching around the waistband side seams, four times for each side, plus several structural seams, to free the skirt and expose the seams.  It was annoying work.

Then I cut off the seam allowances at those waistband side seams and sewed new seams at ¾", followed by gathering the skirt a bit more to fit the new waist band width between the untouched stitching, then sewed everything back together.

I do not care that there are now thick lumps of back tacking on the top stitching.  No-one's going to be getting close enough to my waist to see.

Now, maybe I'll finally wear this!  ...mostly next year, since this year's Halloween is only a few days away.

Little Shorts

 I have spent the last few days working on a doll pattern...that I'd originally started nearly a year ago, then...kinda...did other things instead.

I present: Three Variations on Little Barbie Shorts

Curvy, High Waist Original, and Original

I register my usual grumble about how that body was created in 2016 and is most definitely not original.  Which is what prompted me to try a pair made with High Waist Original on an actual first Barbie body

 

 along with another pair of High Waist Original on a slim waist early 2000s articulated Ken body (wearing a Mod Ken head and completely different hands.)  There's plenty of room for Barbie to tuck in the somewhat bulky shirt, while Ken doesn't have that luxury.  I don't think he minds. 

The non-high-waist Original shorts fit the Rainbow High/Shadow High body fairly well, too, although the waist becomes super high in that situation.

You should be able to right click and save the pattern and instructions, and there's a 1"/1cm scale to double check that the size prints correctly.

Suitable fabrics include quilting cotton, chambray, pinwale/baby corduroy, lightweight denim, and any similar sturdy, but still doll scale, woven fabrics

In the first photo, the Curvy doll on the left is wearing the shorts over my Curvy Bodysuit pattern, which can be found here https://sewiam.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-doll-pattern-ive-shared-so-far.html , and the Original on the right is wearing Blouse with Front Variations, included here https://sewiam.blogspot.com/2020/07/doll-clothes-pattern-roundup-part-2.html .  I don't have any coherent wardrobe building plans in mind whenever I decide something should be a pattern I share, so it's nice when they do turn out to work together.

Varsity Try

 When I made the Halloween Varsity Jacket, I combined New Look 6120 and Simplicity 8175 on the fly

 

because I wanted to keep the short length and Junior sizing of the New Look (albeit cut in the largest Junior size), while having the button closure of the Simplicity.

I liked the result so much I wanted to trace off properly-merged pattern pieces for the front and front facing.  And I did!  This project was to test the merger.

The merger was a success! I'm still not so sure about the actual garment.

Double Knit Color Slub Houndstooth Jumper

 When I visited the craft thrift store in May, one of the 10¢ patterns I grabbed was Simplicity 9757 from 1996

Which I had back in the late 90s, too.  I attempted to make it once, in I believe view B, using a light pink knit with a faux quilted texture and a simple black outline, somewhat crudely-drawn Ancient Egyptian print.  My skills weren't up to that combination of fabric and pattern (or getting a correct pattern size by grading between a smaller bust size versus hip size) and I may even have tried to use bias tape to finish the neckline and arm openings?  I'm not sure if I ever even finished it, because it was going so bad.

 Things went better this time.

 

 

Craft Thrift Camisole

 The previous post, showing what I got from last Sunday's visit to the creative re-use thrift store, included a small length of a lightweight light green woven (which the burn test suggested might be a cotton silk blend?  maybe short staple noil-y kinda silk?) and a copy of Simplicity 8085 from 1987

which I did not purchase with intent to use together, but the combination suggested itself very quickly.  Having thread and buttons that matched (somewhat) prompted me to go ahead and try it.

I did not have any suitable lace, and I ignored other aspects of the instructions, too.  As I usually do.

Once Again, to the Re-use Store

 I was very good, after dropping off the many many bags of mostly fabric to donate to the creative re-use thrift store, at not choosing a comparable amount of fabric to bring back home.

I got: 1¼ yard of black tubular rib knit that at least feels cottony; 1¼ yard 44" minty(?) green cotton; 2 3/8 yards 45" ivory that I'm now doubting is pure cotton.  Edit: Did a burn test on the ivory, it very thoroughly melted.  So.  And, since I had the candle lit, I went ahead and did a burn test on the green, and it...skeletonized?  Does it contain silk??

I was hoping to get some solid cottons in good weights for shirts, and the heavy ribbing was a nice additional find.

This place usually has a little box of vinyl samples, and I found several that should be good for doll purses.  Someday.

The red one is technically not vinyl--the plastic layer is polyurethane instead of PVC. I just thought that was neat.

I also grabbed a small package of aida cloth remnants, for whenever I finally try punch embroidery.

The bulk of my purchase, however, were 10¢ patterns.  So many 10¢ patterns.

Destash Zip Thanks

 My friend and I had been planning for weeks to go back to the creative re-use thrift store, and I wanted to donate as much as I could--I largely turned a critical eye on yardage fabric I probably never would use, and similar odds and ends of lace and trim, and craft stuff I hadn't touched for years (if ever.)  I emptied some storage boxes/areas and made space in more, which, yes, would allow me to acquire new stuff, but the real intent was just to...generally eliminate things.  I get a lot of satisfaction, at this stage of life, from honing my craft and hobby stashes.  (It's not exactly the Konmari approach, but it's similar.)  I made enough space that I could move some things, which had been in an annoying storage situation, into a concealed storage spot, and now it makes me happy to look at where the stuff used to be and not see it sticking out anymore. (I will never be a minimalist, but clutter doesn't sit well with me, either.)

The creative re-use store's website says they don't accept fabric donations under a yard--I know they do accept calico in quarter yards/fat quarters, so I did donate some of those (and a quick chat with the register lady said they accept smaller cotton pieces that can be used for doll clothes--she tried to sell me some bags of those, but, heh, nope, I have so many I could donate to them...)  I have two big bags of scraps--one of calicos and one of everything else.  My storage concerns need to figure out what to do with them, as well as leave space to keep filling future bags, because I will always generate a lot of scraps I'm not personally prepared to use for doll clothes or patchwork.

ANYWAY.

One of the remnants of fabric I didn't want to keep but I thought was too small to donate, leftover from a skirt I made last year, I decided to sew into a Thanks item for the friend, who is the one who drives to the place (friend has a Prius, so there's less...uh...ecoguilt about driving a long distance to a thrift store.)

Vintage metal zipper, too.

Roll the Die: Reverse Appliqué

 Technically no die roll for this one, since it was the last on the list.  Curiously, it was the oldest idea on the list as well: a long sleeve shirt with a rib cage and arm bones rendered in reverse appliqué.

Unfortunately, my brain had apparently decided that these six die roll projects were in reality One Very Large Project, and getting to this last one was like getting to buttons on a shirt (or vest) in that it was accompanied by the feeling of "I just want this done so the whole thing will be finished" and things got...rushed.

I will say, it does work for proof of concept!

Roll the Die: Patch Vest

 

 Rolled a 4: Patch Vest! (at this point I want to mention, with great amusement, that I didn't have to re-roll any of these.)

Patch here means patchwork, just like the previous project, and vest is view B of New Look 6514.

The vest pattern is completely straightforward and reminds me that I do want to make more vests

just

without cutting a lot of 2" squares from scrap fabric and taking over a day to assemble them into panels just a bit bigger than the pattern pieces first.

     Once that was done, though, zip zoom and the vest was finished