Doll Clothes Marathon

The sewing I've been doing lately is just for fun... a while back I organized my scraps and made a dent in the cleaning project in my sewing room by putting all my doll clothes fabric into two bins, one for 'bottoms' like skirts and pants, and one for tops and such.

In February I was contacted by someone from the youth group in our church about a donation to the Youth Auction in April.  The kids are going to the Youth Gathering in July, and they need to earn money for the trip.  There's a dinner and an auction where they sell goods and services that have been donated to the cause.  Last year I donated a wardrobe for an 18" doll, and I'm doing that again this year.

Making doll clothes has always been fun for me.  I started when I was about 10 or 11 years old, making clothes for my Barbie.  I had one of those original blond Barbies with the boobs and the impossibly small waist and feet.  And the black and white striped bathing suit, remember that??  Oh, yeah!  By the time I stopped playing with her, my Barbie had a career wardrobe, a ton of pants and tops, and several very nice ball gowns.

I moved on to making clothes for the dolls belonging to younger cousins.  They too were pretty well set in the suit and gown department.

My own daughter disdained Barbie.  She was in love with the Cabbage Patch Kids.  And I made a ton of clothing for those kids.  AND I made clothes for the dolls belonging to girls she played with too.

Fast forward to 2003 or 2004 and I now had a granddaughter, who just disdained dolls in general.  BUT she loved stuffed dogs and they all had sweaters and scarves and blankets and hats.  She learned to sew herself and now she will help once in a while with the doll clothes, when she's in the mood.

So I had a marathon sewing session, and all I have left is to sew on a few pieces of Velcro and some trims.  Here's what I am working on:

This red tee was part of an adult sized tee with a few stains on it that became 'fabric'.

The dark denim is a skirt, the light blue is striped pants, and the zipper top is a windbreaker.

Purple tee and lavender corduroys.

Princess pjs and a plaid robe.

Several dresses in various degrees of red prints.

Faux suede pants, a yellow tee, and a leopard fleece coat.

And just for good measure, I spent some time making some clothes for a cast off new style Barbie:



She's got some cool leggings, made with a scrap of stretch lace, plus a ball gown from a silk drapery sample.

These all need snaps, but you see two short skirt and top outfits, plus three denim pieces.

This is the ball gown suite... one in burgundy silk, one knit dress with a flounce, and the silk drapery dress with stole.

The Barbie outfits were made for a friend's granddaughters, whose own dolls are apparently naked at this point.  Of course my youngest grand likes to leave her dolls in the sandbox.  That's how I got my model!

Lucky for me my middle granddaughter likes dolls and plays with them.  She requested some additions to her wardrobe, so there will be no shortage of customers for these items.

I only wish making things for myself was this easy!

Sew on...

I'm On The Five Year Plan

I spent some time in my sewing studio this past weekend, working on some projects.  I think I must be on the Five Year Plan in my garment sewing life.  Why do I say that, you ask?  Well...

Yesterday I sewed part of a blouse.  I only sewed PART of a blouse because when I cut out said blouse, somewhere within the last five years, I unpinned it from its pattern. 

I put the pieces into a gallon sized zip lock bag.  Good thinking, right?  Keep the pieces together so you can find them when you need them.  Nothing organizes better than gallon sized bags!

See, I had good intentions...  from front to back:  jacket, blouse, vest, vest, jacket, blouse and jacket.

Except I forgot to include the pattern envelope and the instruction sheet!  I have the brand and the number, but if you've been in my sewing room, you know that I have a TON of patterns in various boxes and bins, and that pattern could be in any one of them!

Lucky for me, I remember the picture/drawing from the front of the envelope, so I have a chance of finding it just from that, instead of having to read the numbers...

So I sewed the most obvious pieces -- front yokes to lower fronts, matching the notches, and back yoke to lower back.  I stopped at putting interfacing onto the facing pieces because it was getting late and I need my beauty sleep more and more these days.

Left and right fronts, waiting for facings.

Before I go too much further I need to find the pattern envelope.  Oh, and some light weight interfacing.  The fabric is a light weight linen blend from Joann Fabrics.  The pattern is kind of a loose fitting top with asymmetrical hems and a cross-over front.  There were some trousers included.  I didn't cut those out.  I still may, if I can find a coordinating fabric in my stash.  This linen was purchased at least 10 years ago, but teal is back...



I think I may be able to find something in here somewhere...

How do I know I'm on the Five Year Plan with this outfit?  DH and I have been living in this house for five years now, and I know this pattern was in my stash when I moved in!  So it's at LEAST the five year plan -- that is, if I finish it in 2012!!

Keep your fingers crossed, and keep sewing!

Oh, and keep good thoughts on the pants fabric, OK?  I'd hate to have to do more fabric shopping...

Sewing Again!!

I am so happy to report that I actually did a little sewing tonight after work!!  Yes, I turned on the machine (since I can now see it on the table, it's no longer piled with stuff) and sewed two blocks for my Phone Guy's Wife collection.

First I finished up the Maple Leaf block that I had cut out about a month ago.  It's a spring maple leaf, bright green like the tree in my back yard was before the heat wave.

Then I did a block called Northern Lights.  I think it was supposed to be a lower contrast, but honestly I don't think I like blocks where the colors sort of mush together.  What is the point of doing all that piecing and not have it show, you know what I mean?

So this block looks very nice but I must not have been careful sewing because one side is slightly less than the full 6 1/2 inches, I think you can see the offending corner.  I might have to un-sew, and re-sew this one.

I also pressed some more hearts onto some more muslin.  I'm trying to convince my oldest Grand that she can do the sewing around the edges.  Right now they're just held on by Wonder Under.

Also I am ready for a marathon sewing weekend, (since I have taken vacation the two days after the coming holiday) having cut many small pieces into usable strip sizes...  I have a bin of two inch strips

and another of 2 1/2 inch strips...

just ready and waiting for some production sewing.

Also ready to go is one little girl's dress for the smallest grand

All that is needed is a zipper, and some facings or bindings on the neck and sleeves.  I guess I didn't hang it too well, did I?? 

Oh, and I got a 'housewarming' gift in my new office today.  It matches exactly the green of the guest chairs and the wall and ceiling in the break room.  Thanks went out to the generous guy who sent this to me from Overland Park, Kansas.  What will they think of next??

This is actually a very functional tape dispenser!!  What a hoot!

Sew on, and I mean it!!

It's All In the Prep Work

I am part of a group of quilters through our church, the Loving Hands Quilters.  We make baptism quilts for the babies in our congregation and those who are baptized in our church.  We donate quilts to various charities both local and worldwide. We enjoy working together.

Everyone has a task they like best, but we all do various things.  Over the past couple of years I've become the "kit maker".  We pick various patterns to sew, and I cut up fabric from our stash and pack each kit in a zip-locked plastic bag.  I label the bag with the pattern name, and everyone works from their personal copy of the pattern.

We cleaned and organized our stash recently.  I ended up with a large tub of fabric, tied into bundles of fabrics that go together.  Now I have to start cutting.

Normally we're what we call 'self-funded'... that is, we are on our own for finances.  This has been OK for a long while, because we have donated fabrics to work from, and we've made do with things from our various personal resource centers.  Once in a while we get some money and go pick up the things that we're missing.  Most of the time we buy solids or tone on tone fabrics, and batting.

This month I have the pleasant task of spending a few dollars to fill the gaps in our stash.  We have a lot of floral calicoes, and we need some coordiates and some muslin.

The ladies requested that we do a couple of heart applique patterns.  I picked up a bolt of Wonder Under at Joann's with my 40% off coupon.  Then I used my ASG discount for another 10% off.  I spent this afternoon tracing my heart templates onto the paper side, and ironing them onto swatches of the various florals and other small pieces of fabric. 

Then. I. Cut. Them. Out.  Wow, even when watching reruns of The Gilmore Girls, that makes for a long, boring afternoon!!  Then, more ironing onto 6 1/2 inch squares of muslin. 

I hope someone else wants to sew around the edges of these hearts.  I think I may be tired of looking at them...

Stash, Resource Center, and Other Miscellaneous Terms

Our office move is done, and during the move we discovered how much stuff we had accumulated over the 25 years our company had been in the building.

We donated enough three ring binders to my granddaughter's school to provide all the incoming kindergarteners with their portfolio binders at no charge, plus binder clips, book ends, file folders, pens and pencils and paper for the teachers.  My SIL drove over twice with the back of the station wagon full. 

This was not surprising because we had over 100 people in our location two years ago, but when we moved out we were down to about 60.  So there was a lot of stuff sitting in desks and file cabinets.  The other location we merged with was about the same.  So putting things away yesterday involved cramming and being creative!  All conference rooms have their own supply of supplies... is that a redundancy or an oxymoron?  Oh well, we don't have to buy some things until next fiscal year!

I brought all my personal things home because the movers would not be responsible for lamps, pictures of relatives, or chotchkies.  Combined with the fact that we're painting the two upstairs bedrooms and having carpeting installed makes our garage look like a warehouse.

SO--- imagine what I was thinking when I got this call last weekend:

"Hi, Sue, what are you doing Tuesday night?  Can you come to church at 6:30?  Someone donated 11 boxes of fabric to the quilting group and we have to go through it."

Hmmm...  11 boxes.  Big boxes or small?  Of fabric.  Could be anything.  Could be good.  Could be junk.

So I met the other ladies in the Loving Hands Quilt Group after work, and got the answer.

Six of the boxes were pretty good sized.  The other five were wide but only about six inches deep.  They were all full of samples of drapery and upholstery fabric.

OK, not what we normally use for quilting!!  I guess when some people say fabric, it's a generic, all-encompassing term like paper or fish.

There were some poly-cotton pieces that can be used for general use quilts.  We do make some to send to charity that need to be sturdy.  Some of the recipients of our work live in less than ideal conditions and normal quilt fabric wouldn't last or keep them warm.  So one box was filled with small pieces that can be sewn as is, and one was filled with larger pieces we may cut up later.

A quantity was designated for another group who can turn them into crafty projects, and some was set aside for a lady who makes small purses and tote bags.  Some of the pieces were backed with some sort of coating that would surely gum up the average sewing machine, so a bunch was tossed out as not suitable for anyone we know.

But I am the lucky owner of several stacks of things picked out by the group as likely candidates for tote or travel bags.

These are a few of the things I came home with, and now I just have to find a place for all of this while I finish up a few other projects to make room for the NEW projects that will surely come to mind when I take the time to tear all the tags off these pieces!!  <sigh>

Today we worked on our quilt projects after church, and Jean came in to look through the boxes we set aside for her.  She kept commenting on how pretty things were, and asking me if I didn't want to look at some of her rejects.  Nope!!  Not looking!!  I know they're lovely but I cannot.  I. Cannot. Bring. Home. One. More. Scrap.

For now...

. 

Instead of Sewing...

This morning I intended to post the catch up photos of the blocks I've finished since Randy's last Sow Along post.  Key word being intended.

The famous writer said "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" or something like that.

First of all, DH is painting the second floor of our house.  Why that matters is that he decided to do it without giving me much notice, and he went at it with a vengence!!  He started hauling stuff down and stacking it in the garage before I knew what he was up to.  I wanted to go through it and make decisions about what actually goes back into the rooms, but that will have to happen in the garage, I guess!

The reason he took off with this is because I had requested that we think about taking down a wall that divides our basement in half, and expand my sewing room downstairs.  We have a gigantic laudry/storage room with a lot of junk in it, and we could make better use of that space.

HE decided that he'd rather shuffle the furniture in the three bedrooms, making the smallest room which is a den into a guest room/den, moving our furniture into the guest room, and putting my sewing stuff into the master bedroom.   Huh.  Except. My cutting table has to stay in the basement.  And probably a lot of the stash too.

Just think about it before you say no, he asked.  OK.  I knew the answer to that one.  He MUST have known it was a big no because when I said it three days later he was not really surprised.  Meanwhile he started dragging stuff down and I had to go to the paint store.

But all this moving and cleaning and inspecting has put me seriously behind schedule!  Can you imagine what it would be if I had to move all my stuff up two floors?  Well, I can't afford to lose the whole summer, can I?

I spend enough time cleaning up after I work on a project, or more accurately, cleaning up and organizing when I want to work on something because I didn't clean up after myself when I last stopped!  Last night after dinner with DH I spent a half hour re-ordering the Sow Along greens and backgrounds so I could catch up.  Two blocks were actually sewn together and pressed but I can't find the camera again.  It WAS on the desk.  Which could now be in the garage or under a dropcloth!

Well, after A's preschool graduation ceremony on Friday, and E's last school concert, there is a long weekend ahead. 

Maybe I can get caught up.

Sew on...