Sewing

Sergers And Thread And Doll Clothes, Oh My!

My tendinitis has died down a little and I have figured out a system for managing the pattern cutting, so I have been sewing again. It’s super exciting to be sewing regularly again! I do have to take more breaks and only cut a few things at once. My rotary cutter doesn’t like very stretchy knits, so I’m a bit annoyed by that, but I’m getting better at cutting neatly around pattern shapes.

I made a bunch of new doll clothes, as my kid clients have been requesting new warmer clothes for the office dolls for winter. Another request was more school books, but I just made those quickly with construction paper. Both the new clothes and the books have met with approval so far.

Forgive the working picture, it was the brightest one. Isn’t this an adorable dress? I’ve decided I just need to preview my wardrobe combos in doll sizes first. They turn out so cute!

This is the Vada Doll Dress from CKC Patterns. I thought I should try some of the other patterns I had and this one was super easy. I have some more sweater scraps that will be used for a couple more of these.

Another outfit that I probably will duplicate in my sizes is this yoga set.

A couple of friends have approved this idea. I got the yoga fabric from K, as she had gotten an end of bolt deal and was generous enough to share. It’s a bit thin for pants for me, but I think a tank would be cute and I have blue leggings material too. It just made me giggle over how cute it was.

I also used a Love Notions doll pattern, the Laundry Day dress to make these two dresses. Because I was not looking to sell these, I just serged the edges. It was much easier!

I used a tried and true shirt pattern for these shirts. It’s the Ellie and Mac Simply Sweet doll shirt. It’s very easy and looks cute. I used a couple of sweater knits for the mint one and the purple swirly one.

I used the fabric scraps from a cardigan to make this adorable winter skirt and scraps from a matching leggings set from my other K friend. These are both the Bonny skirt from Made for Mermaids.

I used more scraps from the checkered material to make more Doll Bonny leggings. You can never have too many leggings, after all.

I also made a capri length of leggings and a matching leotard, as apparently both of the girl dolls need one. The leo pattern is much easier once I decided not to try turning all the edges. It looks much better without the turning.

I had a request for another book bag too for the dolls. Apparently they all needed their own to take to school, so I made this little sparkly bag out of tiny scraps of fabric and ribbon.

It was very well received. When you’re 8, the sparklier the better apparently!

I still have a pile of scraps to use up with new doll clothes and less feelings of silliness about learning how to make them after doing some more research on pricing. They’re a really quick, fun thing to do when discouraged too.

I mentioned on the garden post that I had attended a bellydance event and vended at the same. I have a lot of stock currently, so I didn’t really make much more. The green skirt just needed tassels and the gold skirt was a fabric that I bought intending on making a shirt with it. It was too thin for me though, so hip skirts it is!

Sadly, I didn’t really sell anything, but the dancing was good. I’m invited back for the winter one in February too and will hopefully be able to build more interest. This event was pretty last minute.

These leggings are pretty comfy, but there’s something weird happening at the waistband. The fabric isn’t as stretchy one way as the other. They work, but they are a little less comfortable than my other ones.

I just loved the quilt square aspect of them.

Another fun print I have been working with is this sewing machine print, which I made into a hoodie! I tried a new pattern and despite looking complicated, it is super easy.

It is the Ellie and Mac Undercover Hoodie. You can technically make a hidden pocket, but it hits me at kind of a weird spot and I don’t really need a pocket all the way across my stomach. This is the second hoodie I made and I added thumbhole cuffs and reduced the hood size. The first hood falls down over my eyes. 🙂 These are both cotton lycra fabric, so not super warm, but very comfy. The magenta is from Purple Seamstress and the sewing machines are from Seweird Fabrics. It was a custom print and was too cute.

Here’s the first one, made with two french terry fabrics. The hexies are very stretchy and feel more smooth with very low loops. The blue is more sweater like.

It is great for lounging as it’s more drapey than the machines. I love them both though and have been wearing them constantly. The aerial yoga instructor almost fell over when I told her I had made this one. She didn’t realize how much K and I actually are able to sew. 🙂

The pink fabric with the machines is actually the same fabric I used to make the leggings in this outfit.

The floral fabric is a cotton voile, very lightweight and lovely to wear. I made a Brunch Blouse from Patterns for Pirates. For the hems, I used a fancy rolled hem stitch on my serger and it was lovely! A rolled hem is an easy way to finish a seam properly while using the smallest amount of fabric. It doesn’t look like much, but I felt very accomplished! I now can hem slippery or sheer fabrics much more easily. Here’s a picture of it.

Since it’s gotten colder lately, I’m not sure how much I’ll wear the top, but the leggings will be very helpful all winter.

This sweater is my newest favorite cozy sweater with thumbhole cuffs and a funnel neck, which is really just a looser turtleneck. I wanted a full cowl, but accidentally cut the first piece wrong, so had to go to a funnel instead.

I do need to redo the cuffs, as I accidentally made the stretch go the wrong way, but they still fit, I just can’t fold them down, which is inconvenient. I have new ones already cut, just have to redo them. This fabric absolutely was meant to be a sweater in this style. I used the Relaxed Raglan pattern from Patterns for Pirates. It’s a very easy, but can be fancy pattern.

So that’s what I have been sewing lately. I should probably go fix those cuffs. My coworker saw my post on Facebook about it and asked why I wasn’t wearing it today at the office. 🙂 Have a cozy night!