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.