Thank you for reading my blog!! And a swimsuit!

Well I must say a huge THANK YOU to those of you who are still following along with me as I learn to sew. When I started this blog, I had been learning to sew for a few months and was making pretty good progress. I decided to catalogue all of my attempts leading up to my current sewing level, which I consider to be talented beginner J So all of the entries from the beginning on through the next few are all completed projects that I attempted and learned from. Pretty soon here we will be caught up with where I am now and you will be on the shaky road with me as I continue to struggle. I will take lots of pictures J

Some coming projects (that I have completed, but not yet posted):

I venture into “people clothes” but not to ruin any build-up or anything: my attempts fail dismally L Thus, I keep returning to doll clothes to build my confidence back up.

I met one of my goals! Keep checking entries to find out which one!

Around 5 more projects until we’re caught up!

ONTO TODAY'S PROJECT:

Tell me this is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen... I selected a Liberty Jane swimsuit :)

 

The only thing I needed was Fold Over Elastic (FOE) and fabric!

Now do you guys remember when I raved about the remnant bin? Its so wonderful to find great, quality pieces of fabric in perfect sizes to make doll clothes! And at such a fabulous price!! But what about other sources? What about stuff you have on hand?

Can anyone guess what I made this out of? Here are your hints:

1.  Some houses have a lot of these lying around the house.

2.  Especially if you have kids.

3.  They were popular in the late 90s/early 2000s (at least at my kids' schools)

4.  We used paper bags when we were kids…

If you don’t know from those hints, I’ll give you a bigger hint at the end of the post.

J The pattern is 2 pieces, thats all! And the instructions are short, simple and to the point. No muss, no fuss.

I'm not good on knits - we all know that. But for some reason, I had an easier time with this spandex-y stuff. I have no idea why. I used a large zig zag stitch and just kept it as straight as I could without pulling it.

Now what am I going to say next? Of course :) the mistake :) It's not one of mine unless there's something just a little ... off...

Not so much a mistake though, I'm just going to it differently next time. My mom bought the FOE for me and since I didn't specify a size, she got me a wider size than the pattern called for. I didn't think it would make too much of a difference - and it didn't, but you can see the "wideness" in the leg elastic: a thinner FOE would have made that leg opening a little narrower. Also, under the armpit area.

Other than that, I am so very pleased with how this piece turned out!

So, did you figure out what I made it out of??

The final hint is: when I realized they were accumulating, friends and loved ones kept getting rid of theirs so they gave them to us because we have school age children, but my boys never used them and I couldn’t bear to throw them away, so I needed a good spot to store these things we would never use… I stored them on the bookshelf tucked behind the books until I pulled them out to make the swimsuit you see here!! Do you know what it is???

Book Sox!! Book socks!! Spandex-y covers for your books!

I ripped out the seams and laid it flat, placed the pattern piece on top and VOILA!! Instant swimsuit!!

What do you think? I have several more that I plan to turn into swimsuits – just need more elastic - a bit thinner this time! J

Shoes, shoes, shoes

So my confidence level was back up where it belonged J I did really well on the drawstring dress… all 3 seams of it, ha ha. And you remember I told you that I had purchased some Liberty Jane Patterns? Well apparently when you sign up for her newsletter, she sends you a coupon for buy 3 get one free after a few, so you got to read the newsletters when they come in.

The newsletters are actually pretty cool: they talk about new patterns available and provide links to stuff real people like you and me (well okay not me because these people actually know what they are doing…)

So I decided to redeem my coupon – I picked out the patterns I wanted – but I have to tell you it was a struggle – I wanted ALL of them. I knew I wanted shoes. I just had to figure out how they made all these cute cute shoes. I have the Simplicity, McCall’s and Vogue patterns that all have shoes, but none of them had soles…

I knew they used craft foam, but I wasn’t sure how to attach it properly to make a sole. SO I bit the bullet and got the shoes pattern. I picked out the cute slip-on one.

Now before this project, I had never used a glue gun before. (I know, some of you craft gurus are shocked!) But my husband showed me how (don’t ask why he knows – he grew up with women, maybe that’s why – or maybe he’s just awesome like that? Who knows?)

So I started my shoe project: the sewing was relatively simple. The only thing that made it difficult was how small the pieces were, but then all doll clothes are, so what evs, same ole same ole. There were a lot of parts and pieces to this, but the instructions are so well written, and so concise that I was able to follow them to the letter. Nope, no confusing parts for me J

Then came time to attach the soles. The sole calls for 6mm foam – I didn’t have 6mm, so I glued 3 pieces of 2mm together. Just a heads up guys: this doesn’t work… use the 6mm it asks for… My 2mm pieces did not want to stay together – one 6mm piece would have been better. The 2mm gets wrapped around the whole shoe and BAM! Awesome doll shoe!!

Check it out!! How great is this??? Thank you Liberty Jane!!

I don’t think the pictures really do the shoes justice – I’m going to try to take some better ones.

 

 

 

PART 2 – I know you love my part 2’s J 

I was so stoked to be making shoes (and convinced my calling in life was now to be a doll shoemaker – ha ha ha) that I decided to test out something I saw on the internet (Pinterest of course J)

I had seen a lovely lavender ribbon sandal on pinterest and wanted to emulate it. I had some great black ribbon from the ballet outfit, so I used that.

I cut out a sole – one from 6mm and one from 2mm and placed the ribbon between them (so you wouldn’t see the ribbon on the bottom) I crossed them one over another near the toe, glued them (see pic) and then added a loop on the back and cut a small piece to go around the ankle (that goes in the loop) and then instead of wrapping the sole in foam, I wrapped it in the satin ribbon.

Now I was pleased with how this shoe turned out as far as construction – meaning, I was satisfied that I figured out how to make a great sandal. However, the actual shoe itself was only double-sided taped together because I was only testing the construction, plus the 6mm foam apparently needs to be cut in a special way because mine sucked!!

It was slanted – I tried to cut it straight but for some reason, it kept cutting slanty. L boooo

So because this was only a test piece (and only taped together, not hot glued) I only made one. Because I was so satisfied with it, I will definitely come back and make a set – but probably only after I figure out how to cut my 6mm foam straight.

I also decided, while gazing at its loveliness J that I wanted to embellish it. I picked a tiny white ribbon and cinched in the crossed ribbons. I actually prefer it without the white, but I tied it so tight, I couldn’t get it undone… eh… it looks okay J

 

 

 

Thennnnn…if that weren’t enough… you know what happens when I get my confidence all up = I’m like “look at me I’m super seamstress!!” ha ha ha

So I decided to do a simple slip-on ballerina style (with no ribbons though) and added a sole. The pattern I used was from the original shoe pattern I used (remember the ballet outfit? The shoe that didn’t go with it? That one J) merged with the sole of the Liberty Jane pattern.

I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out, but to be perfectly honest, I think the sewing is kind of cruddy. L You can’t really tell because the shoe is black, the sewing is all erratic. All in all, I think it turned out okay, but this last shoe definitely taught me that maybe I should go back to clothes for a while and maybe a career in shoemaking is not in my future J

 

 

SUCCESS...and Nancy Zieman

I’d like to take a moment to share a recent discovery: Sewing with Nancy. Nancy Zieman is by far the most remarkable seamstress and teacher I’ve ever seen. For those of you who have never heard of Nancy, she has a tv show on PBS and teaches sewing, topic by topic, 26 minutes at a time. I am enthralled. She also has a store: Nancy’s Notions, which sells sewing materials and supplies.

Nancy is not only the most accomplished seamstress I’ve ever seen (sorry Aunt C. L I’m seeing other seamstresses on the side… J) but she teaches in the most remarkable way: so beginners like me can understand!!

She has a very soothing, modulated voice and explains things in a very simple, real, basic way. She is warm, funny, and doesn’t come off plastic or fake, like she’s on TV. She talks to her audience as if she is sitting in the living room with them.

You can watch her shows here. I watched all of the doll clothes ones J I watched the A to Z (which was AWESOME!!!!) and I watched the anniversary 3 part show, which was heartwarming and hilarious.

Do not go another moment without watching Nancy! She is awesomely awesome. J

PART 2

I also decided after the successes and failures I have had, my next project needed to be a sure success. So I backtracked. I used the free drawstring dress from Liberty Jane and a totally adorable fabric that my mom bought to make me something cute when I was a little girl (did I mention one of my children will be an adult next year??? More loved fabric came my way J) The fabric is white with little colored hearts all over. So cute!

This one was too easy. It’s a free pattern, but those of you who know how to make a pillowcase dress already know how to make this. I did know how already but used the pattern for measurement. The dress “whipped up” really quickly and since the fabric was so easy to work with, my stitches looked good, my seams were even and straight, the whole dress was just a good experience.

The pattern suggestion was to tie a ribbon around the waist, so I used a nice red ribbon I had laying around, but I have to say, I like the dress both ways.

What do you think? Instant confidence booster! I am sewer, hear me sew!! (sewer? Wait… is that right? Tee hee)

 

Rooby rooby roooo

Ok yeah, soo not sewing knits any more for a long long while. I was starting to feel discouraged and I needed to get my confidence back up. After deciding to never sew with knits again (hee hee) I chose the straightest, non-stretchy, super easy fabric to sew with for the next piece.

I was basically telling myself “Fine. You can’t sew with stretchy. Fine. Just sew with your easy baby non-stretchy fabric” ha ha ha

I chose a great Scooby Doo fabric. This was actually made into some pajama pants for my brother a few years back (my brother LOVES Scooby Doo) and my mom gave me her “scrap” from it – the scraps were pretty big – and they sat in a bag all these years, just waiting for the time when they would be turned into something awesome!

I used another Liberty Jane pattern – this time the strappy tank. I’m pretty pleased at how this one came out – I sewed very slowly and methodically and each piece, including the super skinny straps turned out SUPER good. Of course it totally helps that this material practically presses itself. You can fold it and crease it a few times and it stays. (love love love sheet, broadcloth, that type of material)

This one had a front, 2 backs, and the straps, which turned out much easier than I thought they would. The whole thing went together with so little muss and fuss and took only an hour or so (I’m kind of a slow seamstress for the time being J) that I started to think it might be too good to be true.

Have I mastered the art of sewing? Am I a seamstress? Have I joined the ranks of those who can sew with ease?

Well yes and no… you know it’s not one of mine unless something goes wrong – so here’s this one: (and its super minor and not really me J)

The whole thing turned out FABULOUS. However…

Its very very snug. Now I thought that perhaps a knit might have been better for the pattern, but I did check before I started. The tee I made previously said use a knit but this one did not. Also, some of the comments on this pattern’s page say that others found it snug as well, so I will just keep that in mind for next time J Now because it was snug and didn’t fit well, I didn’t add the Velcro (well, I stuck 2 pieces of sticky back at the top just so I wouldn’t have to pin it, but I didn’t “finish” the item per se)

What do you think? I give it a hearty thumbs up, even unfinished!

The big purple mistake

I was so pleased with how my Cinderella dress turned out and how well things had been going that I decided to try my hand at DUN DUN DUN… knits. Now my background with knits is that I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really can’t sew knits. No matter how hard I try, I just am not good at it. My stitches are always terrible and the material just goes all floopy on me. Its just too stretchy for me to work with.

But you know I’ve been so confident that I thought I would try J Silly me J I keep getting advice like: be patient, go slowly, and keep trying. But none of that helps with my knit issue L

I bought some Liberty Jane patterns recently (and got all their free ones of course) and from them chose a nice plain tee shirt. I’d like to add (plug for Liberty Jane) that their patterns are much much much much easier than even the easiest Simplicity pattern. I think printing the whole thing off in full color would defeat the purpose of the patterns being so cheap, so I only print the last couple pages – the pattern itself – and leave the instructions on my laptop to use. I just love how simple and concise the patterns are J

I chose a purple knit for the fabric. It was actually a t-shirt that I cut and used for fabric, a nice textured, bumpy tee. The pieces cut out okay. Sometimes when I cut out knit, the fabric stretches all funny and my pieces end up smaller than they are supposed to be or cockeyed or something, but this one cut ok.

Then I began to assemble. Now this pattern was sooooo easy, there wasn't really room for error. It had a front, 2 backs, and 2 sleeves. Super simple, right?

W-R-O-N-GGGGGG

I like to use contrasting thread when I know I am going to really be practicing something so I can see my mistakes. Well this was one giant mistake… I can’t even say that I messed anything up because the shirt went to together exactly as it was supposed to. Its just the stitching looks TERRIBLE. I just can’t sew knit and I don’t know why L

I give it a BIG thumbs down:

 

Disney Princess :)

Now this is an interesting piece. I chose Simplicity 5705 because after the Felicity dress, I was itching to do something ankle length and fancy (now, this is pronounced FAIN-cy) for those of you who haven’t heard me say it – just a little tongue-in-cheek humor J

I picked the Cinderella dress, C, but opted not to put the ‘skirt puffs’ on it or do the headband (because I had just done a headband). I got this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G sparkly deep red fabric from the remnant bin and knew this was the perfect fabric for my “fancy dress”.

This dress was VERY simple and straightforward. I guess I just thought that a big poufy dress like this would be more complicated. But now that I am learning how to sew, I can see how the pieces are constructed and the whole garment is held together, so I realize this dress is nothing more than a bodice (got that down) 2 sleeves (getting better at that?) and a big skirt (gathering…)

I think I did a pretty good job on the whole thing and paid really close attention to my stitches, I tried to make everything nice and tidy, neat, and clean. I was particularly proud of the sleeves (getting a big head about my gathering talent…until the skirt…ha ha ha)

I did okay until I got to the skirt. I had kind of a difficult time gathering such a voluminous skirt, but all in all, it went ok. However, you know it can’t be one of MY projects until I screw up… so here’s where it happened: The bodice had a v-waist at the bottom; the skirt piece had kind of a v-waist at the top. I did a good job on the bodice and a good job on the skirt, but when it came time to attach those 2 pieces, I think my brain perhaps was on vacation or something, because I neglected to match those 2 pieces up correctly…

I know, I know, you’re thinking to yourself “how do you miss something like that???”  but I did for whatever reason and the repercussion of that is that my skirt is cockeyed… You can’t tell at a glance, but in the first picture I show the way the whole dress looks, the second picture I actually show the piece pulled to the side where its sitting where it should be. Not a huge difference, but I see the error J

Whattya think??

 

Felicity, Samantha, and boy do I need more practice!

I was moderately pleased with the dance outfit. I enjoyed working with the non-stretchy material, but I did not like how the end raveled so much. I am going to have to learn about that…

The next project I tried my hand at was Felicity’s outfit from the American Girl patterns.

 

This is the first project I really tried to make a polished finished product on. By this I mean: I normally just pick whatever fabric appeals to me that day to make a lot of these outfits because it is all practice and I know that chances are the item might turn out pretty dismal. But for this one, I actually selected fabrics that I thought looked nice together and was looking forward to seeing how the finished pieces looked together. 

I really enjoyed working with all of the different fabrics on this project. I picked a green broadcloth for the skirt – I looove broadcloth. Its easy to sew with, doesn’t stretch, and doesn’t ravel. This broadcloth is extremely thin. I picked a slightly stretchy burgundy/maroon for the cap – it was soft on one side and slightly coarse on the other side. I don’t normally like the stretchy ones, you guys know that, but I thought a simple hat and small to boot maybe I could handle… The last fabric I picked was a really pretty green and burgundy floral print – non stretchy, very soft.

I started with the top. (optimistic? J) It says it’s a laced jacket, but there is no shirt under it, so its just a top to me. I had a lot of trouble with this one. I tried to follow the instructions carefully, but I didn’t find a lot of pictures of what the outfit should look like, completed, on the internet. I found a lot of good front views, but not a lot of back views.

This is what the outfit was supposed to look like:

I started out OK, but when I got to the ‘peplum’ part, there seemed to be no instructions for “finishing” it. I didn’t know if the lining and the outer piece were supposed to be connected or not but couldn’t find where it said either way. I opted to hem them separately, thinking that they, as “stickie-outie” pieces would naturally sit together? Not so much…

The other part I had a lot of trouble with was the ruffle on the neck and the wrists. I do have a lot of difficulty with tiny ruffles, and since they were of the stretchy material I chose for the hat, by the time I got through with the neck piece, it was itttttty bitttttty and there just wasn’t a whole lot for me to work with – its like it shrunk or something. So for the wrist ruffles, I opted not to hem them. They stayed a good size, but they don’t want to stay down. L all in all, the top was a big fat failure for me L I also don’t have an eyelet thingy, so I knew this piece was going to remain unfinished. I just don’t think I did a very good job on it and without the front being laced, it actually doesn’t even come close to staying closed. It was a struggle to get the pin in to show it closed. L Bummer on that one.

The skirt was super easy and I learned how to pleat. (well, I knew a little about pleating from the mug thingies I made for my mom and aunt C, but this really brought the point home because this is a wearable garment.) The material was super awesome (I may have said that already J I like broadcloth) and I think it turned out nice. The only thing I didn’t like on it was the way the instructions said to do the Velcro. I did it and it worked ok, but I would have done it a bit differently.

The last piece I did was the hat and let me tell you, this piece was doomed from the start… I thought I could work with the slightly stretchy material but it turns out that working with material you are not so good at and is tiny is hard…go figure, right?

I again followed the instructions exactly, but I am not so good at gathering, so my whole hat is lopsided. You can see in the picture that one side is taller than the other. If I put the hat on her head crooked, it looks okay in front and really really bad in the back

 

(because the back is supposed to look like this:)

But if I put the hat on straight and the back looks like it should then the front is really crooked and lopsided.

The bands were just so tiny and difficult to work with! L

So here is my finished product:

I’m real disappointed in how it turned out but from a distance, it doesn’t look too bad J The stitching is nice and even (except on the hat) and it’s constructed moderately well.

My next thing to learn is how to do the things I don’t understand in directions J

PART 2

My mom cleaned out her fabric bins again J I always get lots of good fabric when my mom and my aunt clean out their fabric stashes. They come across fabric that was bought with love and they sigh and say “I wanted to make [fill in the blank] for [fill in the blank] but its too late now. Here, you do something with it.” For example: my mom’s favorite is “I was going to make this into pajamas for your brother” (the fabric in question being the softest snuggliest little ½ yard of ABC blocks fabric, the brother in question being now 28 years old J) Sometimes your heart and plans are bigger than your free time, amirite? So I am super happy to give the fabric a new home J One day, I will clean out my fabric and give some of the gorgeous pieces to…a daughter in law? A granddaughter? Back to my mom? And I will say “I was going to make this cute outfit for my doll, but its too late now. Here, you do something with it” J

This is where all of my fabric has come from. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such wonderful crafty women in my life. They are so supportive and excited to share their stash with me, especially the smaller doll size pieces J Thank you thank you thank you!!

So I came home with a grocery bag full of remnants from my mumma. We had a good laugh too because 2 of the pieces were tagged “So Fro Fabrics”. Does anyone remember So Fro?

In my bag was some beautiful patio furniture material: kind of like canvas? It’s a really pretty red, green, and white that I will use to make shoes out of. Also, some nice thin denim-look soft blue fabric, some Christmas fabric (!!!) and some really thick broadcloth. J

Well, I eyeballed this broadcloth and realized it was just the right ‘heavy weight’ to try the cape I had been wanting to make – Samantha’s cape from the American girl line.

This seemed like a simple enough piece, especially because I wasn’t going to be adding trims or anything. (I just did the cape, not the hat, muff or boot pieces) I laid it out and cut out the pieces – I used the satiny black from the ballet outfit for the lining – and just constructed it piece by piece. Since it was fully lined, I didn’t have to worry about the satiny material raveling, which was really nice. And I opted to exclude the arm holes. In retrospect, I should have put in the arm holes because it would have looked much better, but the instructions seemed a little confusing to me, and I was having such good luck with the material that I just didn’t want to mess it up J

I think the piece turned out really nice and was just the right color to go with Felicity’s outfit!! How cute!!

 

Dance, ballerina, dance...then let's fix your shoe

Well I was ready to try my hand at another pair of those shoes I had made out of the stripy fabric – a nice black satiny pair. Plus I definitely wanted a nice non stretchy material to work with. I also got to thinking that I didn’t have much luck with the 2 attempts I made on the American Girl patterns, whereas I had a little bit of luck with the commercial pattern.

I chose the same McCall’s pattern as the winter outfit. This time I went with the ballet outfit in the lower right hand corner.

I had a nice black satiny material. I don’t think it was actually satin because one side was a softer, non-shiny while the other side was satiny and shiny. Not sure though.

I laid out my material, cut out my pieces and began to construct the garment. I think I did a pretty good job on the leotard, but again with my inability to follow directions well… I didn’t understand the back piece where the Velcro goes – at the bottom. I don’t know why I just can’t seem to get some of this, but I “winged it”. For some reason, it seemed to indicate that there should be a notch or something cut into the back and then I couldn’t figure out what to do with the notch, so I ended up just ironing it crisp and then adding the Velcro.

The leotard did come together fairly well. I liked doing the leg elastic and had all kinds of visions of making doll swim suits and people underpants. And I’ve discovered I have a knack for sleeves. For some reason, my sleeves usually turn out really good J

When I got to the skirt, I discovered that I am NOT good at hemming in a circle…I have a lot of difficulty with that. I can hem straight all day long, but hemming curves has proven a bit difficult for me. I’m gonna need some tips and advice on that, for sure.

I liked that this was a ‘wrap-look’ skirt – and I LOVE the little bow. I bought the black satin ribbon to make the shoes and it was just the right size for the skirt bow.

Then I did the headband. I know that shouldn't tickle me as much as it does, but I just think this headband is super cute. Unfortunately, I did one of the sides kind of cruddy and it already has come loose, so the headband doesn’t look as impressive as it did when I made it.

 

Then I did the shoes – I chose to do the shoes from the shoe pattern instead of the shoes that came with the ballet outfit. I followed the instructions really carefully but I don’t think they came out as nice as the stripy ones. I have found that I have difficulty shaping the toes well. I also didn’t realize until I took these pictures that I did not sew the ribbon on well, as one came off. See she’s holding it in that bottom picture… as if to say “tsk tsk such poor craftsmanship” ha ha ha

That’s ok. I give this outfit a strong, resounding sideways thumb. I think I did a mediocre job on the outfit, but I tried my best and am pretty satisfied with the final product.