Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Progress Report on Sewing 'The 18" Dress'

I have been sewing like a crazy person here lately. It is such fun to make all the different variations of The 18" Dress.


I even started putting my cup of tea next to the sewing machine on top of the instructions. Usually I keep my tea out of the sewing room.
Looking at the tea mug I decided to take a break and print a mug ring on my page. I felt so animated that I figured sloshing my tea was the next step. At least this way I could just pretend that I was making a mess.


The spare room is full of dolls and their clothes. All the pyjamas are there and now there are lots of dresses too. I haven't even started on samples for the 20" dolls.


There are so many pretty dresses that can be made from these patterns. There are 7 so far and the red spotty one is the last sample except I just remembered I want to make one with sheer sleeves and a neck ruffle instead of a collar. I also have the ruffle party dress I made last week with the big bow in the front.




I hope to publish the dress patterns by the end of the week. I will worry about the add on bibs later. That's the plan anyway.

I am also working on a wardrobe collection that I plan to publish as a PDF book. It will have 4 outfits for each season and 5 of my basic patterns. I know a lot of you have all the patterns so I plan to publish the wardrobe part separately as well. I have been getting line drawings for all the pieces sorted. Here are some of the pieces.



Happy Sewing,
Val

Saturday, January 28, 2017

How to Sew Doll Clothes: When you need a pusher



I love my pusher. Trouble is every time I use it I think of train pushers.

There are various times when a pusher comes in handy but the most often use for my pusher is to get around those hard to top stitch points on collars or corners on cuffs.

I have just turned and pressed my collars and I need to top stitch around them.



I start by stitching 1/8" from the edge.



When I get to the corner I keep the needle down and lift the presser foot.



The narrow slot just fits around the needle as you slide it under the collar.



Do 3 or 4 stitches then with the needle down, lift the presser foot and slide out the pusher.



Continue stitching around the collar. You gat a nice neat corner.



My pusher is an old birthday card. When it gets wrinkled or bent I can easily make a new one.


Happy Sewing,
Val