Upcycling #2

This time with two thrifted skirts, because they're both on the sheer side (and they both originally had built-in slip layers, but I removed those ages ago so I could wear little petticoats under 'em)

And I also used the super simple extended shoulder bodice from Simplicity 9153, and ended up with this

I suspect it'll be more fun to wear than to look at

Doll Clothes Pattern Roundup part 2

Here's another post with the doll patterns I've shared since the last big doll clothes pattern roundup post in July 2018

Upcycling #1

I grabbed all of the skirts in my closet that I have not worn for a year and decided I would use them as skirts for more loose pull-over dresses.

And then they sat in a box in my sewing room for a few weeks.

Chip said it made a great cat bed.

Two days ago I made myself cut out the bodice pieces for one, and yesterday I started sewing it, using the "sew one seam, go do something else for fifteen minutes" method.  I got the bodice assembled and picked apart sections of the skirt side seams to insert pockets yesterday, and early this afternoon finished.

Yes, it's another fake Burda 6401, with a skirt variation because, as mentioned above, it was a thrifted skirt so I didn't make the decisions involved in sewing it.

Yes, I know, such a cheerfully summery frock!

Lots of little sewing

This post is mostly a record of what sewing I've sewn--I mean, this entire blog is a record of what I've sewn, but I usually, y'know...details.  This is more just to show that I have been surfacing from the general malaise and felt inclined to create again.

So.

In early May, I poked through my stash of cloth for doll purposes and grabbed a bunch of pieces that had very small amounts left.  Most of them were pieces from other people (thank you!) that came to my stash in odd little bits, and I had absolutely no plans for any of them--I just wanted to use 'em up.

Every few years I do this--take the fabric that I have bits of but that doesn't directly inspire me and make whatever I can from them, and I usually end up with decent basic pieces.  I haven't dressed any dolls in most of these bits yet, so I'm not sure if they are "decent basic pieces," but...they're pieces that do exist and can be put on dolls, so that's something.

I started by cutting things out randomly over the course of weeks, with no desire to sew them and no idea if the desire would ever be there, and in early June I ended up with this pile of future projects

I tried to group the pieces so I could use the same thread for a lot of them, so I could sew one right after the other.  (I didn't think about batch sewing until the last few pieces.)

And then eventually I thought, oh, I'll sew one, just to get it started, and then I wanted to sew another, just to move things along, and then I was sewing for the fun of it and by June 17 I had this

So yeah!  I sewed doll stuff.

And then I turned to several existing skirts I have that I realized I could make bodices for and turn into dresses fairly easily, picked out the cloth to make the bodices, and then had my brain say "No!  It's reroot time!" which...if you've ever rerooted a doll, either it's something you like and can do whenever you want, or else it's something you generally dread and can only do when motivation strikes.  I'm the latter.  This mood carried me easily through one complete reroot, one partial reroot, and into another complete reroot before the mood faded.  I still finished that one (battle of what's worse: reroots or incomplete projects? hmm) and I'm going to post a picture here because the way I reroot uses an anchor thread so it's kinda like sewing

I need to dress these gals, as well as whoever else seems suitable to the clothes I made (plus some clothes other people made that were generously sent by a doll person I've known a while, thanks again), then, maybe? sew for me again.

 

High Waist Pleat Front Wide Leg Cuffed Cropped Trousers...for Dolls: The Pattern Hack

So I wondered, would it be enough to trim the pattern pieces just a bit to convert the pattern from Curvy size to "Original"* size?

 Yep!

 The Curvy waist is 1"/24mm larger than the "Original" waist, so I hypothesized that it would be enough to take ¼"/6mm off of the sides.  Once I drew on that contour, I realized the area above crotch level (the rise) would be too long, so I measured (yes, I actually measured) and then reduced the rise by ½"/12mm.  The waistband got a simple inch taken off of one side.

Here's a picture with my pencil sketch lines for the alterations

   I know it would have been better to print a new copy of the pattern and alter it with actual cutting and taping, but...it's me, so I just folded things.

I might still reprint it sometime, so I can add length to the legs--probably by cutting both leg pieces at approximately the level of the word Front and then taping in the half inch pieces cut off from rise.  There will need to be a bit of angle tweaking, but the way the bottom of the leg is designed to accommodate the cuff means I wouldn't add the make up length there.

Or I could leave 'em short


* anyone who knows anything about Barbie knows "Original" size has been around no longer than Curvy size.  Bah.

High Waist Pleat Front Wide Leg Cuffed Cropped Trousers...for Dolls

In late 2018, I made this somewhat random pair of pants for a slightly-larger-than-Barbie doll

(She's a Calico Lassie, sold in the 1960s by Kellogg's on cereal boxes, whose original style was heavily influenced by Ellie May from The Beverly Hillbillies)

The pants got a decent reception, so I made a quick sketch recreating how I'd cut the  pieces and said I'd make a pattern to share.

I started working on that a bit over a month ago.  It took a few iterations

I'll spare you the photos of the process of getting them right, with all the "oh, if that were a real person, that looks like it would be...uncomfortable" fit issues, so here's the final fit on two Curvy Barbies, left and right (while a Takara Cool Girl looks on from the center.)

Yes, I stubbornly refused to change the thread throughout the whole process, and completely expected the dark printed plaid attempt wouldn't fit right, either, so of course it did and that contrasty thread at the waistband is...contrasty.   It blends better with the lightweight light purple denim, which I made after the dark plaid pair to check that the pattern did indeed work.  The other pair is one of the bad-fit versions, but that doll has a different body so she can wear them a bit better.

You should be able to right click and save each of these.  There's a 1" line and a 1cm line on the pattern, to check that they print at the correct size--make sure *not* to click Fit To Page on that!

All of the shirts are pattern I've created and shared, too--they're on this blog, but I'll go ahead and put copies under the cut here

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