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.

 

 

Gray and Bright

I got a lot of fabrics, the last time I went to the craft thrift store, that unexpectedly coordinated really well (plus a lot of fabrics I knew coordinated when I chose them), so, of course, my first inclination was to use them in the same project.  Maybe another layer cake dress?  I started pulling other fabrics from my stash that coordinated, and eventually decided to try making a dress or two from a mix of the new (to me) fabric mixed with stuff I've had for a while.  It seemed more...fair?...to mix new with old, instead of using up all the new in its own projects, while letting fabrics I already had continue to go unused.

I also wanted to make a nice, simple pullover dress--no patchwork this time!  ...well...relatively simple, because I did want to mix the fabrics with nods to the Gunne Sax pattern I have, mainly via visible facings, bias binding the neckline, and ruffles and more ruffles.  But.  No patchwork.  So.  It still seemed to go together very very fast.

 

Olive & Aubergine Patchwork

Once again, I opened a fabric storage drawer and said to myself, "This is very crowded, maybe I should use up all of a certain kind of fabric here in a patchwork project."

This time, it was bits of rayon, especially after I noticed they all circled around the same greens and purples...plus one black and white print.  At first, I wasn't going to include the B&W, but I thought it made a nice, unexpected contrast, so I went with it, which helped when it came to finding additional fabrics to mix in.

In addition to the rayons (most of which are challis, but one is faille), there's a vintage linen???, smooth plain weave cottons, homespuns, a flannelette, and a slubby silk cotton blend.

Make-over

 Made a coat dress at the beginning of January.  Didn't like it...like...intensely.  Even if I did address the fit issues, the big problem, for me, was that I did not like how the collar was constructed--unless it's a motorcycle jacket, I like my collar and lapels to be more connected than that.

I do have plans for a patchwork project that uses scraps of the fabric, but I didn't want to turn the whole thing into scraps, because I do like the fabric!  And I bought the buttons just for that project, which is something I almost never do (my stash is expansive, except, apparently, for ¾" black buttons.)  I let the coat dress hang on the closet door in here while I made the patchwork cat jacket, and considered my options.  "Skirt" was quickly considered and abandoned, because I realized I could make it into a jumper!

I'm not sure if I have properly conveyed just how much I like jumpers, because I know I haven't made very many of them over the years, but I do really like them, and have since the 1990s.  In fact, I had a copy of the pattern I used for this project--McCall's 7812--in the late '90s, and used it a few times.  I remembered it so fondly that I decided to re-acquire a copy a few years ago.

I finally cut the tissue for view A and here we are

It has a lot of issues, but, y'know what?  I'm wearing it right now, so it's definitely better than the coat dress incarnation.

Patchwork Cat Jacket

About eight years ago, I made a patchwork blanket based on a quilt block idea I had about ten years ago.  I based the block on 4½" fabric squares.  Early last month, I wondered if I could figure out a version of the block based on the square die sizes I have for my die cutter.

I did a little sketching and math and arrived at cutting the squares at 35mm, the squares that would be cut into half square triangles at 40mm, and the squares that would be cut into quarter square triangles at 45mm.  Because I am not 100% committed to Perfect, I cut those squares into halves and quarters with scissors, so things were...variable...but workable.

The day I posted the previous project (still not happy with that), I cut enough squares and triangles to do a test, and made this 

Success!

Then the tedium started, eventually getting to this

 

 Eventually.

The Ice Storm and Power Outages Have Made Surprisingly Little Impact

I am working on a sewing project, and I started it the day I published the previous post.  It's a little......detailed...

First Time Making a Pattern I've Had Since 1999

 ...or possibly early 2000.  It's Style 2494, and it has a 1994 copyright, but I'm pretty sure I got it when I worked at Joann from mid-1999 to early 2000

 

 Having finally made it, with enough time to develop my sewing skills so much more than what they were back then...  Well.  If I had made it immediately, I probably would have thought the problems were with my skills, and not with the pattern itself.

 

 Now, though, I know enough to be unhappy with the pattern itself.