Doll Party Skirt

Since I've been sewing doll clothes, I can't look at my children's outgrown clothes without thinking about how they might be refashioned in a tiny size.

I've had a great time with this refashion. I love the skirt and I never liked the original dress much. I confess that I don't like Disney clothing. I don't much like any branded or logo clothing for children and this dress was very costume-y in the first place. Much better on a doll than having my child be a walking billboard.

I used the back half of the skirt and just trimmed off the lower tier of tulle and the knit underskirt. I was trying to be fancy with the underskirt by gathering it to pull up into a bubble underskirt, but it wasn't working so it was a relief to just cut it away. 

The back of the dress had an elastic band through the gathers so I was fortunate that I didn't have to add any fastening to the skirt, only sew up the back layers and hem the waistband, which I did by hand.

The refashioning continues, I have big plans for the front section of the skirt, and the puffed sleeves.

The tulle off cut didn't go to waste either, it became the accent for the Doll Witch skirt.

Cost: £0.00

Doll Witch Costume

It's time for the dollies to go trick or treating too. Well, one of them anyway. I had literally mere scraps left from the Halloween cloaks. Here they are:

See? I wasn't joking. Still, I had to try to get something out of them for the dolls. I guessed I could manage a scrappy skirt, and possibly a cape.

For the skirt, I cut 7-8 pieces into right-angled triangles, each 16cm long. Then I pinked the raw edges. Then I overlapped them and ran a basting/gathering thread around the top. Instead of using up  fabric to make an elastic casing, I zig zagged them straight on to the elastic. The elastic was already in a circle so the join is just made by overlapping the last two triangles.

I'm afraid that the cloak is not a triumph of high quality finishing. By the time I had made two children's cloaks and a doll's skirt out of 4 yards of black polycotton, I was more than a bit sick of it. I pieced 4 long right-angled triangles to make a rectangle. Then I just hemmed the sides, pinked the raw edges and sewed two lengths of black grosgrain ribbon on for ties.

But, after Emily tried it on, I decided she looked a bit plain, plus that thigh split is a bit indecent. She needed to be a bit closer to the costumes my daughters have been looking at on the official website.

I had some spotted tulle that I salvaged from a refashion so decided to add it as an overlay to the skirt. I gathered it and zig zagged it to the waistband. Now she is properly pink and sparkly and not a bit dark and creepy.  Just as she should be. I'm planning a school holiday project to make some hats and broomsticks for the dolls. Maybe a trick or treat bag too.

Cost: £0.00

Halloween Costume: Witch's Cloak

Trick or treat!  Scary, huh? Luckily one of the cutest girls I know is underneath that hood.

This is the second instalment of the Halloween costume cloaks. It is almost the same as the vampire cloak but with no lining and a hood instead of a collar.

Because there is no lining to tidy things up, I did French seams for the side seams. I used scraps for the hood, so I had to piece two triangles together to make a rectangle large enough. I wanted it really big so it would hang across the shoulders and down the back. I got it so large that I had to gather the neckline to get it to fit the cloak.

Then I went to town on finishings. I did a 1 inch hem facing for the front of hood, bias binding seam finishes where the hood attaches to the cloak and more hem facings along each front opening. The gap in the side seams is not hemmed because this is the selvedge and I didn’t want to take away any fabric, or add any weight. I made a small tie front and enclosed it in the front facing.

Happy Halloween!

Costs:

Fabric: 2 yards (Walmart) £6.31

Thread: stash £0.00

Pattern: half cost (Minerva) £1.63
Total: £7.94

Halloween Costume: Vampire Cape

When my kids go out trick or treating, I have to plan on it being really cold. And quite possibly, raining. A cloak is the perfect costume outer layer. It can go over coats and transform their outfit into something recognisable. Thank goodness I have a witch and a vampire heading out this year. Cloaks are a go!

Now, I know I can buy kids costumes for peanuts from certain online enormous retailers, but I like the satisfaction of making them myself.

For the fabric I went to a different enormous big box retailer and got some pre-cut polycotton yardage. I planned it a while ago so bought them when I was in North America. I thought about just running a drawstring along one edge of a square and calling it done, but I wanted something that would be easier to wear. I took advantage of a pattern sale from Minerva to buy Simplicity 1584, a beautifully styled pattern, essentially a dress and a cloak which lends itself to a great selection of kids costumes.

The pattern calls for 3 yards, but I only had two, so I made do. I laid the pattern pieces out along the fold line and left the corner pieces out. I think it makes it look more bat-like, as well as saving me another yard of fabric.

The lining was also a pre-cut, poly-satin. Only one yard this time so I was really short. I used it to line just the front and I am really happy with the effect. I even figured out how to attach the lining to the seam allowance to enclose them all inside the lining - go me!

The pattern called for a hook and eye closure, and had a separate neck-tie. I decided to bring the neck tie into the cloak front as a fastening. I just made up two halves and enclosed it in the front seam. No lost pieces and I love how the black, red and white all work together to be instantly recognisable as Dracula.

Costs

Fabric: 2 yards polycotton (Walmart) £6.31

Lining: 1 yard poly-satin (Walmart) £6.63

Tie: stash

Interfacing: scraps from stash - £0.00

Thread: stash - £0.00

Pattern: half cost (Minerva.com) £1.63
Total: £14.58

Mustard T-shirt

This is my second T-shirt from this pattern and my second make with this fabric, so it should have all come together like a dream…

Hmm... not quite, but not a fail.

I do like the fabric, I am aware that the colour doesn’t really suit my skin tone, but hey ho, I like it. I’ll have to see how it washes over time. I fear it might start to look old pretty fast, but for now it feels good: soft yet sturdy.

I like the pattern, the Kirsten Kimono Tee, but I don’t think it worked as well for the heavier weight of this interlock. I used jersey last time and it handled the kimono sleeves better. These are quite puckered under the arm where it curves into the sleeve.

My machine still didn’t behave for the twin needle hem so I hemmed the bottom by hand and hemmed the sleeves with a binding.

Can you spot the "design feature"?

I made loads of mistakes with the neck and the sleeve binding this time. Practice made me lazy, not perfect. First, I cut the neck binding on the bias. Should have read the pattern. Then I attached it wrong side out! I’m so lazy that I decided that the exposed seam at the back neck could be a design feature and so I left it like that. Shock, horror! The bias explains the slight ripple along the neckline. I think. Then, (there’s more!) I cut the sleeve bindings with the stretch running vertically, not horizontally. Again, did I rip out and re-do? Gosh no! That’s why they are a bit ripply too.

Anyway, there’s not that much to say about this top, it’s a pretty boring make. I might not have posted about it, except for the mistakes, but I’m pleased to have an early Autumn piece that goes with a lot of things and layers up nicely with my favourite cardigan.

Cost: £5.13 for the second yard of interlock fabric.

London Dress for Dolls

Finding fabrics printed with interesting graphics is challenging for the home sewer, so when some landed in my lap, I immediately planned a border skirt.

Before: an airline toiletry bag.
After: a doll's dress.

Can you spot the London landmarks, in amongst the cosmetic bottles?

I used 3 of these bags for the dress. The skirt is three print panels, which are on the front of the bag only.  The bodice and lining are cut from the reverse of one bag each. One drawstring cord was just long enough for a tie belt. Longer if I had bothered to untie the knots, instead of just cutting them off and melting them in the gas hob.

I used my go-to doll dress pattern, used here and here. Between that and the Popover Sundress, I only have two doll dress patterns. I got stingier on the velcro this time, it only needs 2-3 pieces to fasten, not a whole strip.

Cost: 3 x business class flights on British Airways. Long haul only.  :-P

Doll hat and scarf

The leaves are blowing across the lawn, the nights are getting shorter, and colder. Our thoughts turn to Winter, getting cosy and knitting.

Naturally, I thought of the dolls first...

I had this 4ply yarn in navy and thought it was a good weight and colour for them.  I made up the patterns as I went along.

First, the scarf is 9 stitches, knit in garter stitch, with seed stitch for a few rows to edge.

The hat is 74 stitches, ribbed edge, then stocking stitch for about 1.5 inches. I knit 2 together 6 times around the crown to decrease. I did the decreases every second row until the last 2-3 rows when I made them every row. Finally, I pulled the last 8 stitches through the remaining yarn and weaved in to finish.