Fleece winter outfit...and a broken sewing machine

The next thing I tried my hand at was a winter outfit. I enjoyed working with fleece so much that I knew the next project I did would be something out of fleece – I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to make. I hit up my 99 cent pattern sale and had enough fleece left form making my brother’s Thundercats pillow to do this outfit: Simplicity M6257 [upper right pic]

I’m a big fan of winter and I liked how this looked in white, very crisp and clean. Inspiring!

So I started…

Now I must say, fleece has a way of boosting your confidence, I think, because it doesn’t ravel, it doesn’t stretch when you don’t want it to, but will when you do. It’s just an allover good fabric, in my opinion. However, I can’t exactly make everything out of fleece, so I do appreciate it when I can work with it.

On a side note, the leftover fabric that I used for this project made me really stop and look at how much fabric I was using. When I started to learn to sew, I learned that most patterns I was interested in making required 3 or more yards of fabric to make – even my youngest son’s pajamas pants takes 2 ½ yards now, and with prices the way they are, I just can’t justify spending that kind of money on beautiful fabric just to make something no one in their right mind would wear…you know?

The doll clothes use less than a yard, most times less than ½ a yard, and a lot of times, even less than that! (wait till you see what I made with a “book sock”) Sooo…with my policy of not spending more than 20 dollars a trip to Joann’s, I discovered the REMNANT BIN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

Heaven, pure heaven!

For a few bucks – almost always under 5 dollars, I can buy enough fabric (even expensive, fancy fabrics) to make a complete outfit which
1. Allows me to practice technique, on sometimes difficult fabric even
2. Still gives me the satisfaction of getting to “finish” a project in one sitting – which I’m real big on
3. Really lets me expand the type of outfit I’m making. (for example, I got a tiny remnant of canvas and made some awesome shoes and a gorgeous upholstery fabric that I am going to make into a ball gown)

Okay, back to my fleece outfit.

This outfit was actually done in 2 sittings because of the many many many pieces. I cut out all of the pieces and the way they were eventually going to be attached to one another practically jumped off the table at me!! I took that as a good sign J

First was the main dress. I stitched this one up rather quickly but had some trouble figuring out whether the Velcro went in the front or the back. Most doll clothes the closure is in the back, but after looking at the picture and trying it on different ways, I determined that it went in the front.

Next I did the boots. I have to say, I’m prouder of those boots that I really should be. Looking at them now that my skill has grown a smidgy, I have to laugh at my little boots I was so proud of!! They are cute, don’t get me wrong, but I see all the mistakes of course!

The boots were easy to construct, but difficult to work in such a small space. Making these boots was the first time I really realized that doll clothes would be a challenge because of the close quarters. I am optimistic, but a little concerned.  Oh but they turned out so cute!!

The next thing I did was the mittens, which were also challenging due the tininess but really brought out my “holy cow this stuff is cute J” and really made me happy J The mittens have elastic around the cuffs and actual separate thumb pieces (!!!)

Then I took a break from the red and did the shirt because I really wanted to start trying it on and checking the fit. The shirt was very easy and quick and I was pleased to have a versatile piece to go with some other things in the future.

The last thing I did was the hat. And just as I was on top on the world…I broke my sewing machine. L

I started piecing the hat together, it turned out FANTASTIC. Then I decided to use bias tape for the straps instead of ribbon. With what ended up happening, I see that the choice of bias tape versus ribbon didn’t make a difference - my issue would have happened either way. What I did was fold my strip in half and after sewing it to the hat, continued stitching down to keep the strip folded in half.

Well apparently when you sew a tiny thin strip of fabric over a big plate with a HOLE in it, sometimes when you don’t know what you’re doing, the strip can get sucked down into the hole and make the needle stuck… and then if you really don’t know what you’re doing, you tug and tug and you can bend your needle. L I didn’t know this. I tugged and tugged finally got the little strip of fabric out and then the needle would go down but not back up.

I was crushed! 

Fortunately, you guys know about the sewing ladies in my life and I of course called my mom up and said “mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She said she’d look at it but it was late at night on like a Tuesday when this happened and I wasn’t going to see her until the weekend.

I was impatient and didn’t want to just stop soo close to the end!  I am unbelievably blessed enough to have a spare sewing machine though!! (how cool is that?) It’s not really mine. My friend and her husband moved away a few years ago and she did some serious cleaning out. She came across her sewing machine (still in the box) and said to me “I will never use this…please hold onto this for me until one day when I decide to learn to sew” and I have been hanging onto it for her for years. I hope one day she will learn to sew with me and then I can give her machine back (C’mon Jen! All the cool kids are doing it!) but in the meantime, I was absolutely grateful to have it as a backup (she did say I could use it if I needed it J I never thought I would!)

I’ll tell you what: my mom was right – when you sit down at a machine, you just “know”. Her machine is newer than mine so it’s much less complicated to thread. The bobbin winds SUPER FAST – hooo weeee! And where my machine goes WHIRR WHIRR WHIRR WHIRR and practically shakes, her machine goes SHH SHH SHH SHH and gently vibrates. It’s all quiet and still! I really liked using it – but you experienced seamstresses out there already know what I’m going to say (not you experts – you guys own and feel comfortable on like 5 different machines, huh?) I loved the machine and it was so sleek and awesome, but it just wasn’t mine L

So on Jen’s awesome sleek machine I sewed the other strap on – not folding in half… (lesson learned) and then did the pants. I meant to have tights or leggings for the outfit because of the style, but I didn’t have a pattern on hand. So what I did was “whip up” a pair of pants (ha ha me? Whip up?) and then tighten the fit and tighten the fit and tighten the fit until they were as snug as I felt comfortable taking in.

I’m giving myself a fail on the pants, but an enthusiastic thumbs up for the outfit as a whole – even with the breaking of the sewing machine and half folded/half unfolded ties J

Let me know what you think!