Corny Kimono

Another doll kimono, following the patterns and directions in Dolly*Dolly vol 24, available on The Internet Archive.  This time, I went a little less serious, while also figuring out things I misunderstood (or just plain missed) the first time.

I have wanted to mix this corn print with this yellow print for years.

I don't think I ever would have added pink and purple contrasts if I had mixed these prints in my usual kinds of doll clothes, and I am so happy that I did add those color contrasts to this.

And it's doll sewing again

 But! This time, it is not using my own pattern!

The Internet Archive has some issues of the Japanese doll sewing magazines Dollybird and Dolly*Dolly.  I cross referenced the sizes listed for the magazines on Mandarake (a Japanese second-hand pop culture store) and used that to scale the scans for printing--specifically, the kimono and associated accessories for 27cm dolls, from Dolly*Dolly vol 24.

While I do have some of the 27cm dolls the pattern is intended for, I wanted to make this one for a Silkstone Barbie, so I added some length to the bottom edge.  How much length?  C'mon, it's me, you know I didn't measure it.  It was enough.

The hardest part was trying to decipher some of the direction images in the low resolution scan--I'm sure that would have been easier if I could comprehend written Japanese beyond recognizing a few nouns.

Batty Alteration

Early last year, I made a shirt from the bat print that I used in the patchwork cardigan.  Although I declared the shirt Fine in the original post, it turned out not to be so good.

The big issue was that the neckband was cut too long, and it didn't snug the neckline up so it laid nice.  Because of that, I stopped wearing the shirt--sadly, because I do like the print.

Handling it in the patchwork project made me decide to revisit that shirt's neckband.  I initially thought I'd carefully pick out the stitching and make the existing band shorter before sewing it back in, but I decided I'd rather play it safe and use a proper rib knit.

I buckled down and clipped through the stitching, the top stitching, and the serging, which took much longer than getting the new neckband cut (limited by the width of the rib knit I had), sewn into a loop, mark all the centers, and sewn in place, with top serging and top stitching.

I will say, I hadn't realized it was...so short

And when I found the original post about making it, I see that it originally was not.  I shall have to hand-wash the patchwork cardigan and let it air dry.  This shirt will still work fine for layers.

Patchwork...Cardigan!

This is the last of the planned patchwork projects, meant to use up scraps and free up storage space.  This one is a departure from the others, because this one uses knits.

I always worry about popping seams on pull-over knit shirts--and I still don't trust my serger to make a full quarter inch two needle seam without breaking the left needle, plus I wanted the ability to press the seam allowances open--so I decided to make a cardigan instead, using Simplicity 8951 (mostly.)

I cut 182 3"/76mm squares, and I used all of them, plus an uncounted number of partial squares to fill in edges and corners.

Almost every one of these knits has appeared on this blog in a previous project (the one that hasn't is from a project that predates the blog.)  That's a lot of projects, and I don't feel like digging up the links right now.  They're back there, somewhere.

And here's how they came together

 

Pause for a Hat

(then, back to patchwork--I've been cutting it out already)

This is another Timber Lane Press Kaleidoscope Cap, made up in two fabrics, both of which are leftover from the last project, which means they're also left over from other projects.

  

Is it more doll clothes? No! It's more patchwork!

I had more fabric picked out for more patchwork, and I decided to finally get back to that.  It was over a week ago, though!  I had to drag myself through this project--not because it was any harder (or more tedious) than the previous patchwork projects, but because I had picked these fabrics out first, after I finished several projects last year and thought their scraps coordinated nicely.

Purple flannel herringbone set

Green plaid A-line skirt

Floral motorcycle jacket

Cotton flannel plaid skirt

Corduroy zipper skirt

Wool snap skirt

 

but the problem is that the more time it takes me to get to a project, the more mental weight the project gathers, and it gets harder to approach it in a light, carefree manner like I do with the more spontaneous stuff I make.  The recent "just make something from these fabric scraps that are taking up too much room" projects were a breeze, because they happened almost as fast as the ideas for them formed.  The idea for this, however, had been around since November, giving my brain time to form expectations for it.  Progress gets held back by thoughts of "What if this doesn't end up as nice/fun/cool as I thought it would?"

Still, I kept at it and slowly--eight days!--got it finished

 

 

This is when I hear people say "Eight days? It would have  taken me a month to sew all those patches together!" and I respond that, yes, I understand that this kind of thing can take a while, and I really should be comfortable taking all the time I need for it.  But.  I got the longer, but more spontaneous, patchwork skirt done in five days, so my brain is back there saying I should have been able to finish this one faster.  Brains can be unreasonable.

...dolls again...

 I spent a while working on dolls, mostly digging through my spare parts boxes and just making anything that seemed fast and logical...and maybe not so fast or logical, like this

which involved cutting apart several different doll bodies, then putting the parts together with epoxy putty and hard plastic melted in acetone, and then airbrushing everything.

And I did sew a few doll dresses over the weekend--three of them are surprises for other people, and these two are for my dolls

Lovely little crochet cardigan made by my friend QueenOfSquids

Someone gave me this licensed Barbie print fabric years ago.  I thought the scale of the print was all wrong for Barbie, but the base cotton is really lovely and fine, and I realized it would be very fun to make into one of these baby doll dresses for a not-Barbie-size doll.